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UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE: PRESS,

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Ag *ORAGE Pe ANTS

’ “By GAanp

ed. B. KILLEBREW, A.M., Ph.D.

BULLETIN OF THE

OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE.

1898. ‘ Nos. 2, 3 & 4.

PRINTED FOR
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE PRESS,
BY
S. B. NEWMAN & CO., KNOXVILLE.
1899.

Tue AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION

OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE.

CHAS. W. DABNEY, President.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

O. P. TEMPLE. T F. P. ALLISON.
JAMES COMFORT. J. W. CALDWELL.
TREASURER: SECRETARY:

JAMES COMFORT. J. W. GAUGE

STATION OFFICERS:

DR. CHAS. W. DABNEY, President.
ANDREW M. SOULE, Agriculturist.

R. L. WATTS, Horticulturist.

CHARLES A. MOOERS, Chemist.

S. M. BAIN, Botanist.

J. B. KILLEBREW, Grass Expert.

F. H. BROOME, Librarian.

JOHN R. FAIN, Farm Manager.

P.O. VANATTER, Assistant for Plat Work.
GEORGE. A. FLICKENGER, Dairyman.

The Station has facilities for analyzing and testing fertilizers, cattle
foods, milk and dairy products; seeds with reference to their purity or
germinating power; for identifying grasses and weeds, and studying for-
age plants; for investigating the diseases of fruits and fruit trees, grains
and other useful plants.

Packages by express, to receive attention, should be prepaid.

All communications should be addressed to the

AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION,
Knoxville, Tennessee.

pas"The Experiment Station building, containing its offices, labora-
tories and museum, and the plant house and horticultural department, are
located on the University grounds, fifteen minutes walk from the Custom
House in Knoxville. She Experiment farm, dairy barn, stables, milk
laboratory, etc., aré located one mile west of the University, on ‘the
Kingston pike. Farmers are cordially invited to visit the buildings and
experimental grounds.

Bulletins of this Station will be sent, upon application, free of charge, to
any Farmer in the State.

—

NOTE.

The Tennessee Experiment Station published, in 1892 and 1894, two
bulletins on The Grasses of Tennessee, from the pen of Prof. F. Lamson-
Scribner, at that time Botanist of the Station, now Agrostologist of the
United States Department of Agriculture. Part I. of this work was a
handy reference book of information as to the general character and qual-
ity of our grasses; Part II. was a handbook of the grasses of the State,
with full descriptions and illustrations.

The present publication is the first of a series of bulletins which will
discuss the methods of cultivating and using the domesticated grasses
and forage plants of Tennessee, of establishing and maintaining perma-
nent meadows and of harvesting and using the various kinds of forage.
It is designed thus to complete the former series.

The Station has been fortunate in securing, to prepare this new series,
the services of Col. J. B. Killebrew, A. M., Ph. D., probably the greatest
authority in the South upon the culture and uses of grasses and forage
plants, whose work on the grasses and forage plants of Tennessee, pub-
lished in 1878, now entirely out of print, remained until the present time

the best manual on the subject. The present work gives the result of

: twenty years’ additional study and experience in the cultivation of grasses

and forage plants.

The analytical engravings of grasses in this Bulletin were made by
Prof. F. Lamson-Scribner. A few of the larger cuts are from Scribner’s
translation of Haeckel’s “True Grasses.” The half tone engravings are
from Tennessee and Southern sources.

CHAS. W. DABNEY, President.

4

PREFACE.

This is a practical work on grasses, prepared by a practical man, for
practical farmers. The basis of the work is the author’s experience on
his own farm, supplemented by his observations of the making of
meadows and pastures in nearly every state and territory in the Union.
This experience and these observations have been fortified by a diligent
study of the literature on grasses in this country, and from Great Britain
as well.

Among the works, which have afforded him the greatest aid are the
bulletins issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, and by
the various experiment stations. He is especially indebted to F. Lamson-
Scribner, probably the most accomplished agrostologist in America, for
many years botanist of the Tennessee station, now of the United States
Department of Agriculture. The works of Rev. C. W. Howard, of Geor-
sta: of Dr. Phares, of Mississippi; of Dr. Gattinger, of Tennessee; of
Prof. J. Stanton Gould, of New York; of Prof. C. L. Flint, of Massachu-
setts; of Prof. Beal, of Michigan; of Edmund Murphy, of Ireland and
Margaret Flues, of England, have been freely consulted, and to all of
them the writer acknowledges his indebtedness for valuable, practical sug-

gestions. In addition to these the agricultural reports of the various

states have been consulted. The old files of the “‘Rural Sun” contain

many admirable articles on the grasses, and these have been frequently
used.

The author hopes that this work will meet the demands of many

_ farmers of Tennessee, who are anxious to enter more extensively upon

the cultivation of the grasses, and that it will supplement the excellent

scientific work already done by our Experiment Station to the great ben-

efit of agriculture in Tennessee. J. B. KILLEBREW.

¥
ay

GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS.

INTRODUCTION.

No vegetable products of the soil are of such transcendent import-
ance to mankind as are the grasses. Included in the family of grasses are
all the cereals that furnish the important bread-grains upon which the
largest number of the population of the globe subsists. The animals,
domestic and wild, that furnish meat for the sustenance of the most civil-
ized portion of the human family feed upon grasses. Indeed it is difficult
to see how the people of our planet could survive the entire destruction
of the grass family.

The vast importance of grasses in the creation of wealth is difficult
to estimate. The annual production of hay in the United States accord-
ing to the eleventh census was 66,831,480 tons, grown on 52,948,797 acres.

A. Fragment of culm of wheat with sheath-node,
somewhat bent. B. Longitudinal section of the
same; sk, sheath-node; hb, point of insertion of the
sheath. C. Andropogon, the sheath is removed on
the left side in order to show the culm-node, hk;
sk, sheath-node.
having a farm value, taking the average of four years, of $514,602,096.
There is no crop that surpasses the hay crop in value. The corn crop,
one year with another, runs nearly equal in value. The wheat crop fol-
lows with an annual value for a full crop of $425,000,000. This is followed
by the cotton crop, the value of which rarely exceeds $300,000,000. But
in this estimate of the value of grass to the country no account has been
taken of the value of pastures. In area, the pasture grasses occupy at
least two acres to one of meadow grasses, and the value of their annual
production cannot be less than that of the meadows. ‘This will make the
total approximate value of the grass crop $1,029,204,792. The making of

“two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before’ is the most
certain road to wealth and commercial supremacy. But even corn
and wheat are the matured fruit of the grasses, as well as oats,
rye, barley, rice and nearly all other bread-grains that enter into the com-
merce of the country. Exclude the grasses from agriculture and the
value of farm products would be reduced fully five-sixths.

HOW TO TELL A GRASS.—At the very outset several important
questions likely to be asked by the unscientific farmer, should be an-
swered. How shall I tell a grass? What are its most distinguishing
characteristics? How shall I separate it from other forms in the vegeta-
ble kingdom? Without attempting to instruct such a farmer in the
science of botany a few elementary principles may be laid down, which
will aid him in determining a grass from other lowly forms of vegetable
life and may lead him to a more extensive study in this delightful field of
inquiry.

Point of separation of the sheath (s) and blade
(spr). A. In Dactylis glomerata L,. B. In Ammophila
arundinacea Host. 1. Ligule. C. Flowering glume
of Bromus Alopecurus Poir.

1—A true grass, with rare exceptions, has either a hollow stem; or it
is filled with pith, like Indian corn or broom grass, commonly called
“broom sedge.”

2—A cross section of the stem is circular or elliptical, but generally
round.

3—The stem or stalk or culm of a grass is divided into sections and
the continuity of the hollow in the stalk is broken by cross partitions.
These partitions are located at the nodes. The parts of the stalk between
the nodes are called joints or internodes. In other words the stalk or
culm is separated like pipe stems or fishing poles by the intervention at
intervals of a solid partition, which partition closes the tube.

4—The leaves of grasses are always alternate, that is, only one at a
joint. The leaves have a sheath that encloses the stem, but this sheath

8

is never a solid cylinder. It is split or open on the side opposite the leaf.
The blade of the leaf is narrow, and its nerves or veins are parallel to
each other, forming raised ribs on the underside that run the whole
length of the leaf. In grasses the third leaf overhangs the first and the
fourth overhangs the second. In sedges the fourth leaf will stand over
the first and the fifth over the second. This is an easy way of distinguish-
ing a grass from a grass-like sedge. Another important thing to remem-
ber is that sedges always have closed sheaths.

1PMIETZZ

Som

—— ee

Rye. Barley.

Two useful plants in the family of grasses.

PART I.
DOMESTICATED GRASSES.

Between the Mississippi River and Atlantic ocean there are known
to exist about 295 species of grasses indigenous to the soil. Between the
Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains there are 190 species, 60
species belonging to that region exclusively. This makes a total of 355
species of grasses from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic ocean. There
are 250 that have been found between the Pacific ocean and the Rocky
Mountains, many of which are common to the other sections of country.
It may, with confidence, be said that there are not less than 350 grasses
indigenous to the United States. Nearly one-half of these are found
within the State of Tennessee. Many have been introduced and are cul-
tivated in every part of the state, and some of the indigenous grasses also
have been domesticated. A considerable percentage of them are valuable
for making pastures and meadows but others are unmitigated pests and
worthless for any purpose whatever.

Out of all this number of grasses, 29 have been selected for discussion
in detail in this bulletin. The grasses selected have, in nearly every
instance, been tested not only in the various experiment stations in the
south and especially at our Experiment Station at Knoxville, but they
have been successfully grown by the farmers of the state. A few grasses
have been mentioned, not for the purpose of recommending them for
cultivation, but to warn the farmers
of the state against them.

TIMOTHY — (Phleum_ pratense.)—
(Meadow Grass.)

Named for Timothy Hansen, of
North Carolina, who introduced it
into this country from England in
1720. Timothy has become the most
popular, the best known and the most
profitable hay grass in the United
States. This popularity is due not
altogether to its superiority in nu-
tritive elements, but largely also to
the fact that it makes the standard
hay of commerce, with which all
other kinds are compared. It is sold
in all the markets of the country,
and its price is quoted in all the
leading commercial journals. In

Timothy—Phleum pratense. buying this hay therefore, one
. The base of plant. 2. Inflorescence. knows precisely what he is paying

ae: & Rloret. for. He knows how much to feed

10

and what result to expect from it. It is graded like cotton, tobacco and
wheat, and it is the only hay that is in universal demand. For this reason,
more than for any other, it is the most profitable, because the sale of it is
most certain.

SOILS—Timothy is a perennia] grass and grows best upon a moist,
tenacious, rich soil. It does not thrive on high, dry or sandy lands,
however fertile they may be. The best situation is valley land having a
soil rich in calcareous matter and humus, not too loose or friable but
with a sufficiency of clay in its composition to make it reasonably com-
pact. Timothy starts slowly in the spring and it does not take so rank
a hold upon the soil as many other meadow grasses do. It is not suited
for pasturage, for it has but little aftermath and the tramping of stock
soon destroys it.

