The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-12-25
THE CITRUS TRIFOLIATA AS 4
HEDGE PLANT IN SOUTH
CAROLINA.
South Carolina Experiment Station
Press Bulletin No. 9S.
(By Senator B. r. Tillman.) }

why the soil washes away 80 badly.
State. Portions of this are much
more hilly than the rest On certain
soils Of red kind, owing to the
freezing and thawing in winter, the
washing and denudation is much more
marked. Any land in this region
grows Bermuda grass admirably, and,
even where the soil is gone, if the
land is broken deeply and n little
stable manure used, Bermuda soon
sods it over. On land entirely devoid
of soil, or extremely poor the best
way to secure a Bermuda sod is to
sow rye and fertilize with CONNER
cial fertilizers. The plant grows with
less humus than any Of the grains
and the roots will serve to give the
Bermuda a foothold if the rye is
grown and allowed to rot on the land.
Once sodded and put in pasture it re-
cuperates and it's fertility is restored
ing cotton on such land, as has been
too long the custom, is that having
lost its humus, it washes very badly
and soon becomes sterilized or so
poverty-stricker that it will not grow
anything profitably.
When land has been pastured sew
eral years and the Bermuda sod be-
comes set and grows all over it, an
admirable crop of oats can be grown
on 1T If commercial fertilizers are
used in the drill when the oats are
sown and no injury will result to the
grass at ALL Oats should be sown
every third or fourth year in such
soils. In fact it makes better pasture
for plowing it up deep and turning the
Bermuda roots under the land. Such
farms can be made profitable by
stock-raising without the necessity
OF growing cotton. Cotton as every
one knows requires hoeing, and hoeing
Bermuda sod is costly and laborious.
There are thousands and tens of thou
sands Of acres Of land IN the Pied
mont or regions north Of Columbia
that are very badly quilted or washed.
These soils have all the mineral ele-
ments in ample quantity to grow fine
Bermuda grass All they need Is to
get this grass on them and use them
az pastures alternating with oats as
have already indicated There are
many thousands Of acres of land
originally very fertile and densely
wooded which are now given over to
poverty-stricken old field pine thick
cts, full Of gullies, where the pines
are puny and show none Of the vigor
usual with that type Of trees. How to
restore these now barren and useless
acres to productive agriculture is one
Of the problems which Clemson Col
lege seeks to solve. On it's own farm
a. the college 1t is showing the pos
sibilities Of recuperation coming
from Bermuda sod on lands once gull
lied and washed away. What can be
done at the college, and has been
done, can be done throughout tho
Piedmont region Of the State.
The only drawback to making land
profitable for stock-raising is the lack
Of fences Anyone familiar with the
expense and trouble Of keeping up
wire fencing must welcome the hedge
plant that will grow under favorable
conditions and produce a fence in
from six to ten years according to the
way it is treated. Such a plant is the
Citius trifoliata or hardy lemon. 1
have known the value OF this plant
for twenty years or more DR.. c. u.
Sheppard at Summerville and Mr.. p.
j. Rerckmans Of Augusta, Ga, have
grown the hedge successfully for thirty
years or more. 1 have on my planta-
ton at Trenton more than half a mile
Of such hedge, a photograph of
which Is sent with this article, and
1t makes a fence entirely impervious
to stock of all kinds. To use the old
Saxon adage, 1T is pig tight, horse
high and bull strong" 1 doubt very
much whether even an elephant
would like to tackle il for the mil
lions Of thorns are very strong and
sharp, and the bush which becomes
small tree when neglected, has a
very stiff stem and is not easily bent.
The only enemy l know and the
worst one to the citrus hedge Is fire.
If crab grass is allowed to grow and
leaves to accumulate under and
in it, the plants will soon die for they