The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-28
GRASSES FOR THE SOUTH.

Some Varieties Which Have Been
Tested and Found vaIuable-Differ-
emit From the Grasses Of the North
and West.
That the grasses and forage plants of
the south differ almost wholly from those
grown in the north is apparent to every
traveller, says Prof Tracy in Industrial
American Timothy and bluegrass are
conspicuous in the north, but in the south
they are replaced by Lespedeza, Bermuda,
Melilotus and johnson grass, which, al
though less attractive in appearance, are
here superior both in quality and in yield.
During the years succeeding the war,
when cotton was bringing high
prices, the southern planter found
it to his advantage to devote all of his
best lands and work to that one crop,
and he could make money by shipping it
to the north and exchanging it for hay;
but now, with the lower price which he
receives for cotton, the natural eXhaus-
ton of the soil and the rapid increase of
stock and dairy interests, he finds it more
profitable to give at least a portion of his
land to hay and pasture, and the amount
of land now used for these purposes is
about five times what it was five years
ago.
FOR BOTH HAY AND PASTURE.
Bermuda grass is grown more largely
than any other one species, and may be
regarded as the standard sort for general
cultivation. 1t matters little whether the
soil on which it is planted be wet or dry,
provided it be rich, and there is, perhaps,
no grass which responds more quickly to
an application of fertilizer. On soils in
good condition it will yield two cuttings,
of at least two tons each of hay which
has no coarse stems to make waste, and
which is of the very best quality. For
pasture it forms a close, firm sod which
bears unlimited grazing. johnson grass
is also grown quite extensively, and its
hay, though coarse, is fully equal in quail
1ty to that of the Bermuda. Six tors per
acre from three cuttings is only fair
crop and, ton for ton, it is fully as good as
the best Timothy. This grass is
DIFFICULT TO ERADICATE7
when once introduced, but for perma-
nent hay crop there are few which are
| better Red clover does well for a few
years on any of the lime lands, but does
| not form the permanent meadows here
which it does in the north. 1t has aver
aged over three tons per acre with US for
the last three years, and we have also
made third cutting of about two tons of
chicken corn from the same land. This
duction among southern grasses, and one
which promises to be of considerable
value. 1t was first noticed in the black
prairie regions of Alabama and Missis-
sippi about twenty years ago, and its
area is increasing yearly. 1t is doubtless
a variety of the common sorghum, but it
has become thoroughly naturalized and
has assumed a branching habit which has
largely increased the amount of forage as
we'll a the mum nals of seed bao ripcg hoo dc
1t makes its growth late in the season,
and so produces heavy crops on fields
from which other crops have been har-
vested. What is known as
JAPAN CLOVER, OR LEsPEDzA,
is by far the most valuable pasture plant
we have, as it will grow on the poorest of
clay soils, and so makes thousands of
acres of good pasture on ground which
would otherwise be covered with broom
sedge and weeds. Stock prefer it to any
other food; it bears grazing we'll, and is
one of the first plants to 'come i'm when
lands are turned out to commons. While
it makes excellent grazing on very poor
soils, it grows still better on good soil,
and crop of two or three tons per acre
can be cut from field in good condition.
Melilotus, the common sweet clover of
the north, is coming into favor here both
for hay and pasture, and is valued still
more highly as
A SUBSTITUTE FOR RED CLOVER
for green manuring A mixture of this
with Johnson grass. with which it grows
well, makes hay similar in quality to d
mixture of Timothy and red clover, and
the yield is nearly double The hay
growing industry in the south has been
developed almost wholly within the last
ten years, and is now increasing more
rapidly than any other line of farming