The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1880-09-15

thick as it can grow, ranging from
eight to twenty feet in height by
frost. These are some of its charac-
teristics: 1t grows very rapidly, it
will die if cpt in the rainy weather,
it bears thousands of seeds to the
stalk, horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs
prefer 1t to any other vegetation
grown here, it is as good as clover
when dry it never Injuries any kind
of stock, stock fatten more rapidly
on it than on peas, Crab or Crow
foot grass, as a fertilizer it has no
superior among the green crops, it
will grow we'll on any land, but the
richer the better, 1t is less depend
ent upon season than anything that
grows here, bushel OF seed would
SOW five acres or more, three or four
crops might be cut annually, it
should be cut at from four to six
feet high, it is easily cut, aud stock
will eat stalk and all, gathering cot
ton where it is thick is not pleasant
but it can easily be Kept out of the
cotton field, it will not do well, more
than one year in field that is not
plowed.
As regards the Bermuda grass, we
know that it will grow here, that our
hottest summers are unable to kill it,
and that it will afford a sweet and
nutritious winter pasturage for cat
tie and horses. / believe that with
some care and trouble it might be
permanently fixed in our pine woods,
redeeming them from the unproit
ability of the wire grass, and at the
same time beautifying our whole
neighborhood to an extent almost
unthought of. Imagine the beauty
of our piney woods, the high dry
bunchy broom wire grass of to-day,
supplanted by the smooth, firm
velvety and ever green turf OF the
Bermuda.
The great difficulty IN the way Of
the introduction of this grass, is tRatV
it has inspired our southern brethren
with a hearty tenor of its ability to
hold its own, and something more,
but | think it is well worth the trou-
BILE it will cost to keep it within
bounds, and that proper tillage will
keep it altogether out of our fields.
Ofmy own experience l can say
that while in Alabama l spaded up
piece of Bermuda turf for small
flower garden, this l cultivated one
entire season with no more trouble
than with any other ground.
On the other hand L have known
plantations in Georgia and South
Carolina abandoned because of this
grass having as their owners said
taken possession. The cultivation
OF cotton with the primitive tools and
slack culture which have come down
to us as relic of slavery became un-
profitable if not impossible. Many
OF these plantations however were
secured by men, who know some
thing besides cotton, ami who have
since made moEey by stock raising.
1t Is for you to say whether you
will secure this valuable pasturage
TO yourselves by undertaA ing the ex-
ira work and trouble necessary to
keep it within bounds.
l come now to the third and last
of the valuable grasses named, viz:
the Crab grass. Those of you who
cultivate orange groves, or raise
cotton and corn, can testify to the
wonderful persistency displayed by
this grass to get possession of your
fields. Here we are exercising our
best energies to kill out grass that
will with proper cultivation yield
from five to seven tons of excellent
hay to the acre, and yet the cry goes
up from among US: We have no
grass, we can't keep stock, and there
fore we are without the measure that
will make our lands give us the bread
we eat.
One winter an enthusiast on clover
admits the advantages of crab grass
in the following words. This is how
he sums up his experience. OF grow.
ing clover, and says that u his great
disappointment thel crab grass came
up and choked out his clover, he
says:
"In making crab grass it is only
necessary To plow we'll and harrow
the land in April, May or June.