In Tennessee the best lands for its growth are found in the valley of
East Tennessee upon calcareous soils, in the Central limestone basin of
Middle Tennessee, and in the northern and western counties of West
Tennessee. Many of the bottom lands on the Cumberland River and its
tributaries are eminently adapted to its growth. It is unfitted generally
for the dry and cherty lands of the Highland Rim. The conditions favor-
able for its growth, however, may be found in the elevated basins of
Montgomery, Robertson and Stewart counties, as well as those in Frank-
lin, Warren and other counties lying at the western base of the Cumber-
land Mountains where the soils have a large content of the carbonate of
lime. On all the bottom lands lying on the streams of those counties
suitable soils are found, except where there is a predominance of sand
and gravel. Many of the bottoms lying on little Tennessee River in East
Tennessee and on Pigeon River are admirably adapted to the growth
of timothy. Powell’s Valley, in Claiborne county, furnishes soils capable
of growing very large crops. The writer has seen magnificent timothy
meadows in the elevated coves near the top of the Unaka mountains in
Johnson and Carter counties, where mists and rains are almost of daily
occurrence in summer. In general it may be said that the conditions
most favorable for the growing of timothy hay are: (1) A rich, tenacious,
calcareous soil with some humus; (2) a situation where moisture is re-
tained in the soil throughout the growing season, but in connection with
good drainage.

PREPARATION—Atfter the selection of a suitable soil and situation
for the growth of timothy, the land should be well and thoroughly
broken. The depth of the plowing must be regulated by the depth of the
soil. On deep, rich, alluvial bottoms the deeper the land is plowed the
better. Care, however, must be taken in preparing thin soils not to throw
too much clay to the surface, for this will impair the fertility of the seed
bed and prevent the young plants from attaining a vigorous vitality.
When the soil has been well broken, and repeatedly harrowed until it is
thoroughly pulverized, it is in a condition to receive the seed. ‘The best
time for sowing this grass in Tennessee is the last week in September or
the first week in October, after the dry hot weather has been tempered by
cool nights, heavy dews and frequent rains. It is best not to sow the
seed until the ground is moistened by rain, otherwise the heavy dews may

11

cause the seed to germinate when the hot suns of mid-day are likely to

_ destroy the young plants.

The quantity of seed to be sown is regulated somewhat by the char-
acter of the soil. On rich, heavy, deep soils a third of a bushel to the
acre will not be too much; on thin light soils, two gallons per acre will
be ample. The seed may be sown with a drill and probably it will in-
crease the future crop for the land to be afterwards rolled. The sowing
may be done by hand, the width of the spaces sown being regulated by
stakes. Ejight feet is as wide a space as one should attempt to sow. It
is best to sow the land with one-half of the seed and then cross-sow it. ‘
This will insure a more even distribution of the seed. After sowing a
light drag brush or roller, or both, should be run over the land so as to
slightly bury the seed and produce rapid germination. The drag brush
used for this purpose should be light.

The best crop to precede timothy is tobacco, or some clean-hoed
crop. The next best is a crop of millet or Hungarian grass sown in the
summer and harvested in September. This leaves the land clean and
free from any noxious vegetation. Many persons, after the removal of
the millet, do not rebreak the land but harrow it well and immediately
sow the timothy seed. With such preparation they claim they are able
to secure a better stand than in any other manner. This result is no
doubt largely dependent upon the character of the soil.

Timothy rarely does well when sown with wheat or rye in the fall,
or with oats in the spring. The only reason assigned for thus sowing it
is that it saves one preparation of the land, but in trying to economize in
this work it often follows that the wheat crop is injured, while the tim-
othy crop is put off one year and frequently completely fails. It is a
most unusual thing to get a good stand of timothy when it is sown with
grain; in thus sowing it there is great danger of entirely losing the seed
or of having a meadow spotted with many vacant places.

Many excellent meadows are made by sowing with the timothy seed
a gallon of herd’s grass seed to the acre with a slight sprinkling of clover
seed. One gallon of clover seed for ten acres will be sufficient. The
hay thus mixed has more richness or nutriment, has a better flavor, is
more relished by stock, and, indeed, is a complete food. At the same
time the yield is greatly increased. The amount of clover will not be
sufficiently large to impair the keeping qualities of the hay or to make it
easily injured by dampness.

CUTTING AND CURING—The best time for cutting timothy to

_ make the largest quantity of sweet hay is when it has stopped blooming

and a few of the blooms begin to fall. The best cutting stage is limited,
extending from the time when the first blooms begin to fall to the time
when the first dry spot. appears above the first joint and half the blos-
soms have turned brown. If mowed before the blooms begin to fall the
vitality of the plant will be endangered. If mowed after the stalk has
become hard, the hay is of but little value for the nourishment of animals.
Cut at the right stage, every part of the plant is palatable to stock. The
culm or stem, which forms such a large proportion of the whole at this
period, is soft and tender and the blades are green and succulent through-

12

out. If the time of cutting is deferred until the seed begins to ripen
many of the blades will be dry and the stalk will be yellow and hard for
a considerable portion of its length. It will be woody, indigestible as
food, and a great part of its value will be lost. When timothy is over-
ripe it has very little more value than oat-straw for feeding. When cut in
its prime it has no superior as a hay.

Timothy hay cures quickly. It should remain in the sun only long
enough to assure it against mould. After it is well wilted it must be
raked into wind-rows and afterwards made into small cocks four feet in
diameter at the base and about five feet high, well pointed and rounded
“off at the top. Within a day or two, the hay will be cured sufficiently to
put into permanent ricks or stacks, or to be stored in an open shed,
from which it may be baled and sent to market. If a rain should unfor-
tunately fall while the hay lies in wind-rows or in cocks, wetting it to a
considerable depth, it must be immediately opened to the sunlight until
it is dried out. It is best for the quality of the hay that not a single drop
of rain fall upon it and that it be cured, as far as possible, with the least
amount of sunshine. This method will make sweet, fragrant and nutri-
tious hay of prime quality with excellent color.

When the saving of seed is the main object, timothy should not be
cut until the heads are fully ripe. A good thick stand of timothy upon
rich land should yield from eight to twelve bushels of seed to the acre,
weighing 45 pounds to the bushel, which is the legal weight in Tennes-
see. Of timothy seeds there are about 75,000 in an ounce.

Heavy rains or strong winds are to be feared after the heads are fully
ripe, for they beat out the seeds and largely diminish the yield.* In cut-
ting timothy for seed the self-binder should be used, and the grass tied
up in bundles like wheat or oats, and put up in shocks where it must
remain for two weeks or more, until it is dried thoroughly and is ready
for the thresher. The fewer times the bundles are handled, after being
fully dried, the less will be the loss of seed.

The yield of timothy hay on fertile valley lands sometimes reaches
three or four tons an acre. It oftens attains a height of five feet with
heads from eight inches to a foot in length. A bottom field lying on Red
river in Montgomery county was sown by the writer in 1858 with a mix-
ture of timothy and herd’s-grass. It was sown the latter part of Septem-
ber. The following summer thirty tons of excellent hay was sold from
ten acres and two or more tons were retained for home consumption.
‘The soil of this meadow was a calcareous loam with a deep red, well-
drained, unctious, clayey subsoil. The meadow lasted for twelve years
and yielded heavy crops of hay every year, until it was finally plowed up
to give place to a tobacco crop.

Timothy is thought to be a great exhauster of the soil. This is
doubtless true, but its capacity in this respect is not greater than that of
Indian corn, wheat or tobacco. It has been well said that a crop that does
not exhaust the soil is not worth gathering; that it is impossible to get
from the soil something for nothing. The duty of every farmer is to
restore to the soil, by commercial fertilizers or by home-made manures,
some of the valuable nutritive elements that are taken from it by the
crops.

13

STACKING OR RICKING HAY—There is no particular skill re-
quired in making stacks. A pole about twelve or fifteen feet long should
be planted firmly in the ground. Around this a platform for the foun-
dation of the stack should be built. This should be ten or twelve inches
high and as broad as the proposed diameter of the stack. The bottom of
the stack or rick should cover this platform completely and for the
height of six or eight feet the stack should be broadened out so as fo
throw any rain that may fall upon it outside of its base. The most con-
venient size of stack for a majority of farmers is one that will contain
four or five wagon loads of hay, a quantity that may be hauled up in a
day or conveniently accommodated in the stock barn. When a stack is
once broken the whole of it must be carried to shelter or it is liable to
be caught and iniured by rain. In stacking, the hay should be com-
pacted around the pole and practice alone will teach one how to preserve
the symmetry of the stack and give to it'the lines of beauty and utility.
The handrake must be used in combing down the sides of the stack.

A rick may be made of any required length with a width at the base
of from 12 to 15 feet. This width should be gradually increased to the
height of seven feet or more. No poles are necessary in the making of
a rick, but a good substantial platform for the hay to rest upon is nec-
essary. The width of the rick after the height of seven or eight feet
should be gradually contracted like the roof of a house. The rake should
be freely used in combing the sides. It is necessary when first put up to
secure the top against strong winds by passing grass ropes over the rick
and fastening them to the ground on each side. These ropes must be
put at intervals of six or eight feet throughout the entire length of the
rick. After the hay has been well settled, the ropes may be dispensed
with. :

The use of hay knives, which have recently been introduced, enables
thé farmer to haul away just such quantites of hay from his rick as he
may desire. With these knives a vertical section is cut from one end
cleanly and evenly from the top to the bottom of the rick. The introduc-
tion of hay knives has made the rick more popular than the stack.

Every large hay-grower now bales his hay. The most popular size for
a bale is one that will weigh 100 pounds. A bale of this size is more easily
handled, and thus adds value to the hay. There are many persons who
make a business of baling hay, going from farm to farm like those en-
gaged in threshing wheat. They charge a certain price for baling and
furnishing the wire, regulated somewhat by the prices of hay. Every
farmer who raises more timothy hay than is necessary to meet the re-
quirements of his own farm should bale it before carrying it to market.
“The farmers in every thickly settled community would do well to sow
timothy enough to justify them in buying a baling press, which in the
marketing of 800 or 400 acres of hay will pay for itself in a single year.
The press could also be used in baling clover hay and wheat straw, the
latter being worth when baled, four dollars per ton or more.

A FEW PRECAUTIONS—(1) Do not sow without testing before-
hand the power of germination in the seed.

14

Do not sow anything but clean seed. Examine for noxious seeds
with a magnifying glass.

Do not sow when the soil is very dry and cloddy.

Do not cover the seeds to a greater depth than one-fourth of an inch.
When covered 2 inches very few, if any, will germinate.
Do not pasture a timothy meadow at any time; the destruction of the

bulbous roots will soon exterminate the grass.

Do not cut the grass below the first joint.

Do not forget that blue-grass is the arch enemy of a timothy meadow.
Therefore never permit stock from a blue grass pasture to roam
over a timothy meadow.

Do not fail to exterminate all bunches of ‘‘broom-sedge”’ and all
“vellow dock” that may appear in the meadow during the sum-
mer. Never let these go to seed.

Above all do not forget to top dress your meadow with suitable
manure in the fall of the year and with superphosphate in the
spring. Feed your meadow and it will feed you.

HERD’S GRASS, RED TOP, FINE BENT, FIORIN, (Agrostis alba

or Agrostis vulgaris.)—(Pasture and Meadow.)

Recent, botanical investigations have determined the fact that herd’s

grass is greatly modified by climate, soil and situation. The most appro-
priate name for it is probably agrostis polymorpha, on account of the
many forms which it assumes when subjected to different conditions. By

9 "
2.

whatever name it may be des-
ignated in various localities it
is one of the most useful agri-
cultural grasses of the south.
It will grow upon every soil,
and will give more general
satisfaction to the farmer than
any other grass. It is scat-
tered over the whole state of
Tennessee. The writer has
seen it growing luxuriantly
upon the hightest mountains
of East Tennessee, as well as
in the deepest valleys; on the
sandstone soil of the Cumber-
land table-land, and upon the
cherty soils of the highland
rim. It sparkles in the beauty
of its verdure on the lime-
stone soils of the central basin
and acquires its largest
growth in the sandy river and
creek basins of West Tennes-
see. There is no place in

Herd’s Grass, Red Top—Agrostis alba.

