QH

1

A612

NH

ANNALS

OF

KENTUCKY NATURAL HISTORY

VOL. 1, ART. 1
SEPTEMBER 27, 1941

13

QH

1

A612

NH

JALS OF KENTUCKY NATURAL HISTORY

Art. 1, pp. 1-13, figs. 1-3. September 27, 1941

published by the Natural History Club, Louisville, Kentucky

Address correspondence to the Editor, William M. Clay, University of Louisville,

Louisville, Kentucky.

CANEBRAKES IN PREHISTORIC AND PIONEER

TIMES IN KENTUCKY *

By J. S. McHargue, Ph.D.

In recent years the writer has been interested in a perusal of
the very fascinating historical accounts which describe the nature
of the soil and the luxuriant flora and fauna that was found by the
first explorers and settlers in the region west of the Alleghany
Mountains and south of the Ohio River.

However, it is the purpose of this discussion to give a review
of the historical data which pertain to the vanished and almost for¬
gotten canebrakes that formed a very conspicuous and important
part of the primitive flora in the central part of the region of what
is now Kentucky and Tennessee.

My earliest contact with wild cane, or American bamboo,
Arundinacea, was on the farm in Laurel county, Kentucky, where
I was born and brought up. This particular canebraket or patch
was, when I first saw it, a mere remnant, I suppose, of its former
size. Certainly it was very small in comparison with the ones
described by the pioneer and early settlers who saw canebrakes in
all their vastness and pristine beauty and grandeur.

However, my interest in canebrakes is rather recent and has
resulted from reading in 1925 a full page article published in the
local newspapers by Judge Samuel M. Wilson, of Lexington, Ken¬
tucky. The title of Judge Wilson’s article is “Kentucky Bluegrass
is Native Product.” This article created considerable interest on

"•Read before the first Kentucky Wildlife and Natural History Conference,
September 20, 21, 22, 1940—-Otter Creek National Park, Meade County,
Kentucky. Read before the Botany Club of the University of Kentucky,
December 5, 1940.

fThe author made a trip on October 2, 1940 to the place where he first
saw wild cane in his youth and found bunches growing sparsely, some of
which were six feet or more tall and the stalks were about one-half inch
in diameter at the base. One of the largest bunches was taken up and
transplanted in the Botanical Garden at the University of Kentucky.

349200

2

Annals of Kentucky Natural History Vol. 1, Art. 1

my part with respect to both bluegrass and canebrakes. Since then
I have made a perusal at odd times of those historical records which
contain a description of the flora of central Kentucky previous to
pioneer times, and are available at the local libraries. In the mean¬
time brief publications pertaining to bluegrass 1 and canebrakes 2
have been made.

Dr. Thomas Walker in 1750 3 was the first white man of whom
we have an authentic record* to lead a party of explorers into the
wilderness west of the Alleghany Mountains. He reports that
some of the horses in their party became sick from eating too much
wild cane while they were on the head waters of Cumberland
River. Since Dr. Walker’s explorations did not extend farther
west on his first trip than the Rockcastle River it appears that he
did not come in contact with the most luxuriant canebrakes in
Kentucky at that time.

In 1754 John Finley 4 and a party of traders made their way
from North Carolina west into a region called Dark and Bloody
Ground by the Indians. Apparently Finley and his party en¬
countered a hostile attitude by the native Indians and they were
advised to return to their homes and remain on the other side of
the mountains. Undoubtedly, Finley and his party passed through
much cane land on their trip west. Upon returning to his home
Finley gave a glowing account of his adventures beyond the moun¬
tains to Daniel Boone. Several years later, 1769, a party consisting
of Finley, Boone, Stewart, Halden, Monay and Cool was organized
to make explorations into the region from which Finley had been
previusly ordered to stay away. On May 1, 1769, the party left
their homes in North Carolina and made their way through the
wilderness, often hiding from the hostile Indians in dense cane¬
brakes which occurred in great abundance as they proceeded west¬
ward.

