The Savannah morning news., 1903-05-11
MEADOW DAT GRASS,

Rising like a monumental pillar TO
tiny of the South when her
farmers shall have come to their
own, in a future not far off we trust.
what a superb list of plants here greet
the overriding UP from meadow oat
TO trusty rye. In all they are but a
liberal score or a scant two-dozen, but
after all a good dozen more than will
actually be needed to make the pastoral
farming of the cotton-sick South the
most money-making perhaps of all le-
climate occupations. There are ten
or a dozen more excellent plants that
might have been included in the list
and made the pillar half again as tall,
and having the effect of increasing the
quantity but diminishing the quality.
Some may wonder at cattail millet not
being included others that Florida
clover" alias Beggarweed, should not
be a stone in the pillar. And so others
according to INDUSTRIAL experience,
might claim a place for mililotus or
German millet or red or sapling clover,
or-in fact. some other of at least an
other full score that might very profit
ably be used under varying conditions
that might exist over a large territory.
BY reference to a complete list of pas
ture and meadow plants adapted to
Southern soil and climate and, espe-
cially after they had been put to a sat
isfactory practical test, quite a num-
Der might be found worthy of being
substituted for a like number that now
appear in the above list, but 1t is not
likely that it would be greatly altered
even then. Almost without exception
all of the above have been subjected TO
that practical test and have been found
worthy and available. 1t embraces a
fair mixture of annual biennial and
perennial plants, and the leguminous
and the gramanael are in reasonable
proportion. To the fullest extent pos
Sibly the Southern stock raiser should
make use of the perennials those
grasses and cloVers that once wen es-
tablished in pasture and meadow will
continue to yield crops for several
years. There is but one clover of this
character Lucern), but there are nu-
merous grasses chief amongst which
are Bermuda, Orchard, Johnson and
Meadow oat, a quartette of magnih-
cent plants for their particular purpose.
The clovers as a rule are either bien-
NAL or annual, but demand to be
treated as annual to get the most sat-
isfactory results from them. To a GER
tain extent some of these act the part
of perennials when allowed to go TO
seed after the first crop is cut off The
seeds being allowed to mature reseed
the land for another years growth In
this way our bur clover may be made
to occupy the soil for a number of
years, and frequently while doing so.
allow of a summer crop between the
seeding and sprouting of the clover
crops. To make use of this feature of
the plant nice calculation would be
called for in choosing and planting of
the "go-between crop" usually peas
or corn. 1t must be some crop adapt
ed to the period from May to Septem-
Der. AT any rate taking farmers
could, on occasion and frequent occa-
sion, take advantage of this character
istlc OF certain cloVers though it might
not be recommended for universal use.
AS, we have heretofore suggested spe-
cially. in the treatment of lawns where
Bermuda is the base white clover can
be very satisfactorily sown on the
stubble in October-November so can
IT be done to advantage also in the
Bermuda pasture. In the same way
some good farmers have thus used bur
clover, but ii is not suitable on Ber-
muda for lawn purposes 1t makes too
the beautiful white blossoms of the
Dutch on white clover that gives such
charm to the we1l-kept lawn where
on nothing else besides the grass and
clover is allowed to intrude, wherein
not a weed is seen.
As no doubt many of our readers are
aware there has been in recent years
vigorous contest, so to speak, be-
tween the diminutive but persistent ia
pan clover Lespedeza). and the seem
ingly irresistible Bermuda for the pos
session of the soil that the latter has
held for many years. AS far back as
fifteen years ago some predicted that
in time the little clover would win out.
and perhaps entirely replace the more
valuable grass. For a time it seemed
that the prediction would be verified.
Lawns and pastures We're so encroach-
ed upon by the fierce little Goth" OF a
plant, with its capacity for eNhausting
soil, almost equal to sorghum, the
grass did suffer seriously, from the
smothering and the loss of the soluble
mineral food that the clover used ND
so freely and promptly owing to the
vast quantity of seeds that il natures.
For a while the yield of grass was
greatly reduced. but in time the accu-
mutation Of vegetable matter in the
soil from the decay of its roots. along
with the decay also of a certain pro-
portion or Bermuda roots. enabled the
soil to support both in alternation-at
least. 1t so appears to be the case in
Middle Georgia. 1t would be question
able whether LesDedeza would be en-
titled to place in the above list, but
for the fact that it VIII occupy much
of our land, whether we wish it or not
and of course we must use of it, 1t is a !
fairly good plant for the sheep farm, |
though inferior to other clovers 1t is !
wonderful TO what extent It has taken !
possession OF the lands of the South. !