Panicle. 3. Spikelet. 4. Empty glumes.
5. Flowering?glume.

Tennessee in which it does not prove a profitable grass to the farmers.

15

Even upon the galled and worn-out soils, if sown and top dressed with a
small quantity of stable manure, it will be a powerful factor in the recla-
mation of the soil and at the same time it will yield a large amount of
good grazing. It is not only a good meadow grass but it is one of our
best pasture grasses. Grazing indeed is almost necessary for its perpet-
uation and preservation. It loves a moist soil best and on swampy places
that are untit for the growth of aimost any other usefu! grass, herd’s grass
will thrive in the greatest vigor.

PERMANENT AND ADAPTED TO EVERY SOIL—By all odds
it is the most permanent grass for all soils. Blue grass is very dainty in
the selection of its soil. Timothy must have moist and rich but not wet
soils. Clover even, the greatest of our forage plants, will only grow well
upon rich calcareous loams but herd’s grass is a universal feeder and as
such is of use to every farmer, whatever may be the character of his soil
or the location of his farm.

In a wet soil, especially, herd’s grass sends out is long creeping
roots and takes full possession. It assumes in such situations a stolini-
ferous form, that is to say it sends out shoots from the base, which take
root at every joint and produce a thick dense sod. A pasture of herd’s
grass where it is well set is much valued by dairymen everywhere for it
will bear tramping and will continue its growth for a longer period dur-
ing the year than almost any other grass. When the grass has been cut
for hay its aftermath makes the very best late summer and fall pastures.

A HAY AND PASTURE GRASS—It does not rank as high as tim-
othy as a hay grass but as a combined hay and pasture grass it deservedly
stands at the head of all economic grasses in Tennessee. When sown
upon lands inclined to be wet it often attains a height of four feet. The
writer has seen it growing in the sandy creek bottoms in Carroll county
five feet high and so rank as to yield three tons of hay to the acre.
Usually upon uplands it will attain to a height of from two to three feet.
When in full bloom its purplish or brownish panicles present by their
feathery undulations a most charming sight.

WHEN AND WHERE TO SOW—Herd’s grass may be sown in
the fall or in the spring. It may be sown alone or with a nurse crop, as
wheat, barley, rye or oats. If the farmer should desire to sow it for a
meadow it is best sown alone, about the first of October, upon land well
pulverized by plowing and frequent harrowing. One bushel of seed in
- the chaff is not too much to sow to the acre. Of clean seed half that
quantity evenly distributed will be ample. For the making of hay it
should not be sown upon uplands, unless the soil is very fertile or the
land freshly opened to cultivation. While it is the best of all grasses for
pastures upon thin soils, it yields upon such soils but a small quantity of
hay.

In England it is supposed to grow best on sandy soils, and such is
the experience of the farmers in West Tennessee, but in other parts of
the state the best results are obtained by sowing it upon a deep calca-
rous loam. It makes a fair meadow grass upon the sandy soils of the
Cumberland table-land, but the places for such meadows are usually
selected in creek basins where the sandy soils are moist. Notwith-

16

standing this grass prefers a wet soil, it has the ability to withstand severe
droughts even when sown upon dry uplands. It will- retain its verdure late
in the fall and even in winter when it has not been pastured during the
summer or cut for hay. Under these conditions the old grass falls down
and forms a protection for the young sprigs which keep green during
severe frosts and hard freezes. Good winter pastures of this grass are
especially valuable for ewes at lambing time, the green grass producing
a copious flow of milk when the young lambs most need it.

Herd’s grass is often sown with other grasses and leguminous plants,
and especially with timothy and clover. These additions largely increase
both the quantity and quality of the hay, but they do not permanently
benefit the pasture, as the clover, being a biennial plant, soon disappears
and timothy cannot survive the heavy tread of cattle or the compact
tramping of sheep.

For stopping gullies nu grass except the Bermuda is equal to herd’s
grass. Like Bermuda-grass it will send its long rhizomes down the sides
of the gullies which take root at every joint and will, in a short time,
cover the silty deposits in the bottom of the gullies. This mat of grass
will catch and hold the soil carried by the water after a rain, thus grad-
ually building up the bottom until it can be crossed with a plow.

WHEN TO CUT FOR HAY—The proper time for harvesting
herd’s grass so as to secure the best quality of hay is when in full flower
or as soon thereafter as possible. When seed is the main object it should
not be cut until fully ripe. It is more easily cured than almost any other
hay grass. Cut in the morning of a clear day after the dew has been dis-
sipated by the warmth of the sun it should be ready, unless very heavy,
to be raked up into windrows in two hours, and put into cocks in the late
afternoon. Remaining in cocks for another clear day it may be stacked
or ricked without the least danger from over-heating or fermentation in
the stack. If there should be any doubt in this respect it must be watched,
however, for a day or two, and if an undue amount of heat should be
generated the stack should be torn down. Rarely is this necessary and
care should be taken not to put the hay in stacks until it is fairly well
cured. The less the hay is exposed to the sun the better and sweeter it
will be. Mr. P. H. Marbury, of Warren county, Tennessee, who for
many years was a most successful cultivator of this grass, thus gives his
experience with it:

“As a meadow or grazing grass it is very valuable. It yields on good
soil from a ton to one and one-half tons of superior hay, the stems and
blades much fewer and somewhat softer than timothy. I prefer it to
timothy—my stock prefer it. For grazing it is very valuable. Upon
land where limestone is absent it flourishes, has greater tenacity of life,
makes a sod almost impervious to hoof and tooth—in fact it is the blue-
grass of the mountain district. We have but little lime in our soils and
therefore blue-grass does not grow well. For a meadow I prepare the
soil well with plow and harrow and sow one bushel of clean seed per
acre, one-half one way and then sow the other half across the first so as
to avoid leaving spaces unoccupied. A light brush may be dragged over
it or not, as is preferred. I prefer to leave it without brush or roller.
The roller is better than a brush; in fact it prepares the surface well for

17

the mower or scythe. If sown alone the first of October, a crop of hay
the next season may be cut perhaps equal to any it will ever afterward
yield and worth more than a crop of wheat or corn.

“The time to cut for hay is just before the seeds ripen, but if seeds
are desired let them ripen, and, if cut immediately, it will still make fine
hay. For pastures I would advise a mixture of orchard grass with it.
Orchard grass grows well in the same soil with herd's grass.”

The seed of herd’s grass is very easily saved. The grass may be cut
with a self-binding reaper when the seed attains maturity. The bundles
may be put into shocks without caps and the seed will be dry enough in
a few days to thresh. It is difficult to separate the chaff from the seed
as the seed is very light but the stand will be just as good to sow the
seed in the chaff as to have it clean. Herd’s grass seed’ in the chaff sells
low and there should be no stint in the sowing. Some people recom-
mend the sowing of two or three bushels to the acre and even as high as
four when a dense sod is wanted in a lawn or pasture. The experience
of the writer is that one bushel to the acre in the chaff is sufficient when
sown for pasture upon land thoroughly prepared.

ORCHARD GRASS—-(Dactylis glomerata.)—(Pasture and Hay.)

Orchard grass is diffused extensively all over Europe, from Norway
and Russia to Portugal and is also found growing in Northwestern
Africa, in India and in Asia Minor. It is cultivated with profit in all the
states east of the Mississippi river that lie between 35 and 47 degrees
north latitude, and in nearly every state between the Mississippi river
and the Rocky Mountains. In New York it is the favorite grass. It
was known in England for
many centuries but its good
qualities were not appreciated
~ until it was introduced into
= that country from Virginia in

1764 by the Society of Arts.

It is a very hardy perennial, a

vigorous grower and _ flour-
ishes as well in the shade as
in the sunshine. Owing to
this habit of the grass it takes
the name of orchard grass in
the United States. In Eng-
land it is called cock’s-foot.
It is grown with success in
woodland pastures, having
generous soils.

SOILS — Orchard grass
grows upon every soil not sat-
urated with water. Its pref-
erence is an alluvial soil, mod-

Orchard Grass—Dactylis glomerata. erately dry, porous and with a
2. Inflorescence. 3. Upper leaf. 4. Spike- .
let. 5. Empty glumes. 6. Floret, considerable amount of sandy

with stamens and pistil. material in it. Stiff, clayey

18

soils, retentive of moisture, do not suit it so well. Upon this class of soils
the roots acquire such a feeble hold that they are liable to be thrown out by
winter freezes. In England, however, Mr. Wheeler, a writer on grasses,
recommends it among those grasses suited “for a poor stiff soil or a dry
subsoil.”

Mr. Edmund Murphy, of Ireland, states that it is most advanta-
geously used in the sandy soils of Norfolk.

It will grow well upon a soil naturally sterile, provided it is top-
dressed with stable manure. Upon freshly cleared lands where there is
a considerable amount of virgin mold it grows with a surprising luxu-
riance, getting a good start early in the spring and growing successive
crops until fall. One of its chief merits lies in the earliness and rapidity
of its growth, furnishing a grateful bite to horses, sheep and cattle long
before any other grass. It retains its verdurous appearance during the
hot days of August when grown upon a rich deep loam.

As a hay grass it does not rank high in the estimation of Tennessee
farmers. Upon good soils it attains a usual height of three feet but some-.
times reaches four and even five feet. The stalks when grown on rich
soils are coarse and woody, unless the grass is very thick. As a hay, un-
less cut very early, it is not relished by stock to the same extent as clover,
timothy or herd’s grass hay. Nevertheless it makes, upon good soils, a
large quantity of medium quality. If cut before the leaves begin to be em-
brewned or to dry up and before the seed begins to form it is greatly
relished by stock, though it is deficient in nutritive matter.

The Woburn experiments developed some interesting facts pertain-
ing <o this grass. Grown upon a rich, sandy loam, and cut the middle of
April the green grass weighed 10,209 pounds per acre, in which there
were 1,190 pounds of nutritious matter. Cut, when in full bloom, the
green produce weighed 27,9054 pounds. It lost in dessication
16,045 pounds, or a little more than half, and furnished 1,089 pounds of
nutritious matter. After the seeds were fully ripe, the green produce
weighed less by 1,361 pounds per acre, but there were 1,415 more pounds
of dry bay, with an excess of nutritive extract of 363 pounds. The after-
math, however, was not so good, and in the loss of this the advantage of
an increased yield of hay was counterbalanced.

Its best record as reported by Sinclair was 27,905 pounds of green
grass; 11,860% pounds of hay and 11,910 of green aftermath per acre.
The following account of the extraordinary productiveness of this grass
is given by Mr. Falla, nurseryman and seedsman, of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture:

On the 30th of April he weighed the produce of a square yard, and
found it to be 16 pounds or 34% tons per acre; the second crop of this
yard was cut again on the 10th of June, and weighed 8 pounds. The
third crop was cut on the 10th of September and weighed 10 pounds—in
all equal to 73 tons as the year’s produce. He remarks that it was, in
every case, weighed on a dry day.

HOW AND WHEN TO SOW—The land if inclined to be tenacious
or stiff in its character should be well broken in the fall, rebroken the
following March or April and thoroughly harrowed just before sowing

19

until the top is as mellow as garden mold. If a sandy soil is selected it
will not benefit it or render it more pulverulent by plowing it in the fall.
When the soil becomes dry enough to plow the land should be prepared
dnd the seed should be sown before a rain compacts the land.