On June 7, 1769, they arrived on Red River, which bordered on
the Dark and Bloody Ground. From the top of an elevation the
party reported they beheld the most beautiful and wonderful land¬
scape they had ever seen. They camped near this point, in Powell
county, for some time and Boone and Finley made extensive ex¬
plorations into the surrounding wilderness, which far exceeded

^Undoubtedly, several white men had been in the region west of the
Alleghany mountains previous to Dr. Walker’s expedition, See Collins’
History of Kentucky. Dr. Walker made a second trip to Kentucky in 1758.

September 27, 1941

McHargue : Canebrakes

3

their expectations. “We found everywhere abundance of wild
beasts of all sorts through this vast forest. The buffaloes were
more frequent than I have seen cattle in the settlements, browsing
on the leaves of cane . . . Finley and Boon made their way
down the Kentucky River to the mouth of Dix River, where they
parted and according to Bruce 5 they did not meet again.

The first road or trail across the Alleghany Mountains into Ken¬
tucky has always been known as Boone’s Trail. 6 It was cut from.
Long Island on the Holston River in North Carolina to Boonesboro
on the Kentucky River. The officers of the Transylvania Company
made a bargain with Daniel Boone to go before and open this road.
Captain Twetty’s company of eight persons joined Col. Boone’s
which included Squire Boone, Col. Richard Calloway, John Kennedy
and eighteen others, making 30 in all. The company began their
task of marking the trail at Long Island and continued until they
reached the Rockcastle River. Thence for twenty miles they had
to cut their way through a country entirely covered with dead
brush, probably caused by a forest fire. The next 30 miles were

'‘through thick cane and reeds* and as the cane ceased they began to
discover the pleasing and rapturous appearance of the plains of Kentucky.
A new sky and a strange earth seemed to be presented to their view. So
rich a soil they had never seen before, covered with clover in bloom. The
woods were abounding in wild game, turkeys so numerous that it might be
said they appeared but one flock universally scattered in the woods. . . .”

In 1776 General Levi Todd”, who was a companion of Daniel
Boone on many of his explorations in Kentucky, wrote in a “Narra¬
tive of Transactions in Kentucky from 1774 to 1777” the following
statement:

"Here I will take time to digress from a regular detail of facts by
observing that the face of this country was at the time I have been speak¬
ing of, delightful beyond conception, nearly one-half of it covered with
cane, but between the canebrakes, spaces of open ground, as if intended by
nature for fields, the ground appeared extremely fertile, and produced
amazing quantities of weeds of various kinds, some wild grasses, wild rye
and clover. ...”

In 1779 John Filson 8 came to Lexington, Kentucky, and engaged
in teaching school for about five years. In the meantime he pre¬
pared and published in 1784 the first history and also the first map

*It can be assumed that this canebrake had a considerable width, other¬
wise Boone would have led his party around it.

miztm

4

Annals of Kentucky Natural History Vol. 1, Art. 1

of Kentucky. The title of the book is “The Discovery, Settlement
and Present State of ‘Kentucke’ and An Essay Towards the Topog¬
raphy and Natural History of that Important Country” to which
is added an Appendix containing, I. “The adventures of Col. Daniel
Boone, one of the first settlers, comprehending every important
occurrence in the political history of that province . . .”

The information contained in Filson’s history of Kentucky was
endorsed by Daniel Boone, Levi Todd and James Harrod, who were
among the first settlers in Kentucky and from whom Filson ob¬
tained much of the information contained in the first history of
Kentucky.

Fig. 1. Filson’s map of Kentucky showing the location of dense
canebrakes in 1784. The arrows indicate the cane lands.

September 27, 1941

McHargue: Canebrakes

5

On page 23 Filson discusses the flora as he observed it and says:

“Here is great plenty of fine cane, on which the cattle feed and grow
fat. This plant in general grows from three to twelve feet high of a hard
substance, with joints at eight to ten inches distance along the stalk, from
which proceed leaves resembling those of willow. There are many cane-
brakes so thick and tall it is difficult to pass through them.”

