Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-03-09
CHE farm aud fireside,

BERMUDA CIR s.-There is no grass better
adapted to the South than Bermuda. 1t seems
to thrive luxuriantly in hot sun and endures
drouth If the same pains was taken with 1t
as with other grass, there is no telling how
much it would Weld per acre. 1t loves rich
soil, and thrives where it can have good man
ure There is nothing more abused and un-
derrated than Bermuda grass. 1t is looked on
as pest and curse by some farmers.
If the same grass was in some localities IN
the North the people would grow rich by IT,
AS it is, most farmers don't value II III the
South, but a Mississippian writing to the Cou-
rier-Journal seems to appreciate it's value to
some extent. ss @@a - - -
One must 90 where a thing is scarce or not
to be found, in order to see it highly appreci-
ated. Thus in Georgia, many planters dread
the Bermuda grass and take pains to eXterml-
nate it. They think it hard to subdue When
it once getsa foothold, while they all acknowl-
edge it's value as 4 fertilizer and cure for
washes :s.s
A Grand Gulf Miss. correspondent, round
ly asserts that Bermuda sod will sustain more
stock per acre by half than the finest cultlva-
ted grass OH earth, not excepting the renowned
Kentucky blue grass. lie quotes the autllori-
ty of a grazier near Corpus Christi, !eXas
who having a tell-acre patch of Bermuda, de-
dred acres OF mesquite grass on his rancho
Our Mississippi friend says that his milk
COWS and beef cattle keep seal fat on Bermu-
da alone, and when driven off to the cane
brakes will invariably find their way back to
the Bermuda That he and his nelghbors
have cut Bermuda from one and half to two
and a half tons to the acre. And in fine, for
all purposes of hay, grass and pasturage there
is nothing on earth to compare with t,swhile,
as a fertilizer, everybody agrees that there Is
nothing equal to it.
On light sandy soils, covered with this grass
the sod will thicken every year, even when
submitted to exhaustive pasturage, which no
other grass could sustain. Beyond doubt
the Bermuda grass, rightly utilized, will be
found one of the most valuable of all Southern
products. Applied to o,u exhausted and wash
ed soils it will reclaim them without labor.
1t will furnish invaluable pasturage for beeVeS,
sheep, goats and hogs. 1t will supply the
country with rich milk and butter, and when
treated with judgment, it is easy OF eXternll-
nation. The shade of grain and pea crops
will subdue it fully in single year.
| SIIEEP-The G. ying need of American ag-
ricultue to-day !; a more general incorpora-
tion of the sheep into the farming economy.
More prolific than horses or cattle, as we'll as
more tractable, subsisting on scantier herbage
and requiring less supervision, it claims the
additional advantage Of paying for its raising
| in annual instai ments of marketable fleece,
pending its grol tn to maturity. 1t IS more
| readily transfer I'd from one incloSure to an
| other, and is easily restrained by fences which
| would prove no barrier against the encroacll-
| ments of other farm stock Its light tread and
| love of repose warrant it's access to fields and
pastures where tramping of cattle and tearing
of hogs would not be tolerated. 1t wastes less
food, in proportion to the quantity consumed,
and will hunt and utilize much that would 9TH
erwse be lost to the farmer
Yielding return in both fleece and flesh,
it furnishes it's owner with the double advan-
tage of catching good market for his pro-
duct, requiring less water and disposed TO
work for its food. 1t is without peer when
Summers drought taxes the farmers resources
for enabling his live stock to maintain an av-
erace of thrift and tiesh All that can be said
| in behalf of feeding live stock on the farm, as
distinguished from the soil impoverishing pol
| icy of placing the raw grain and grass upon
the market, will be found to apply with double
emphasis to the farm that carries as part or
it's outfit one or more sheep per acre. NO otll'
er animal returns more fertility to soil in pro-
portion to the amount eXacted for It's support,
while none equals it in the evenness with
which the droppings are distributed. Not
withStanding the evident advantages an IN
crease in sheep culture brings the agriculture
of a country generally, and especially nlurlng
to the benefit of such farmers as incorporate
it into their system, the fact is apparent that
sheen are not so numerous or so evenly dis
trbuted as they should he. .---....-...,- '..-.