Orchard grass always does best in Tennessee when sown early in the
spring. From the 15th of March to the 15th of April is the best time.
Not less than two to three bushels of seed should be sown to the acre.
As the seeds are large a light harrow must be dragged over the land after
sowing so as to cover them well. The greatest objection to this grass
is its tendency to grow in stools or tussocks leaving large bare inter-
spaces. To correct this habit a fine toothed harrow should be run over
the pasture every spring and wherever there is a vacant place more seed
should be sown and carefully covered. A roller run over the pasture
when the land is wet represses this tendency to form tussocks. Mr. Ed-
mund Murphy recommends the sowing of ten pounds of red clover per
acre as a preventive of this proclivity. .

Orchard grass is a very vigorous grower, surpassed in this respect
by but few in the whole catalogue of domestic grasses. It is succulent
and nutritious and when mowed it requires only a few days of moist
weather to bring out its verdant blades in as great beauty and vigor as
ever. It will bear more grazing than almost any other grass because of
this rapid growth. Tramping does not seem to affect it in any other way
than by inducing a tussocky growth. Two or three crops of it may be

cut in one season when grown on a deep, rich and moist soil but after
each cutting it should be top-dressed with superphosphate of lime or with
stable manure.

Mr. W. D. Gallagher gives the following directions for sowing or-
chard grass: ‘‘Plow the Jand deep, pulverize the soil well, be generous as
to the quantity of seed, let the seed be good, sow it evenly, give the land

‘as good treatment afterwards as is given to meadow lands in timothy.”

VIRTUES OF ORCHARD GRASS—Orchard grass is a long liver
and will be victorious in a contest for supremacy in the pasture over
other grasses provided always that its tendency to grow in tufts be coun-
teracted. Mr. L. F. Allen, of New York, a farmer and stock grower
of national reputation, testifies to the fact that he has had it growing in

one field for a period of forty years with continuous mowing and pas-
turing. He says that if cut at the right stage it is just as good for any
kind of animal as timothy hay. c

Mr. T. A. Cole, of the same state, says that after twenty years of
experience he has settled down upon orchard grass as possessing greater
merits than any other for both pasture and meadow, for fattening animals
or for dairy stock. Of its value for dairy purposes he says: ‘““‘When cut
for hay just before it blooms and cured with as little sun as possible it
will make more milk than any other variety known to me; if left to ripen,
it is worthless.”

When grown for hay therefore it may be cut and cured before clover,

_ timothy or herd’s grass is ready for the mower and in this there is a
_ great advantage. The yield of hay on fertile land is two tons to the acre.
~ As to its capacity for furnishing grazing Col. Bowman, writing from

20

the blue grass region of Kentucky, says: “Owing to its capacity to resist
drought and in consequence of its rapid growth it will yield more pastur-
age than the best blue grass sod.”

Its superiority to timothy lies in the great value of its aftermath. It
will improve under depasturing when a timothy meadow subjected to the
same treatment would be destroyed. It also makes an excellent winter
pasture. Prof. Phares, of Mississippi, an expert writer on grasses, Says
he prefers orchard grass to any other grass.

Mr. Howard in his manual on grasses thinks it stands in importance,
for the climate of Georgia, second only to meadow-oat grass for hay and ©
winter pastures. Where hay is the object he recommends that meadow-
oat grass and orchard grass be sown with red clover and white, as each
of the four blossoms at the same time. The cultivation of orchard grass
and meadow-oat grass he thinks cannot be too strongly recommended
for the south. ;

Hon. N. B. Dudley, of Logan county, Kentucky, a most successful
stock-grower, has this to say of orchard grass:

“Orchard grass with a good stand on medium to good land will fur-
nish more grazing than any other of the grasses in common use. It
starts on its spring growth sooner, is less affected by a summer’s drought
and grows later in the fall than any other grass. It is the best yard grass
for farmers who love large yards and many shade trees. But to get the
most benefit from it, it should be grazed hard enough to keep the blades
short and tender. If they are permitted to grow long they become tough
and rough to the mouths of stock.

It is not a sod grass like blue, herd’s and Bermuda grass. It is more
like timothy, growing its tillers from the parent plant, each tiller having a
bulbous quality at its base and it should never be grazed hard enough for
these buibs to be eaten by stock for that would soon destroy the stools
from which they grow. }

Orchard grass does very little towards reseeding or thickening itself
on the ground. The stools seem to love to have a little neutral territory
around themselves. Good farmers usually sow blue and herd’s grass to
fill these spaces and some sow timothy also because it gives a mowing the
next summer. Stock should be kept off of orchard and blue grass for
two winters after seeding.

It is the nature of orchard grass to grow blade in the fall and seed
stock in the spring. It should therefore have a good holiday in the fall.
Orchard grass is not one of the best hay grasses. ‘The seed stalk will get
hard whether it is cut early or late but a very fine hay can be had by
sowing with it the common or medium red clover. They are ready for
the mower at the same time. I have seen its blades four feet long and the
stand of grass seriously injured because it was neither mowed nor grazed.
I love orchard grass because it will grow well on land where blue grass
would be too dwarfish for profit.”

SAVING SEED—When seed is the object the grass should be cut
with a self-binding reaper and tied up in bundles as wheat or oats. The
bundles are put up in shocks without being capped. They should remain
in this condition until dry enough to thresh, which will be in three or four

21

weeks. They should be threshed from the wagon and some care must be
exercised in hauling the bundles to the thresher, otherwise many of the
seed will be lost by shattering. The yield upon rich soils is fifteen
bushels to the acre. It is put up in eight bushel sacks and the weight is
14 pounds to the bushel.

Lawes and Gilbert, by selecting the best seed and sowing for several
years none but the best for several generations, established a new variety
which they called giant cock’s-foot. The seed of this weighs only 10
pounds to the bushel, and there are only 34,000 seed to the ounce in place
of 40.000 of the ordinary orchard grass. This so-called giant orchard
grass is not in any respect superior to the common variety.

It may, with confidence be said of orchard grass that it will suit the
ordinary Tennessee farmer better than any other grass for all purposes
except herd’s grass, and it may with safety be recommended. It soon
arrives at maturity. It thrives upon almost every soil and in every variety
of situation. It produces an immense amount of herbage and hay. It
grows very rapidly and is a favorite with all kinds of cattle, especially
when grown in the sunshine. It is found in the best English and Ameri-
can pastures. It does not impoverish the soil and is not hard to destroy
when the land is wanted for other crops.

Summing up the merits of this grass it may be said:

1. It is better suited to every variety of soil than any other except
herd’s grass. ‘The writer has seen it growing with vigor on mountain
heights and in valley plains, on sandy loams and calcareous soils; on the
coarse sandstone soils of the Cumberland Mountain, and on the tertiary
loess and alluvium of West Tennessee, as well as upon the cretaceous
sands of that division. He has grown it with success upon the siliceous
soils of the rimlands, and has seen it enliven the landscape of the Cen-
tral Basin with its mantle of verdure. It is best adapted to the sandy
loams of West Tennessee and to the lands of the Central Basin having a
porous subsoil. On lands having a tenacious clay foundation, the roots
are checked in their descent, and the growth is not so luxuriant; nor is
the duration of the pasture so great.

2. It will grow with greater rapidity than any other grass and for
this reason will sustain a larger number of stock. It is excellent for soil-
ing purposes.

3. It will grow in the shade. This quality will enable the farmers to
utilize their wood!ands as pasture, and so make them a source of profit.

4. It will resist drought better than almost any other grass. The hot
summers make this a very valuable quality in any grass. Often in July
and August the pastures become so parched as to afford but a small
amount of grazing. Orchard grass then comes to the rescue and supplies
the deficiency.

5. It is both a pasture and a hay grass. After a crop of hay has been
taken off in May or June, the aftermath will furnish a good pasture
throughout the remainder of the summer. A prominent sheep raiser of
Tennessee who has been carrying a thousand sheep or more, says that
during the summer it will carry double as many sheep as blue grass, acre
_ for acre; but that blue grass will furnish more and better winter grazing.

22
6. It may be sown in the spring or fall with small grain or alone. It
is best not to sow it with grain, as the extra production of grass, when
sown alone, is worth more than the grain and grass grown together. It
may be mown as hay or cut with reapers or cradles, and bound in sheaves
like oats.

MEADOW FOXTAIL—‘“MOUNTAIN TIMOTHY.”’—(Alopecurus
pratensis. )—(Meadow and Pasture.)

This grass is one of the earliest in making its appearance in the
spring. Its tall culms and club-like panicles are charming in their robes
of golden anthers. They are so.much earlier than the panicles of other
grasses that they readily attract attention. In England this grass is in
almost every pasture, and in many pastures famous for their richness and
luxuriance it is the principal grass. It blossoms in Tennessee in March
and early April.

SOILS SUITED FOR ITS GROWTH-—It grows best’ on rich,
moist, strong soils. A calcareous loam with a loose gravelly subsoil is
well suited for it also, but it
will thrive upon all soils ex-
cept the dryest sands. It may
be grown with success in
every part of the state, even
upon the Cumberland table-
land, wherever the underlying
subsoil is clayey and retentive
of moisture.

Prof. Beal says” “fee
quite common at elevations of
from five to seven thousand
feet above the sea, growing in
rich soils along mountain
streams and frequenting the
so-called mountain meadows.”
“For the more elevated
meadows of the Rocky
Mountain region and _ for

Meadow Foxtail—Alopecurus pratensis. northern latitudes there is no

2. Inflorescence, 3. Upper leaf. 4. Spikelet. grass that so highly com-
5. The awned flowering glume, the 2 z

stamens and stigmas project- mends itself as this for hay

ing from the apex. and summer grazing.”

This grass would do best in Tennessee in the moist and cool climate
_of the Unaka mountains. The rich soils of the sheltered valleys and
coves of that region, and also that upon the ‘‘Balds,” are probably better
suited for its growth than any other soils and situations in the State. In
England it is a great favorite in the sheep breeding districts. It very
much resembles timothy in general appearance, but while the head of
timothy is rough and harsh to the touch that of the meadow foxtail is soft
and velvety, but broader and shorter. ‘The hay, however, is much lighter
than that of timothy, while the bulk may be greater. Its chief value in

23

Tennessee is for pasturage, because of its earliness and the rapidity of its
growth, resembling in these particulars orchard grass. It excels timothy
.for pastures as much as timothy excels it for hay. Like most grasses its
greatest nutritive value is attained when in full bloom. When cut at that
period it loses over 70 per cent. in drying and contains when green 4.32
per cent. of albuminoids as against 3.79 per cent. for timothy cut at the
same stage.

One great drawback to the introduction of this grass is the length of
time (three to four years) it requires to be firmly established, but it is
well adapted to permanent pastures and many mountain districts in the
state could be greatly benefited by its introduction. It is a long liver, a
quick grower, and furnishes a very nutritious and palatable herbage. It
requires about three bushels of seed to the acre to insure a good stand
but it is best to sow it with other grasses. The land may be prepared
and the seed sown in the fall. In the moist climate of the Unaka moun-
tains it may be sown either in the spring or fall. The plant at first is
very feeble and should only form one of the grasses in a pasture. After
two or three years it makes the principal grass.