At the time this map was published (1784) the country which
was then called “Kentucke” was divided into three counties, Fay¬
ette, Jefferson and Lincoln, (See Fig. 1). The territory lying be¬
tween points where Paris, Falmouth and Cynthiana now are, on
Filson’s map is labeled “Fine Cane Land.” The country lying be¬
tween Hingston and Stoner Creeks is labeled “abundance of cane.”
The region of the head waters of Salt River is labeled “Fine Cane.”
The region lying north of Elkhorn Creek is also labeled “fine cane.”
It is to be assumed that these areas thus labeled “Cane Land” and
“Fine Cane” on Filson’s map, included considerable stretches of
country and that the canebrakes were larger and taller at these
various points. It is also to be assumed that much cane occurred
between areas thus labeled but probably of sparser and of smaller
growth.

The following description of a canebrake is quoted from the
Autobiography of James B. Finley 9 :

“My father, Robert W. Finley, with his family, landed at Maysville,
Kentucky, late in the fall of 1788. He spent the winter at Washington,
in Mason County, and moved to Flemingsburg where he remained for one
season and then moved to Bourbon County, Kentucky. He settled in the
spring of 1790 on what was then called the Cane Ridge.

“The land purchased by my father was a part of an unbroken cane-
brake extending for twenty miles toward what was called the Little
Mountain (now Mount Sterling). We had to cut out roads before we could
haul the logs to build our cabins. The cane was so thick and tall that it
was almost impossible for a horse or a cow to pass through it. We first
cut the cane and gathered it in piles to be burned. This was performed by
a cane-hoe. The next thing was to plow, which was done by first cutting
the cane roots with a coulter, fastened to a stock of wood, which was called
the blue boar. This turned no furrow, and hence it was necessary to
follow it with the bar shear, which turned over the sod.”

Rogers 10 gives the following account of Rev. Robert W. Finley
and the building of the Cane Ridge Meeting House in 1791:

“Finley (Robert W.) meeting Col. Daniel Boone, whom he had known
before, both being natives of Berks County, Pa., on one of his return trips
to his old home from Kentucky, hearing a glowing account of the fertility

6

Annals of Kentucky Natural History Vol. 1, Art. 1

of its lands, having laid aside the equipment of war with the emergency
which brought it forth, resumed his former ministerial paths, which had
been so ruthlessly encumbered ‘by grim-visaged war’, organized a small
party of his neighbors, including two of his brothers, penetrating the wilds
of an unbroken forest to see for himself this abounding land, in the
season of 1784. He saw a country marvelously rich, teeming with an
unlimited growth of splendid timber of every known variety, watered by
innumerable springs and streams, with all description of game common to
the latitude, that he beheld with wonder and satisfaction, the ideal of the
pioneer and settler, the hunter and trapper. He returned to his home
enthusiastic over the prospects of an immediate removal to the brakes of
Kentucky, where he had seen a growth of cane of great area, green and
succulent the entire year, affording the richest pasturage for stock in the
winter months, and when removed from the surface which it cumbered,
exposing a soil for opulence and productiveness not surpassed.

“However, it was not until late in the fall of 1788 that Finley with his
family arrived at Limestone (now Maysville), Kentucky and went into
winter quarters at Washington, Mason County, Kentucky a few miles
away. In the following spring, 1789, Finley bought land near the present
site of Flemingsburg, but he and his family were not content with this
location, sold their property at Flemingsburg and purchased in the spring
of 1790 a portion of a canebrake eight miles northeast of Paris in Bourbon
County, which he named Cane Ridge. Comfortable log cabins were built,
the cane cut away and corn planted in time to mature that season. The
year following, 1791, the meeting house at Cane Ridge and its most potent
ally, the log cabin seminary*, were built. . . .”

