The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-04-12

ask, "What is Bermuda grass ?1!;: The
botanist will answer, it is the Cynodon
dactylon, but one may look deeper
than nomenclature and learn more.
1t is the child of summer and a pro-
duct of the tropIes! 1t riots in the
sun, droops in the shade and dies at
the touch of frost. 1t has been in the
South the Ishmaelite of grasses, with
"every mans hand against it," A
wandering outcast. A .''Bedouin OF
the desert" A free, wild rover, ever
unconquered and unconquerable. Un.
der the fircest down pouring solar heat
it will cover desert with an emerald
sheen, where the whole family of civ
ilized grasses, timothy, red top and
clover, would wither or perish.
Its origin is mystery, and its life
has history-a history of never end
ing persecution and struggle for exist
ence. Tradition says, it is an alien to
our shores, q waif from far off coral
reefed islands; borne on the wings oi
the hurricane from Bermuda to the
South Atlantic States. 1t thrived and
waxed strong here where it found
such sunny skies and genial soil, and
soon began to wander far and vide.
But alas! it had entered the realm of q
hoary tyrant "old King Cotton" and
the mighty monarch vino rsIed the
world, swore by his while, white
beard, death and destruction to the au-
dacious flraign invader, Then began
a War of determination Inch by
inch, year by year, hunted by fire and
sword, the Bermuda grass retreated to
its stronghold, the inaccessible
swamps and wild Southern jungles,
and there il bided its time. But there
came a day when. the realm of the
tyrant was invaded by queen.
"Oh, every inch queen was she,
And she came from an isle that Ia over the
sea,
From despot's sway, King Cotton"
She quickly found the long perse.
cuted, hidden one,' and called: Come
forth, and bless this land. Fear not,
for 10! I am thy friend and ally for
evermore."
Then with q mad scamper, the un-
tanned little runway grass went over
the valleys and hills of the South, but
never far from his friend and pre-.
server. Close, close to her he ever
creeps for protection. When you see
the lifted head of the Jersey Queen,
from Texas plains to Georgia "cane-
brake,n look down at her feet and
there you will find her faithful fol.
lower-Beamuda grass.
What T have written is not poet
ical fable. n is true story and more.
1t is an epitome of history, brief
compendium of all the marvellous
changes and transformations that
have silently, like the unseen forces of
nature, been at work in the South for
20 years. And I with the gift were
mine to state the wondrous facts with
such power that the most careless
reader of these lines could not forget,
nor slightly pass them over.
One might almost say that from a
revolution that shook continent with
it's throes, all the stupendous results
evolved in the cotton States, might be
summed up in two comprehensive
words-Bermuda grass.
For to the thoughtful student of
men and events, they embody the be-
lief that "old things have passed
away" with all the pathos and over
whelming change these words imply.
They represent the new South, with
its new life, dew aspirations, new con-
ditions and destiny, and they contain
the ''sum and substance of all things
hoped for" if yet unseen in the South
ern states, diversified industries and
economical, intelligent agriculture.
And may a Southern woman, whose
only interests and hopes are in her
native land make in. conclusion a pro-
phecy2
The Northern traveller to my section
ofthe South years hence will see not
the God-forsaken, tree-girdled wastes,
but waving fields Of grain, and green
pastures with fine cattle and we'll
filled barns, and every sign of pros
porous farming people. The whole
beautiful region that stretches at the
foot of the. Alleghanies through the
Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama will
vie with the famous "blue gras lands"
of Kentucky in rich meadows, choice
dairy products and blooded stock.
Here are no drifting SHOWS nor icy
storms, no blizzard frozen pastures.
That nature has marked this garden
spot with the sign and seal of her ap.
proval as the true dairy region of
America, who can doubt? Over 1t
she has arched skies as sunny, and
famed it with air as soft, as those of
the island of Jersey and given 1t ad-
vantage over all the other sections, not
only in never ending summers, but in
perpetually flowing, pure waters ana
rich responsive soil that only needs
appreciative care and skilled labor to
reward the husbandmand with plente-
GUS harvest.
With the vivid interests just awak.
ened in dairying, the abandonment of
exclusive cotton culture, the emigrs-
ton here of Northern people who will
teach US their habits of industry, thrift
and economy, there is future at last
dawning for those Of US who live In
the "blaek belt of the South"
Mrs. B. w. Hunt.