Mr. Taunton, of England, thus speaks of its durability and good
qualities:

“In the dry soil, in the course of seven or eight years, it became
much weakened; but in a meadow on the clay with a dark moory mould
on the surface, it maintained its size, frequently as well or better than any
other grass; and where I had sown it on deep loamy sand where springs
rise, there its produce was extremely luxuriant, insomuch, that I, this
year, sold the crop standing at the rate of 8 pounds sterling ($40) per
acre. No manure had ever been given to this land since the grass seeds
were sown seven years ago, other than the irregular irrigation produced
by the winter springs; yet it most completely covered the ground. One
character particularly attracted my attention; namely, that although it
stood late in the summer—not having been cut until late in July, and after
the seed had fully ripened—none of the lower leaves had decayed or with-
ered, whereas those of the cock’s-foot and fescue and some others were
quite dead. This experiment proves to what a valuable purpose any tract
_ of springy, moist, loamy sand may be converted by sowing it down with
a selection of grasses, in which the foxtail should predominate.

This grass must not be confounded with the foxtail (setaria viridis)
that springs up in the fields of Tennessee after oat and wheat harvest.
This foxtail is nothing but a troublesome weed.

TALL MEADOW FESCUE—RANDALL GRASS—EVERGREEN
GRASS—(Festuca elatior var. pratensis.) —(Meadow and Pasture.)

This is a most valuable grass and well suited to many of the soils of
Tennessee. It is a perennial and flourishes best on moist lands rich in
humus. It is good for permanent pastures or meadow, producing when
cut in flower a large amount of excellent hay which Mr. Sinclair values
next to the meadow foxtail. As a hay grass it is superior to the meadow
foxtail. It is common throughout Great Britain, Lapland, Norway, Swe-

24

den, Germany, France and as far South as Italy. It grows all over the
United States. It was first
domesticated in 1820. It is
inclined to grow in tufts or
bunches like orchard grass.
The roots are stout and the
leaves are from one to two
feet long. This grass often
grows to the height of five
feet in suitable situations and
soils and makes excellent win-
ter pastures from Virginia and
Kentucky southward. It
grows vigorously on the
mountain lands of upper East
Tennessee and is highly
prized for its good grazing
qualities during the spring,
summer and fall months, even

| extending far into winter. not-

Fall Meadow Fescue,—Festuca elatior. withstanding the TIgO® of the

2. Panicle. 3. Upper leaf. 4. Spikelet. weather upon these chilly

5. Empty glumes. 6. Flowering glume. heights. It has taken various
names; in Virginia it is “Randall grass;” in North Carolina ‘evergreen
grass.” In the mountain lands of Virginia, a writer says: “The variety
of forage best adapted to sheep-grazing on the mountain lands is the
‘Randall.’ a tall, coarse grass, growing freely on the rocky soil to a
height of six feet, remaining green and affording fine herbage all the
winter.”

From the limited cultivation this grass has received in Tennessee it
seems to be adapted rather to moist low lands than to uplands, though
I have seen it growing on some of the high ridges of East Tennessee, at
least 1,500 feet above the sea. There, on good soils, it thrives luxuriantly,
and makes a very superior pasture. Some of this grass was sown in
Davidson county as early as 1850 upon the farm once owned by Col. D.
H. McGavock. The place selected for sowing was low, wet and almost
marshy. The same spot is yet green with it, still flourishing in the great-
est vigor, furnishing more grazing according to Col. McGavock, than any
other grass. The roots penetrate much deeper than the roots of blue-
grass, descending indeed, as deep as red clover. In consequence of this
it bears droughts remarkably well. Nor do overflows affect it, but seem
rather to add to its vigorous vitality.

A small plat of upland was also sown, but it disappeared in about five
years. Its disappearance, however, was hastened by the presence of the
army worm. :

In Europe this grass is one of the standard meadow grasses and
might be found by further experiment to form a fine addition to the list
here. Its name of evergreen originated from its habit of remaining green

25

under the snow, affording fine croppings for cattle. It will grow on a
greater elevation than the blue grass.

Meadow fescue grass does not attain its full productive capacity until
the third or fourth year, so that while its durability in the soil is great it
may not be depended upon for a quick meadow or pasture. It will yield
the first year from one to one and a half tons of hay when sown upon con:
genial soil, and twice that amount the second year. The seed weighs
from 12 to 16 pounds to the bushel and three bushels are required to the
acre. Prepare the land and sow at the same time of the year and in the
same manner poirted out for the sowing of blue grass. In sowing it for
pasture it is usual to mix it with other fescue grasses.

This grass has never received the attention in the south it justly
merits. It is greatly relished by all herbivorous animals. It is a vigor-
ous grower, resembling in this particular, after being well established,

Sheep Fescue—Festuca ovina. Tennessee Fescue—Festuca rubra glaucescens.

a

;

2. Inflorescence. 3. Spikelet. 4. Empty 2. Inflorescence. 3. Upper leaf. 4. Spikelet.
glume. 5. Flowering glume. 5. Empty glume. 6, Flowering glume.

blue grass, though it takes two or three years to reach the condition of
; its greatest fruitfulness. It is fairly nutritious both in its green and cured
state.

SHEEP FESCUE—(Festuca ovina.)—(Pastures.)

; This is a very hardy perennial and deserves mention in this bulletin
_ because it will grow on thin, dry, siliceous soils and thus fills a want in
those regions of Tennessee that are destitute of good grass lands and are
now practically without grasses. On the sandy soils of the Cumberland
table-land and on the siliceous soils of the Highland Rim and on the
sandy areas of the cretaceous formation of West Tennessee this grass
would prove a boon. The gravelly ridges of East Tennessee could also

26

be made good sheep walks if set with it. Sheep are very fond of it and.
hence its name.

Its panicles are narrow; its leaves are short, bristle-like and tufted
and have a grayish color tinged with red. It forms a profuse foliage in
bunches and makes excellent pastures for sheep and cattle where other
grasses will not grow.

This grass constitutes the great bulk of the grazing grasses in the
sheep pastures of the Highlands of Scotland. It is believed by the shep-
herds in that region to be more nutritious for sheep than any other. In
the arid plains of Asia it is often the only grass upon which the wandering
tribes can subsist their cattle and sheep.

Linnaeus asserts that sheep have no fondness for hills without it.
Where all other vegetation parches up it will grow. Its short and dense
turf when sown thick makes it well suited for lawns. The aftermath in a
lawn cannot be surpassed.

Many varieties of this grass are found in the Rocky Mountain dis-
tricts. Some of these grow to the height of two or three feet. The usual

Y

Rats’ s-tail Fescue—Festuca myurus. Small Fescue—Festuca tenella.

2. Inflorescence. 3. Upper leaf. 4. Spikelet. 1. Panicle. 2. Spikelet. 8. Empty
5. Empty glumes, 6. Flowering glume, glumes. 4. Flowering glume,

height of this grass on thin soils rarely exceeds eight inches. The weight
of a bushel of seed is 14 pounds. ‘Two or three bushels to the acre is not
too much to secure a sufficient density of turf for lawns or pastures. The
seed sells for about $2.00 per bushel.

OTHER FESCUE GRASSES.

Tennessee fescue, Festuca rubra glaucescens, is a perennial and is
strongly recommended for worn out soils and hill-sides. It has a creep-
ing habit and makes a good turf, close and fine leaved, remaining green

27

throughout the year. It is not easily affected by either drought or cold.
It will grow well on dry sandy soils and may be a valuable acquisition for
the Cumberland mountains.

Festuca myurus (rat’s-tail-fescue) and tenella (small fescue) are both
annual grasses which grow on dry sandy soils six inches to a foot in
height, and, as they appear early in the spring, they make a good sheep
pasture.

Festuca duriuscula, hard fescue, is a variation of the sheep fescue and
will thrive on poor sandy soils. It is of but little value where the soil
is fertile enough to produce better grasses. But for its hardy nature and
its adaptability to unfavorable situations it would not be mentioned.

Differences in soil and situation cause these species to run into sev-
eral varieties and the narrow leaved species seem to lose their individu-
ality when grown on like soils and under similar conditions. Prof.
Buckman of the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester sowed in ex
perimental plots the seeds of Festuca ovina, Festuca ruba and Festuca
duriuscula and for two years the specific differences were well marked but
in the third year these differences vanished and the appearance of all three
was practically the same. The creeping habit of the Festuca rubra was
totally lost. On poor upland regions, according to Mr. Gould, these
fescues assume the appearance of the Festuca ovina; on good uplands the
appearance of Festuca duriuscula and in river valley lands of Festuca
rubra.

PERENNIAL RYE GRASS—RAY GRASS—(Lolium perenne)—
(Meadow and Pasture).

This grass has been in cultivation in England and Scotland since
1667 and in France for even a longer period. It is regarded in England
very much as timothy is in the United States, though it is difficult to see
the reason why. It is a short perennial, lasting usually from three to
seven years and in consequence of the shortness of its life it is not highly
esteemed fer pasture. It is a good grass, however, for alternate hus-
bandry.

SOILS—Like nearly all stoloniferous grasses it prefers a moist soil
and is especially suited to a low-lying clayey soil. The roots put out
several stems, which grow prostrate at the base. Upright stems ascend
from each joint of the prostrate stem, attaining a height of from two to
three feet. The stem is stiff; the spike is flattened and it is not an at-
tractive grass in appearance, but it has a full green tint except at the
joints of the stem, where it sometimes takes on a brownish hue. It has a
_ vigorous habit, starting early in the season and flowering early. It re-
_ quires one to two bushels of seed to sow an acre. It may be sown either
in the fall or spring when the land is in good condition. The preparation
of the land is the same as that for orchard grass.

Prof. Beal does not think it well adapted to a southern climate as it
cannot bear great heat. It must have a cool climate and a moist soil.
These conditions of growth are found among the high mountains of East
Tennessee and I have no doubt it would grow with great luxuriance in

28

the moist soils of the elevated valleys and coves found among the Unaka
mountains.

On fertile soils it will yield about 40 bushels of seed to the acre and
the seed weighs 25 to 30 pounds per bushel. It cannot be called an eco-
nomical grass for pastures or meadows. Its shortness of life makes the
sowing of it for permanent pastures or meadows very bad husbandry.
The sowing of it is only a little more economical than the sowing of an
annual. And yet for a three years rotation it will be found very useful.

Mr. Edmund Murphy, a close observer of the habits of this grass
says: ‘In laying down some hundred of acres with this grass alone or in
mixture with others my experience fully bears out the justice of the
charge of bad husbandry in sowing it for permanent meadows or pastures.
Nor is the want of durability its only bad property. It is perhaps the
most exhausting of all the grasses on land, nearly as much so indeed,

Perennial Rye Grass—Lolium perenne.

2. Inflorescence—a spike. 3. Upper leaf.
4, Spikelet, with a portion of the rhachis,
5. Empty glumes of the terminal spikelet.
6. Floral glume. 7. Palea, 8. Caryopsis.

when permitted to form its seed, as a crop of corn (wheat). In dry soi!
or in almost any kind of soil, should dry weather set in after it has been
cut, an almost total failure of the aftergrass will be the result. Its great-
est value appears to be for sowing with clover, on land intended to remain
only two or three years in grass; with this view, and when sown at the
rate of one bushel per acre, with 20 pounds of red clover; or two bushels
of rye grass, and 14 pounds of red clover on deep rich ground, enormous
crops are produced. When the intention is to leave the land only one
year in grass, the Italian rye grass is greatly to be preferred.”
According to the Woburn experiments it is very low jn its nutritive
elements. It ranks low as to the quantity and quality of its produce and

= cer ”Srt—C CCC [FTLhCUrmCUCUCTt™—

Vas

29

in its aftermath it is the very lowest in the scale of cultivated grasses.
Compared with orchard grass its nutritive power is as five to eighteen; to
meadow foxtail, five to twelve; to meadow fescue, five to seventeen.
Nevertheless it is a useful grass in a mixture and will furnish the earliest
of grazing. It possibly may be recommended for culture in Tennessee
only on the soils of the Unaka mountains and on the moist low clayey
lands adjoining the lake districts of West Tennessee.