The suggestion is tendered that the canebrake occupied by
Finley and his companions was 8 to 10 feet in height, and was an
unbroken stretch to Little Mountain, the present site of Mt.
Sterling, fifteen miles in an air line, and perhaps half as wide;
that it was the favorite lair of every known variety of game, from
the common gray squirrel to the buffalo, and that the water
courses abounded with fish.

An account of the building of the Cane Ridge Church and Semi¬
nary is recorded in the manuscript left by an itinerant minister
(Mr. Peter Houston, as quoted by his grandson, F. P. Houston) who
lent his aid. He mentions that after suitable timber had been
selected, cut, hewn and notched, where it fell, owing to the exces¬
sive growth of cane, from eight to ten feet in height, and to its
density, in order to find the location for the building it was neces-

*The Seminary was struck by lightning five years later and burned down.
The Church has been kept in good repair, is still standing and is used
during the summer season at the present time.

September 27, 1941

McHargue: Canebrakes

7

sary for men to climb trees to direct the hauling of the prepared
material to the proper place.

In 1793 Imlay 11 wrote a book entitled “A Topographical De¬
scription of the Western Territory of North America” in which he
gives a description of wild cane and its importance as a forage
plant as it occurred in Central Kentucky at that time. He says,

“From Limestone (now Maysville) to Licking Creek the country is
immensely rich and covered with cane, rye grass and the native clover.
The cane is a reed which grows to the heights of frequently 15-16 feet,*
but more often generally about 10-12 feet, and is in thickness from the size
of a goose quill to that of two inches in diameter. Sometimes, yet seldom,
it is larger. When it is slender it never grows higher than from four to
seven feet. It shoots up from the ground in one summer, but produces no
leaves until the following year. It is an evergreen and is, perhaps, the
most nourishing food for cattle upon earth. No other milk or butter has
such flavor and richness as that produced from cows which feed upon
cane. Horses which feed upon it work nearly as well as if they were fed
upon corn, provided care is taken to give them once in three or four days
a handful of salt, otherwise this food is liable to heat and bind their
bowels.”

An early account of the Fort at Lexington taken from an in¬
terview with John Wymore, Jr.t 12 contains the following interest¬
ing statements. “My father, John Wymore, came out with his
family to Lexington in the fall of 1779.” Describing an attack on
the fort by a small band of Indians, he says ....

“The cane was so thick my father and Donnolly could not be shot at
till they got into the open woods, near the fort. There was a large forked
wild cherry somewhere about where the Court House is now. Donnolly
got behind this and shot at the Indians. When the men sallied out, the
Indians (of which there were only seven or eight) immediately retreated
again into the cane. . . . The cane was cleared away around the fort, for
about seventy or eighty yards.”

* Cummings’ Tour, Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Thwaites Chapter 25,
page 178. “Hef said that the whole country was then an entire canebrake,
which sometimes grew to forty feet high, but that the domestic animals
introduced by the settlers have eradicated the cane, except in some remote
and unsettled parts of the state. He described that plant as ‘springing
up with a tender shoot like asparagus, which cattle are very fond of’.”

1‘The person referred to is Captain John Waller, one of the party from Vir¬
ginia associated with Simon Kenton, 1775-76. He resided at a town
named Millersburg at the time 1807-1809.

^Quoted from a mss. loaned to the author by Mrs. Charles R. Staples,
Lexington, Ky.

8

Annals of Kentucky Natural History Vol. 1, Art. 1

William Stickney 4H writing in 1872 of his father-in-law, Amos
Kendall, who was a pioneer in Kentucky, gives the following de¬
scription of the original site of Lexington, Kentucky ....

“Originally, the site of Lexington and the surrounding country was
covered with heavy timber under which was a thick growth of cane so
intertwined with pea-vine as to be almost impenetrable to man and beast.
The leaf of the cane very much resembles that of Indian corn but not as
long or broad, and it constituted the favorite food as well of the buffalo
as of domestic cattle. As soon as the latter, cattle, became numerous,
they grazed the cane so closely as to kill it as well as the pea-vine, leaving
the forest without any undergrowth. The cane and vine were soon replaced
by a thick and luxuriant growth of bluegrass; affording perhaps the richest
pasture in the world, as beautiful to look upon and wonder over as
pleasure grounds kept in order by incessant labor in other regions.”

