, 1908-08-08
JOHNSON GRASS NOTTHE SAME
AS BAY GRASS.
"a CoRREcr1oN.)

Wednesdays Avis, that johnson grass is the
same as what is called here Bay grass. A
gentleman who once grew some johnson
grass here from imported seed was kind
enough to set us right in the matter, and he
referred us to Henderson's Handbook of
Plants, from which valuable work we quote
the following:
JOHNSON GRASS. Sorghum halepense. The
name johnson grass. which is the one most
generally adopted in this country, originated
from William johnson of Alabama who in
troduced the grass into that State from
South Carolina in 1910. It's chief value
is for hay in regions where other grass
es fail on account of drought. If out
early, the hay is of good quality, and several
cuttings may be made in a season The late
Mr.. Howard, of Atlanta, Ga. a careful and
p%ractica! farmer and investigator, said of it,
after an experience of forty years, that this
grass was preferable to all others that could
be grown in the South. It's analysis shows
it to be more nutritious than even sweet
corn fodder. It's seeds are as large as those
of broom corn, and it's leaves are long and
tender. The stem reaches d height Of six
feet. It's perennial growth, and the firm
hold it takes of the soil, in which it sprpa Is
with great rapidity, give it q high value for
a fodder grass in the South"
1t ought TO be mentioned that the Santa
Cruz experiment with the above grass did
not prove q success, the plants furnishing
only for a season and then dying out.
It appears that what we in Santa Cruz
call bay grass is known in the States as
Bermuda grass. Henderson, under this head
refers to Cymodon 6dctyIon, which is the DO.
tanical name of bay grass, and under that
head he gives an interesting sketch of the
grass and its history, which, however, we
need not quote here.
The 8. 8. Guiana, on her recent outward
trip had to pass through the eastern edge of
"a cyclone. She left New York about midday
on Thursday the 30th ult. AMI by Friday
afternoon, when the ship must have been
about 800 miles out, the wind began to blow
fresh from the south and the sen began to
rise. During Saturday the wind went round
to southwest and blew harder, while the sea in-
creased, and the barometer fell from some
thing above 80 to 20. {.
The Weather Bereau had given notice of
this storm before the ship left Now York and
from the wind changes,i it appears that the cen
tire, which was somewhere between the coast
and the steamer, must have paused behind
her, moving probably about northeast.
Ii we suppose the centre to have been
west of the ship about midday on Saturday.
IT would be between 500 and 600 miles from
New York, and about l 900 miles away from
us here in st. Croix.
Wa there any sign here of the exis-
tence of this ~oyclone9 Perhaps; for on Friday
evening there had just ceased here one of
those curious excursions of the high
clouds which our editor believes to be, in
some cases at all events, connected with the
movements OF cyclones.
AS q rule the high clouds come from a
westerly point. They were SO coming on
the 22nd, 23rd and Gath of July. Then on
the 25th there was a sudden change, they
came from northeast, which, according to
our editors theory, meant that q cyclone GEN.
tire was north of us.
The excursion continued till Friday the
S1st, after which the centre was probably
100 far away to influence the high clouds
here we know in fact from the Guiana's ex-
perience, that the centre of the storm which
she met was on Saturday somewhere about a
thousand miles away from st. Croix, and
experience has shown that. only the most
formidable hurricanes can govern the high
cloud movements at SO great a distance.
The daily observations were as follows:
Date. Direction of high clouds.
Sat. Is July 10 a. M. Fl. N. E. by E.
Sun. 20 K. N. E..
n1 IL Mt II "