ITALIAN RYE GRASS—(Lolium Jtalicum.)—(Soiling and Hay).

This is a sub-perennial grass and is esteemed among the very best of
the short-lived grasses. Its period of duration is two to three years. It
gives more abundant crops of a better quality than perennial rye grass.
It is characterized by Flint as being the “greatest glutton of all the
grasses;” will endure any amount of forcing by irrigation, by timely rains,
and by manuring. It will withstand a drought remarkably well, notwith-

Italian Rye Grass—Lolium Italicum.

2. Spike. 3. Upper leaf. 4. Lateral spikelet,
with a portion of the rhachis. 5. Empty glumes
of the terminal spikelet. 6. Floral glume.

standing its capacity for absorbing moisture from the earth. It has
within the past fiity years been introduced into America from Europe
where it is claimed to be more universally adapted to all kinds of climates
than any other domesticated grass.

SOILS—Italian rye-grass reaches its highest perfection on moist,
rich, alluvial lands and calcareous loams where the soil is in good tilth.
It is not recommended for permanent pasture or meadow but owing to its
rapidity of development it is of the greatest value when an early crop of
forage is desired. With proper manuring it is said that it may be cut
within three to four weeks after seeding. A succession of crops may be_

30

cut every four or five weeks during the season. This quickness of growth
makes it stand in the first rank as a soiling grass. For dairymen living
near a city it is of especial value as the green food produces a rich flow
of milk at a very small cost. One and a half to two bushels of seed,
weighing 20 pounds to the bushel, is about the proper quantity to sow on
an acre of land. Prepare the land and sow in the same manner as or-
chard grass. It is, however, better when sown in the fall, about the first
of October. It may be considered a very valuable grass for Tennessee
and indeed for the south generally. It has been fully tested in Georgia
and in Tennessee, and it has in every instance given satisfactory results.

It gives a fine color to the butter of the milch cows fed on it, and
they eat it with great relish. It withstands the hottest suns of summer as
well as the frosts of the severest winter. It must be sown alone, as it
will quickly choke and destroy clover or other grasses. Its yield per
acre, according to received authority, is something immense. Mr. Dick-
ens, of England, sowed it on a stiff, clay soil, well-manured, cut it ten
times during one year; the first time, ten inches, in March; April 138th,
again, and May 4th, a third time; May 25th, a fourth time; June 14th,
again; July 22nd, a sixth time, with ripe seed and three loads of hay to the
acre. Immediately after each cutting it was manured with liquid manure,
the produce of each crop increasing with the temperature of the atmos-
phere, from three-quarters of a load, the first cutting, to three loads the
last. He discontinued manuring now, thinking its growth would be ter-
minated in bearing seed, but he afterwards cut four crops from it. On
the 26th of January following, it measured sixteen inches in height. The
last cutting was October 30th, and on the 8th of April a crop twenty-two
inches high was cut from it. ‘I was desirous to know the exact amount
taken per acre for the year, and it amounted, on a careful measuring and
weighing of green hay, thirteen tons and eighteen hundred and twenty-
seven pounds per acre.” (Coleman’s European Agriculture.)

It preschts a most charming view, with its broad, dark green foliage,
and especially in a dry year, when vegetation is parched up all around, it
does not show any signs of losing its fresh, living, luxuriant growth.
Although of short life, a meadow of this grass may be made perennial by
scattering fresh seed over the ground every second year and scratching
it with a harrow having sharp teeth. Its unusual ability to withstand the
vicissitudes of heat and cold makes it a desirable grass for any thirsty
soii, as well as for moist soils. It might possibly be a valuable addition
to the soils of the western portions of our state. At least it is worthy
of a trial.

Mr. Gould thinks the valuable qualities of this grass may be summed
up as follows: “Its habit of coming early to maturity. Its rapid repro-
duction after cutting. Its wonderful adaptation to all domestic animals,
which is shown by the extreme partiality they manifest for it, either alone
or when mixed with other grasses; whether when used as green food for
soiling, as hay, or as pasturage, in which latter state its stems are never
allowed to ripen and wither like other grasses. Its beneficial influence on
the dairy, not only augmenting the flow of milk, but improving the flavor

of the cheese and butter. Its uncommon hardiness and capacity to with-
stand for vicissitudes of both wetness and dryness.”

= Fe

31

PEARL OR CAT TAIL MILLET—(Pennisetum typhoideum)—(Annual
Hay Grass.)

This is a hardy annual and may be cut two or three times during the
season. It grows usually to the height of six or eight feet. It has dense
heads, six to twelve inches long and a half inch or more in thickness. The
stalks are coarse and hard to cure. When cut before the stalks harden
and the seeds ripen it makes a vast quantity of forage that is readily eaten
by all herbivorous animals. It requires plenty of heat and a rich soil to
bring it to maturity. The experiment made with it on the Centennial
grounds in Nashville in 1897 proves that it is a vigorous grower, a gross
feeder and a princely looking grass, towering high above all other
grasses except sorghum and teosinte. The head resembles a mammoth
head of timothy.

The hay is cured with difficulty, owing to its rankness and coarseness.
It requires a great deal of exposure to the sun or air before it can be
stored away with safety. It can be recommended as a forage plant on
the ground that it makes a large yield at a small cost.

SOILS—tThe strongest soils only are adapted to the growth of this
rank feeder and even these should be heavily manured to secure the best
results. Plenty of moisture in the soil is required for its growth and for
that reason a dry sandy soil is unfit for its cultivation. A deep calcareous
loam or a rich alluvial soil is to be preferred. The rich lands in the loess
formation of West Tennessee, the fertile river bottoms of Middle and
East Tennessee and the deep soils of the central basin are all well suited
to its growth. The rich moist upland valleys of the highland rim deeply
plowed and heavily manured will yield large crops of it.

Pearl millet does best when sown in drills eighteen inches apart. The
running of a cultivator or double shovel once between the rows is suf-
ficient cultivation to give it. It is a rapid grower and will overlap the
rows within three weeks after sowing. About one peck of seed when
drilled is sufficient to plant an acre; one bushel per acre is required when
sown broadcast. It is a plant very sensitive to cold and it should not be
planted until ali danger of frost has passed.

Mr. P. Henderson, of New Jersey, gives an interesting account of
his experience with it, which is here condensed. He prepared the land
by applying ten tons of stable manure to the acre and then plowing it ten
inches deep. The seed was sown in drills eighteen inches apart on the
15th of May. After coming up a cultivator was run between the rows one
time which was all the cultivation it received. The first cutting was
made 46 days after planting. When cut it was seven feet high and covered
the whole ground. This cutting weighed green, gave a yield of thirty
tons to the acre; weighed after being dried, six and a half tons. The
second growth, which was of tropical luxuriance, started at once from the
stubble left three inches high at first cutting. The second cutting was
August 15th, forty-five days from the first cutting. The height of this
Was nine feet and it weighed at the rate of forty-five tons to the acre,
green, and eight tons dried. The third crop was cut October Ist, which
weighed ten tons green and one and a half tons dried. The cool weather
of autumn sensibly affected its growth. The aggregate yield from one

32

sowing was ninety-five tons, in 135 days, of green fodder, which made six-
teen tons when dried. It should be cut for hay when the heads first

appear.

IS :
ercasucanee

58.

D

Pearl or Cat-tail Millet-—Pennisetum typhoideum,

As to its feeding value it is about equal to corn fodder. Cattle,
horses and sheep are very fond of it both green and dry. It has probably

33

the largest productive capacity, when grown upon highly manured lands,
of any forage crop now grown. While the fodder is coarse it is highly
nutritious. The only difficulty is to cure it sufficiently to prevent it from
fermenting and moulding. It will grow and flourish wherever Indian
corn may be grown. The weight of the seed is fifty pounds per bushel.

MEADOW OAT GRASS OR EVERGREEN—(A4rrhenatherum
élatius.)—(Meadow and Pasture.)

This grass is equally valuable for making hay, for pasturage and for
_ soiling. It produces an immense amount of foliage and its aftermath
is about as heavy as the first crop. Having characteristics and adapta-
bility similar to those of the oat, it has been widely distributed in the
United States from New England to Georgia. It was introduced into
this country from England where it is highly prized for its good quali-
ties. It is a favorite grass in
France and the south of Europe
generally. It is an object of ad-
miration to all lovers of the
grasses, by reason of its great
height, its gracefully bending
panicles, its purplish anthers, its
flag-like leaves hanging in grace-
ful arches beneath the panicle,
the green of which contrasts
with the purple of the anthers
and the violet of the flowering
glumes’ making altogether a rare
picture of grace and beauty.
SOILS—This is one of the
grasses that will grow ‘best on
dry sandy soils, and is a great
acquisition therefore to those
sections of Tennessee where
sandstone soils predominate. It
may be grown on the Cumber-

Meadow Oat Grass or Evergreen—A rrhena- 5 7
+ raleigh SA Ay land table-land with success. Al
1. Panicle. 2. Spikelet, with the empty though it prefers sandy soils it

glumes removed. 3. Empty glumes.

4, Awned floral glume. will thrive upon any rich, dry,

well-drained land. It is a very
hardy perennial and will resist equally the heat of summer and the cold
of winter. In Southern latitudes it is green throughout the year and
hence the name evergreen. In a favorable season two crops of hay may
be harvested from the same sowing in one year.

The best time for sowing in the latitude of Tennessee is in March or
April, or it may be sown in the fall from the middle of September to the
ast of October. As this grass has a tendency to grow in tussocks like
orchard grass plenty of seed, not less than two bushels, should be sown
to the acre.

Mr. Edwin Montgomery, of Mississippi, writes to the American

34

Agriculturist that many persons in his locality state if they were restricted
to one grass, tall meadow oat grass would be the one selected.

Mr. Jared G. Smith, Assistant Agrostologist of the United States
Department of Agriculture, says it is one of the best drought-resistant
ctiltivated grasses, but he does not recommend that it be sown alone’ un-
less it is grown for seed only. “The forage,” he says, “is bitter and is
not readily eaten by cattle except where it occurs in small quantities
mixed with other grasses. However, the hay is of fine quality and is
relished by stock.”

It grows rapidly and comes into blossom early. The best time for
cutting it is during its period of inflorescence. It likes heat and will
grow with more vigor on southern than on northern slopes. An excess
of moisture soon destroys it. Well drained lands should therefore be
selected for its cultivation. The seed weighs ten pounds to the bushel.

Mr. Sinclair says it is subject to rust in England which does not
appear on the blades however, until after its flowering season.

The directions for preparing the soil and the sowing of timothy will
apply to the seeding of this grass.

ITALIAN, GERMAN OR GOLDEN MILLET—(Setaria [talica)—(Grown
for Hay and Soiling. )

This is an annual and is extensively cultivated in parts of Tennessee
for hay. It differs from German millet only in having a larger head but
less dense. It is considered superior to the common millet and indeed to
all other kinds for soiling purposes but not for hay. It grows to the
height of from three to five feet on good soils.

. SOILS—Italian millet, like
all the millet family, requires a
strong, rich, deep soil, suffi-
ciently clayey to retain a
large amount of moisture; at
the same time the land must
be thoroughly drained. It
should receive a good coat of
stable manure and be well
broken in the winter and
plowed again in the spring
and _ frequently harrowed,
logged or rolled until the
earth is fine and lightly com-
pacted. All rank growth of
vegetable matter turned under
before sowing is decidedly in-
jurious. Such vegetable mat-
ter makes the land dry and
thirsty and too porous. On
2. Inflorescence. 8. Upper leaf. 4. Spikelet, land an prepared failures will ,
with two bristles. 5. Spikelet laid open. result in four cases out of
five.