Major George Michael Bedinger 14 in 1778 made explorations
and later surveys in the Green River Valley and his records show
dense canebrakes in this part of Kentucky.

Killebrew 15 published, in 1878, a book entitled “Grasses, Cereals
and Forage Plants of Tennessee” in which he gives the following
description of cane:

“Cane, or American bamboo, grows throughout the southern United
States. The northern limits of its distribution are Maryland, the Ohio
River and Missouri. It is one of the largest grasses and apparently prefers
moist, fertile land and often forms dense brakes along streams and in
river bottoms; however, the smaller variety commonly known as switch
cane is often found growing on well-drained hills and ridges. Consequently,
many small streams, churches, schools and villages in Kentucky and
elsewhere have received such names as Cane Ridge, Cane Creek, Cane
Valley, Caneyville, Caney and Cane Springs.

“American bamboo has the generic name Arundinaria. There are two
species, A. macrosperma, and A. tecta, which are distinguished from each
other chiefly by their size. A. macrosperma is quite large and attains a
height of twenty to thirty feet. This variety is usually found in lowlands
along banks of streams, whereas A. tecta is often found on low hills and
ridges as well as on lowlands along streams. Cane is unique among the
grasses in having woody stems from the joints of which are borne fascicled
leafy branches. Cane does not flower regularly but propagates extensively
by underground rootlets. The stems of the smaller variety are used for
switches and pipestems, and the stalks of the larger variety are used for
fishing poles and more recently for flag poles on golf links. The leaves
are linear, smooth, green and are greedily eaten by horses and cattle. This
type of forage was quite an asset to stockmen in early times who drove
their cattle to the brakes and allowed them to browse in the canebrakes
which afforded them some protection from cold weather as well as forage
upon which they did well for several months when little or no other wild
grazing was available.

September 27, 1941

McHargue: Canebrakes

9

“When the first settlers came to Tennessee, the whole face of the
country was covered with cane, and while it existed, afforded abundant
pasturage to stock of all kinds, both winter and summer. The shoots of
young cane are both succulent and nutritious. Not only are they eaten
by beasts but, when young and tender, they are boiled and eaten by man.

“In 1812 and again in 1864 a famine was averted in India by the oppor¬
tune seeding of the cane, the people gathering the seeds and boiling and
eating them like rice. The cane requires about thirty years to mature and
form the seed, then the plant dies, and other plants again spring up from
the roots. The mature stalks have a coating of almost pure silex, and
were used by the aborigines for knives, cups, fans, tables, bedding, wig¬
wams, etc. Like all other grasses it grows from the center, and though it
has graminaceous affinities in all of its internal structure, it partakes of
the nature of a tree in some varieties. It varies in diameter from one-
quarter of an inch to three inches, and in Asia eight inches, and attains
a height of forty and even fifty feet. It belongs to the same family as the
bamboo of the Asiatic and African jungles. In those countries it is applied
to more purposes than any other species of vegetation, and is regularly
cultivated. It is there planted in the spring or autumn and is considered
ready for cutting at the end of four or five years. Some of the most
delicious sweetmeats we have are made from the young and tender shoots
of the cane by the Chinese. The family of cane comprises twenty genera
and one hundred and seventy species. The switch cane is the seedling,
and as the roots become older, they produce from year to year larger stems,
provided it is not too much grazed and trodden, in which case it dwarfs
and remains switch cane until it flowers, seeds and dies.