A clayey soil in a moist situation, enriched by the application of well

rotted stable manure, kept in good tilth, that has been deeply and well

Italian Millet—Sete

35

broken the previous winter, and upon which all vegetation has been kept
down by frequent plowings or harrowing, are the most favorable condi-
tions for the growth of a large crop of millet. Upon land so prepared
one bushel of seed to the acre will be sufficient. The ground should not
be dry or wet when it is sown. If too dry many of the seeds will perish
near the surface; if too wet the land will be compacted and the crop will
“french” or turn yellow. After sowing, harrow well with a light harrow

German Millet—Setaria [talica var.

a, b, Spikelet and ‘‘beards,”’ c. Seed.
(U. S. Dept. Agric.)

or run a drag brush over the land, or use a smoothing harrow. Millet
_ may be sown at any time in the latitude of Tennessee from the first of
April until the 15th of August. One good soaking rain after sowing will
assure an abundant crop. It is a very rapid grower and a rank feeder.
It will be ready for the mower within fifty to sixty days after it is sown.
Millet must be cut when it begins to head and before it blooms. To
put off the time of harvesting until the seeds are ripe will be to ruin the

36

hay, for when cut at this stage it is not only worthless for forage or hay
but the abundance of seed renders it dangerous for feeding to horses, as it
will affect their kidneys in a very marked degree. The hay is cured and
treated in the same way as timothy hay but a little more time is required
to cure it properly. The less millet is exposed to the sun after it is cut
the better will be the hay. The yield of hay on very fertile well prepared
land, is as much as three to five tons per acre.

For raising seed run light parallel rows three feet apart and drill the
seed with a tin cup or an oyster can having three or four holes punched in
the bottom with an eight penny nail. Walk rapidly holding the cup over
a row and the seed will be distributed about thick enough. Cover
slightly and when the seed germinates and before it comes up run over
the land with a light harrow. Cultivate between the rows with a double

Millets.
1. Italian or Common Millet. 2. Hungarian Millet. 8. German or Golden
Millet (varieties of Italian.) (U.S. Dept. Agric.)

shovel plow, one plowing being all that is necessary. The millet should
be thinned to a mere thread of plants. Cut when the seed is in the
dough state with a self-binding reaper. Put the bundles in shocks and
thresh when the heads are thoroughly dry. The yield is frequently from
30 to 40 bushels of choice seed to the acre.

Italian millet, and indeed every kind of millet, is very exhausting to
the soil, especially if the seed is permitted to ripen. }

This grass is of great value to the renter who has rarely the oppor-
tunity of continuing in possession of the land long enough to sow a
meadow and reap the benefit of it. But for the proprietor who has suita-

37

_ ble soils there is no excuse for not providing himself with the best hay
the climate and soil can afford, and there are plenty of good grasses to
suit almost every variety of soil in the state of Tennessee. If a farmer
who is a landowner, wishes to indulge the pride, and it is an economical
pride, of having fat horses, sleek cattle, and plenty of bacon, let him at
once see to his meadows, for a good meadow is next to a corn-crib to
prepare pork for the smoke-house, as well as to fatten all kinds of stock.
A crop of millet is a good forerunner for a meadow as it destroys all the
noxious weeds, and leaves the land in fine condition for timothy or herd’s
grass.

Italian millet is sometimes called Missouri millet and Tennessee mil-
let, there being a slight variation induced by differences in soil and
climate.

HUNGARIAN MILLET OR HUNGARIAN GRASS—(Setaria
Ltalica var. Germanica.)—(Grown for Hay and Soiling).

There is a very slight difference between this and the Italian millet.
Botanists regard it as a variety of Italian millet. The head is not so
large or long as that of Italian millet, but it is more compact. It was
introduced into France in 1815 and is largely grown for forage in that
country. It is much relished by horses and cattle and has the capacity
of resisting droughts better than the Italian millet. As a hay grass it is
probably preferred to Italian millet, both because the head is smaller and
the straw is not so coarse. It also cures more quickly and does not grow
so rank, nor does it require so much moisture in the soil. It will grow
on any soil rich enough to produce good corn or potatoes. If sown after
potatoes it yields remarkably well and especially if the land was manured
when put in potatoes. Old well-rotted manure is much better for its
growth than fresh stable manure. In the management of this grass the
same instructions as given for Italian millet must be followed.

Hungarian millet attains maturity a week or ten days earlier than
Italian millet sown at the same time. It should be cut when the seed
is just beginning to form. ‘Two to three tons of hay to the acre is not
unusual. One good rain thoroughly wetting the ground after the seed
is sown is sufficient to bring the crop to maturity.

For seed cultivate in the same manner as for Italian millet.

Two or three crops of Hungarian millet can easily be raised from the
same ground in one year. A farmer of Davidson county raised a most
excellent crop of Hurgarian millet, sown the first day of September and
cut on the 10th of October. Another, of Williamson county, secured a
good crop of German millet sown on the 13th day of August and cut on
the 12th day of October. So, if a farmer, by any kind of misfortune, fails
in the earlier months to secure a sufficient quantity of dry forage for his
stock, he can, as a dernier resort, start very late in supplying himself, by
crops of this grass. Should it be desired to use the hay as a green forage,
it can be cut three times at least, provided it is done before it begins to
throw up the seed stalks. It is a common custom in the southern states
to use it in this manner instead of buying the expensive baled hay of the
orth.

38
COMMON OR BROOM CORN MILLET— (Panicum miliaceum.)—(Grown
for Hay and Soiling. )

The heads of common millet are large, open and nodding, resembling
broom-corn in general appearance. This grass is used for the same pur-
poses, and cultivated in the same manner and upon like soils, as Italian
millet and Hungarian grass. It will yield from sixty to seventy bushels
of seed per acre. Cut after the seed is ripe it is valueless as food for any
kind of stock.

Broom Corn Millet—Panicum miliaceum.,

a, b, c, Spikelet and Chaff, d,e, Two views of Seed,
(U. S. Dept. Agric.)

39

GAMA ' GRASS—SESAME GRASS—(Tripsacum dactyloides)—( For .
Hay and Soiling.)

Gama grass merits more attention from Tennessee farmers than it
has ever received. It is one of the largest and most beautiful perennial
grasses grown in the South, reaching oftentimes a height of seven feet.
When young and succulent it is eaten with avidity by stock and makes
from its rapid growth a good soiling or forage crop or material for the
silo. Its leaves are very large,
equal in size to the leaves of
Indian corn: Tt" has -‘very
strong creeping root stocks,
which are as large as those of
cane roots, but close grazing
will destroy the grass in a few
years.

Gama grass may be cut
three or four times a year and
though in its native state it
grows in swamps, it will
thrive almost equally well on
dry or sandy ridges. It will
grow where timothy or or-
chard grass will not, and con-
sequently it is well suited to a
large section of our State. The
quantity of hay taken from
; one acre is simply enormous,
Gama or Sesame Grass—Tripsacum dactylotdes. resembling very much corn-

2, Inflorescence. 3. Base of the female inflor. fodder. As a hay it is fully
escenee A URET Heat Saale eT t™ equal to corn-fodder, and it
in section. 7. Female spike- can be. saved at one-tenth the
let expanded. ;
labor required to save fodder.
It is very nutritious and succulent when cut green. The great mass
of roots will serve to open, loosen and improve the land upon which it
grows. It should never be allowed to shoot up the seed stem when de-
sired for hay. ;

It is with difficulty the seed can be made to vegetate and therefore it
must be propagated by slips from the roots. Prepare the land well, lay
_ off the furrows with a bull-tongue plow two feet apart, and drop small
_ pieces of root about one foot apart in the furrow, covering with a board.
The creeping roots will soon meet, and the ground is quickly turfed with
the grass. It should be planted early in September. Of course, the
richer the land, whether upland or bottom, the greater the yield. Poor
land rarely makes better crops of anything than fertile land. I have seen
this grass growing with great luxuriance in Montgomery county, Tenn.

40

TEOSINTE—(ZEuchlena Mexicana, E. luxurians.)\—(Grown for Fodder.)

This is an annual grass
and in the luxuriance and
largeness of its growth it much
resembles Indian corn. It at-
tains a height upon fertile
soils of from eight to twelve
feet. It is of tropical origin
and was introduced into the
United States probably from
Central America or Mexico,
or from both.

It has been successfully
grown at the Experiment Sta-
tion at Knoxville, and is re-
garded as one of the most
prolific forage plants known
to agriculture. Stock is very
fond of it, and it will yield
twenty or more tons of green
forage per acre. It will bear
cutting several times during
the year but some authorities
believe that the best results
will be obtained from a single
cutting just before frost. It
tillers greatly, as many as
fiity stalks having been
observed as springing from
the same root. The Agricul-
tural Department at Wash-
ington recommends that teo-
sinte be planted in drills three
feet apart and thinned to a
foot apart in the rows. One

Teosinte—Euchlana Mexicana, EF. luxurians. pound of seed is sufficient to
The uppermost cut in the figure shows the plant an acre. One drawback
male inflorescence reduced one-half; to the right to this grass is that it does not

below is shown the female inflorescence mostly

concealed within the sheathing leaf; to the left mature its seed in ‘Tennessee,
below is shown a single female spike. R. A :
joint of the rachis of the female spike. S/. Ter- and very rarely north of ©

minal portion of the stigma. Southern Florida.

The soil for its growth must be deep, moist and fertile. Any soil
suitable for corn wili produce teosinte. It is one of the rankest feeders
of all the grasses. Dairymen living near a city would find it valuable as
a soiling crop for cutting green and feeding to milch cows. The stalks
are very tender and are eaten greedily by cattle, whether green or dry.

It is a difficult matter to cure this grass properly and many other
grasses adapted to the soils of Tennessee are to be preferred to it for
making winter feed for stock. It may be cut with corn knives in the fall

41

and set up in shocks. It has very little, if any advantage over corn when
the latter is cut and put up before the blades are dry. Teosinte harvested
in the same way would probably have its greatest value and be most easily
saved at the smallest cost for labor. It is superior to corn as a forage
crop only in its capacity of giving a greater yield.

Teosinte—Euchlena Mexicana, E. luxurians.

Showing its robust character and habit of throwing up many stalks or culms
from a single root.

SUGAR SORGHUM—CHINESE SUGAR CORN—(Sorghum | sac-
charatum.)—(Hay, Pasture, Forage, Silo and for the Manu-
facture of Syrup.

Fifty years ago sugar sorghum or Chinese sugar-corn, was unknown
in the United States. It is now grown to a greater or less extent in every
outhern state, all through the western states and as far north as Pennsyl-

42

vania and New York and even in Canada. At first it was grown only
for the manufacture of syrup. It was soon discovered, however, that stock
of all kinds ate it with a decided relish and that it kept them fat. About
1880 it first began to be grown in Tennessee as food for cattle. It is
now grown extensively for forage in every part of the State and by many
farmers it is regarded as far superior to corn fodder for feeding cattle. It
certainly abounds in fat-making elements. The seed in India and in other
tropical regions is largely employed by the inhabitants as food and it is
asserted by high authority that more people subsist upon it and kindred
species than upon any other cereal. While wheat makes the best bread,
sorghum seed, Kaffir-corn, Durra-corn and other like species can be pro-
duced cheaper and is the chief “staff of life’ among the
poorer classes in the Orient. In Tennessee the grain has
rarely been employed for human food, but it has been fed
to all kinds of live stock and it is especially valued for
feeding poultry.