“The only uses to which it is applied here are for pipestems, fishing-

poles and for making baskets. It forms most excellent winter pasturage,

besides sheltering stock from the inclemency of the weather. Several
large farmers in Middle Tennessee still (in 1878) have their pastures of
cane. Almost any portion of Middle Tennessee, if enclosed and unused,
will soon send up small cane, and if unmolested until it attains some size
it will stand very constant grazing. In the bottoms of West Tennessee, in
some of the valleys of East Tennessee and on some isolated spots in
Middle Tennessee it yet exists in pristine beauty. But it is fast disappear¬
ing with wild game, before the encroachments of the plow. One of the
grandest and most sublime sights to be seen, is the burning of a canebrake

at night. Sounds, as if a terrific battle raged are heard and a blaze goes

up which illuminates the country for miles around and effectually destroys
all vegetation within its fiery circle.”

“It grows best on the richest land, but if the poorest soil is once set
with it, it acts as a fertilizer. This is to be attributed to its wonderful
network of roots, the immense foliage it deposits on the soil, and to its
dense shade. It is a very difficult matter to break up cane land, but
once broken, it quickly rots and adds to the fertility of the soil. The roots
run to a surprising length and depth, and serve as pumps to raise dormant
fertilizing principles from below the reach of any plow.”

10 Annals of Kentucky Natural History Vol. 1 , Art. 1

Fig. 2. A bunch of cane about ten feet tall, collected in Powell County,
Kentucky, 1927.

Fig. 3. Remnants of canebrakes as they occur today, November, 1940.

September 27, 1941

McHargue : Canebrakes

11

The foregoing photographs (Fig. 2 and 3) were made of a bunch
of cane and some canebrakes as they are found in a few inaccessi¬
ble places in Kentucky at the present time. These plants grew in
a clay loam soil which was derived from sandstone formation. How¬
ever, the cane thrives well on soils derived from limestone forma¬
tion.

For the purpose of obtaining more definite knowledge concern¬
ing the allaged nutritional value of wild cane, a sample was col¬
lected and brought to the chemical laboratory of the Kentucky
Agricultural Experiment Station during the latter part of the
summer of 1927. The sample was obtained from near Irvine, in
Estill County, Kentucky. The cane plants were separated into
three parts, stems, branches and leaves, for chemical analyses. A
sample was prepared also, of half a dozen or more young shoots
about two feet long which represented the growth attained from
springtime to the time they were collected. As previously de¬
scribed, the shoots spring up early in the season and make a rapid
growth the first year but do not bear leaves or branches. In the
early part of the season the stalks are quite tender and it is al¬
leged that they have been used as food by man and found to be
highly nutritious. After the samples were prepared for analysis,
quantitative determinations were made on different parts of the
plants.

Table No. 1 shows the results obtained in the analyses which
represent the various constituents in percent of the moisture-free
material.

TABLE I

Sheathe

from

Leaves Leaves Branches Stalks Young young
Samp. 1 Samp. 2 _ Stalks stalks

Ash ..

8.56

10.80

6.090

2.546

6.570

6.776

Silica, Si02 .

7.89

8.165

3.968

.717

.340

2,826

Iron, Fe .

.019

0.0316

.025

.007

.056

.047

Manganese, Mn .

.016

.001

.001

.0007

.002

.007

Calcium, Ca.

.456

.237

.086

.0002

.124

.138

Magnesium, Mg .

.310

.145

.081

.0003

.622

1.820

Phosphorus, P ...

.207

.230

.114

.073

.305

.200

Potassium, K .

1.100

1.720

1.100

.954

n. e.

1.610

Sodium, Na .

.174

.270

.248

.064

n. e.

.288

Sulphur, S .

.313

.187

.083

n. e.

n. e.

n. e.

Nitrogen, N.|

2.20

2.280

.963

.288

n. e.

n. e.

Protein (Nx6.25 .

13.75

14.25

6.020

1.800

n. e.

n. e.

Ether ext (fat) .

3.440

1.730

.842

n. e.

n. e.

12

Annals of Kentucky Natural History Vol. 1, Art. 1

TABLE. II. A COMPARISON OF THE ANALYSIS OF CANE LEAVES

WITH OTHER IMPORTANT FORAGE CROPS

Cane Blue- Timo Red Orchard Corn Red Alfalfa
Leaves grass thy Top Grass Stover Clover

Ash ...

8.56

7.61

4.45

6.31

5.29

5.54

8.48

9.62

Iron ....

0.019

0.032

0.011

0.011

0.017

0.016

0.25

0.014

Calcium ..

0.456

0.39

0.313

0.321

0.239

0.390

1.89

2.340

Magnesium ....

0.310

0.25

0.199

0.164

0.243

0.280

0.278

0.259

Phosphorus ....

0.207

0.24

0.111

0.143

0.130

0.120

0.167

0.5156

Nitrogen .

2.20

2.22

1.18

1.10

1.04

0.79

2.27

2.270

Potassium .

1.100

1.94

1.47

1.69

2.10

1.170

1.55

1.810

Protein ..

13.75

13.88

7.37

6.87

6.50

4.95

14.18

17.00

COMMENTS ON THE ANALYSES

The results of the analyses of the different parts of the cane
plant reveal some points of interest. It is to be observed that the
leaves are relatively high in ash, in fact they contain as much as
most of the forage grasses such as timothy, redtop, bluegrass and
corn fodder. The leaves also contain a good supply of calcium,
magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, iron and nitrogen. The pro¬
tein content of the leaves of cane is greater than that of the more
common grasses which are generally used for forage crops. It is
quite feasible that abandoned farm lands might be advantageously
recovered from further erosion and their fertility improved by
growing cane as a forage crop on them.

It is therefore apparent that the cane plant afforded a highly
nutritious food, particularly in the leaves, and to a less extent in
the branches and young shoots, and because of this fact large num¬
bers of wild herbivorous animals were attracted in prehistoric
times to the cane lands in the region south of the Ohio River.

Moreover it is quite reasonable and altogether fitting and
proper, could the legend be more firmly established, that Kentucky
derived its name from the numerous canebrakes and flocks of wild
turkeys which abounded in great numbers in this part of the
country during prehistoric and pioneer times.

September 27, 1941

McHargue: Canebrakes

13

LITERATURE CITED

1. McHargue, J. S.

1926 Kentucky bluegrass, whence did it come? Trans. Ken¬
tucky Acad. Sci ., vol. 2, pp. 179-190.

2. McHargue, J. S., E. S. Hill, and W. A. Anderson

1927-28 Canebrakes of Kentucky in prehistoric time and the
the importance of cane as a forage plant. Trans. Ken¬
tucky Acad. Sci., vol. 3, pp. 71-73.

3. Walker, Dr. Thomas, 1715-1794, by Josiah Stoddard Johnston,

1833-1913. Filson Club Pub. no. 13.

4. Finley, John

Collins History of Kentucky.

5. Finley, John and H. A. Bruce

Daniel Boone and the Wilderness, p. 65.

6. Filson Club Publication, no. 13.

7. Todd, Levi..

Narrative of transactions in Kentucky from 1774 to 1777.
(See Judge Samuel Wilson, Bluegrass is native product,
in Lexington Leader , 1925.)

8. Filson, John

1784 First History of Kentucky.

9. Finley, James B.

1854 Autobiography, p. 39.

10. Rogers, James R.

The Cane Ridge Meeting House. To which is appended the
Autobiography of Barton W. Stone and a sketch of
David Purviance.

11. Imlay

1793 A topographical description of the Western Territory of
North America.

12. Wymore, John, Jr.

Interview. Draper Mss. no. 11CC. pp. 128-132. In State His¬
torical Society, Madison, Wisconsin.

13. Stickney, William

1872 Autobiography of Amos Kendall.

14. Dandridge, Danske

1909 Major George Michael Bedinger, a Kentucky pioneer, 1778.

15. Killebrew, J. B.

1878 Grasses, cereals, and forage plants of Tennessee.

J. S. McHARGUE,

Head of Department of Chemistry,
Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station,
Lexington, Kentucky.

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