VARIETIES, SOILS AND CULTIVATION. —
There is a vast number of varieties and sub-varieties of
sorghum. Originally there were two leading kinds, the
Chinese sugar cane and the Inphee, known as the red and
the black, or the Chinese and the African. For the man-
ufacture of sugar, probably the Inphee cane is superior,
but for the manufacture of syrup, the Chinese is preferred.
These varieties have been modified by cultivation and cli-
mate and from them have originated several that are re-
garded for specific purposes much better than the two
great original varieties. ‘The variety called amber is most
widely distributed and is used for forage purposes in
almost every state where sorghum is cultivated. What is
known as the early amber is used both for forage and for
pasture. The amber variety is very sweet, very early, not
very rank and therefore is better adapted for making a
coarse kind of hay. The orange varieties are said to come
next to the amber varieties in point of popularity and use-
fulness. These are coarser than the amber varieties.
They do not grow so rapidly or mature so quickly and are
therefore not so much used for early feeding or for hay.

Pat cater et in They are said, however, to be better for soiling purposes
Sorghum. and for the silo. Other varieties are known as Folger’s
(U.S. Dept. ; yoseneck. For sun asturage
ot terse early, Coleman and gooseneck. For summer p ge,

Folger’s early is said to be an excellent variety.

Sorghum will thrive to some extent on the poorest soils. When the
earth is parched up by drought it maintains its fresh, green color and
continues to grow. However, it will thrive better on rich, calcareous and
alluvial soils, and though the juice may have more water, when grown
on such soils it will make far more syrup. The roots of-sorghum pene- .
trate the soil deeper probably than any other cereal and consequently
deep plowing in the preparation of the soil is highly important to make a
full crop. Not only should the plow be used, but the subsoiler also. On

43

good land it grows to a height of 15 to 18 feet; on poor, badly prepared
land, it stops at five or six feet. Because it will grow on poorer land than
other plants is no evidence that poor land is better for it. On gravelly or
sandy subsoils, the roots will go four or five feet deep, and on this kind
of land, if rich, it will make far more syrup and of a better quality. For
syrup making it should be planted in drills three feet apart. In four or
five days the young and tender plants come up, looking very much like

Seedheads of Sorghum—Collier variety, one of the best.
(U. S. Dept. Agric.)
grass. Young sorghum grows rapidly, and soon outstrips the weeds.
When three or four inches high, it should be chopped and thinned out,
and but little more work need be done to it. Two or three plowings are
all it should receive, as the roots penetrate the ground so thickly the
plant will receive more injury than benefit if plowed after it is three or
four feet high. Besides, by that time the ground is so shaded by lateral
branches and suckers that the weeds will effect no material injury.

44

Much difference of opinion existed at first, and still exists, as to the
best time of cutting so as to get the largest amount of good syrup. Some
assert it should be harvested when the seeds are in the milky state, others
when they are fully matured. A slight degree of frost does not injure it,
and this has caused the loss of many a crop, for whenever it freezés, fer-
mentation ensues, and it will not make syrup at all; or if it does it is
black and has a disagreeable odor. But repeated experiments have dem-
onstrated the fact that early cut cane makes the best and cleanest
molasses.

AS A FORAGE AND SOILING CROP—But it-is rather as a for-
age crop that the methods of cultivating and curing this plant properly
belong in this bulletin. Its uses are almost as various as those of Jndian
corn itself. As has already been stated, it is greedily eaten in all stages by
stock of every kind. The seeds are abundant and one acre of good sor-
ghum will make from forty to sixty bushels of seed. The heads can be
cut from the stalks and stored for use, taking care to spread them out until
they are dry, when they make good food for cattle, horses, sheep, hogs
and poultry. When ground into flour they make good bread. Both
the seeds and the expressed juice have been extensively used in distilla-
tion, large quantities of alcoho] and sorghum brandy being annually made
from them. During the civil war it formed almost the only resource of
the South for whisky, all other kinds of grain being in too much demand
for distillers to use them.

But probably it possesses more good qualities as a green soiling
plant than any other. Let it be sown on good land, either broadcast or
thickly drilled with a seed drill, from April to July, with about one bushel
of seed to the acre, and the amount of forage will be immense. It will
yield from 20 to 80 tons of green fodder to the acre, which, when dry,
will make four to six tons of the sweetest and best of hay, and stock will
eat up the last vestige of it.

HARVESTING AND CURING—The most difficult thing in con-
nection with the growing of sorghum for hay, is to cure it properly.
When sown broad-cast upon a rich soil using three bushels or more of
seed per acre or when drilled with a wheat drill using a like amount of
seed, it makes such a rank growth that it is a troublesome task to cut and
save it. If the seed is sown thick enough so that the stalks will be small,
the crop may be cut with a mower. If the stalks are large, a corn knife
will have to be used or a corn harvester. Some farmers use the self-
binder in cutting the crop but in this case the height of the stalks must
not be over five or six feet.

The proper time for cutting is when the heads begin to flower, Then
it should be cut and bundled as corn fodder, or it may be left spread on
the ground, if the weather is good, for several days, and it will be dry
enough to store but not in too large a bulk. Its stems are so full of
juices that it will not cure quickly. The juices in it, however, will sugar
in a few days when it will keep as well as timothy. It possesses fattening
qualities in an eminent degree and nothing like it was ever used for im-
proving a drove of mules. If the farmer has a drove of mules or herd of
cattle or milch cows or flock of sheep it can be fed to them from the time

45 *

it is two feet high and they will eat it with avidity. By the time a field
is gone over, it will be ready to cut again, as the root freely throws up
new suckers and will continue to do so until stopped by the frost. Thus,
as many as three crops of it, if sown early can be cut in Tennessee as a
soiling crop. before it is destroyed by the cold. Or if it is not wanted as

$$$

Sorghum Growing on the Station Farm, University of Tennessee.
(U.S. Dept. Agric.)

green forage, it can be cut at blossoming for hay, at least twice without
-Tresowing. And the second crop will be as good as the first.

After lying on the ground for three or four days it may be gathered

and shocked like corn, if the stalks are large, but if they are small they

46

may be raked up and put into cocks from which, after remaining for a
few days, the hay may be hauled to a shelter or put into stacks and
topped off with fodder, rye straw, herd’s grass or timothy hay. It will
be necessary if the crop is very rank to turn it over on the ground so that
all parts of it may, as far as possible, be equally exposed to the sun.

The difficulty of curing is greatly increased during rainy weather, as
under such a condition the stalks are apt to blacken and ferment. Some
farmers find the best way to preserve it from fermentation is to make
alternate layers of sorghum and dry wheat straw, the latter readily ab-
sorbing any undue moisture which may remain.

For a long time the farmers objected to growing it extensively be-,
cause they believed it to be a very exhaustive crop to the soil. This is
true when the seeds are permitted to ripen fully. In fact the experience
of the writer is that if left to ripen seed it exhausts soils more than the
growth of corn or wheat. But when sorghum is cut just as the head
begins to blossom and before the draughts are made upon the soil for
maturing the seed, it injures the soil less than probably any other crop
yielding as much forage. In many parts of Tennessee where there are
fields well suited for the growing of sorghum the same land is planted
with it for several years in succession without showing any diminution in
the quality or quantity of the forage produced. It is claimed by some
observant farmers that the land is benefited by the deep growing roots
through their agency in permitting the soil to be thoroughly aerated.
Very little injury is done to the soil by removing the crop in an early
stage of development. Many farmers claim that when planted late with
cowpeas or other field peas and cut before the seeds are matured, the
land is left in excellent condition.

Mr. Bulow, of South Carolina, in speaking of sorghum, says:

“IT rely almost entirely on early amber sorghum as forage for my
sheep and cattle. I cultivate it in three-foot rows and sow the seed
rather thick. About the time the heads begin to get hard, cut and put
up in shocks and bind tightly at the top and it can remain in the fields for
three or jour days, as we have but little rain during the fall months.”

Mr. Thompson, of Georgia, says:

“Sorghum makes good roughness. Plant thick in the drill, cultivate
it, cut it and shock until cured. Make the shocks small; when partly
cured puf two to four together. Sow about one and one-half bushels of
seed to the acre and mow and cure like millet.”

In Texas the hay is often baled from the cocks after giving it an addi-
tional exposure to the sun for several hours. The experiments made at
the Texas Station show that the percentages of fat and protein increase
as the sorghum ripens, but when ripened it is not so digestible, so that
the increase in fats and protein are more than off-set by the indigestibility
of the forage.

Georgia experiments show that the highest percentages of fat and
protein are found in the plant when cut during its inflorescence. Un-
questionably the consensus of opinion with a large majority of farmers is
that it makes the best forage when cut in bloom. ‘The yield often runs

as high as 12 to 15 tons from one sowing. As a food for milch cows it is |

47

unexcelled on account of the large flow of rich milk, which it induces.
Care should be taken at first in the feeding of the green forage to cattle
unaccustomed to it. ‘They should be restrained and not suffered to take

a full feed, as it is very succulent and like clover, is apt to induce hoven.

AS A PASTURE-—As a pasture grass sorghum has been highly
commended. The Arkansas Experiment Station issued a bulletin in
August, 1896, in which it is stated that sorghum gave excellent results as
a hog pasture used in connection with clover and Spanish peanuts to give
a succession of fresh food. Sheep, hogs and milch cattle are especially fond
of it. For a pasture it should be sown very thickly and it is a wise policy
to sow two or three fields or parts of fields separate from each other in
sorghum and pasture them alternately. Sorghum grows so rapidly that
as soon as the stock is taken off one field it will, within a week be ready
to pasture again. Tennessee farmers would find it greatly to their interest
to break up portions of their stubble fields when a catch of clover has
failed or been destroyed, and sow in sorghum for a late summer pasture.
The capacity of this plant to resist drought makes it especially valuable
for pastures at a season when clover, blue grass and orchard grass and all
the best pasture grasses have fallen off or become exhausted in their graz-
ing capacity by reason of the summer’s drought. I know of nothing that
will so well fill up the gap between the spring pastures and the fall pas-
tures as sorghum sown upon wheat stubble from the latter part of June to
the last of July. Farmers should try it.

SORGHUM FOR THE S!tLO—Director Redding, of the Georgia
Experiment Station, regards sorghum as a material for ensilage quite sat-
isfactory. He says: “For the silo I consider the three most valuable
plants in order, are Indian corn, cowpeas and sorghum.” Notwith-

- standing this favorable estimate of the value of sorghum for the silo

many object to it on account of its tendency to become acid. It also
lacks the nutritive quality of Indian corn and unless cut very early in its
growth the stalk becomes so hard that it is not eaten with comfort by
cattle. One advantage, however, of sorghum is that it will remain green
in the fall for a much longer time than corn and so a larger quantity of
it may be utilized for making ensilage. When it is grown in conjunction
with cowpeas or soy beans it gives a much more nutritious ensilage than
corn taken by itself. ,

With all the short-comings of sorghum it must be regarded as one
of the most useful and widely cultivated plants that has ever been intro-
duced into the United States. Among the small farmers it is highly

. prized for its syrup-making properties. Among stock-breeders it is

valued because of the immense amount of forage which it supplies at a
small cost. It has the capacity to resist dry weather better than almosc
any other crop. It may be used for more purposes than almost any
other crop. It is very valuable as a pasturage for sheep, hogs, cattle,
mules and horses. It makes good hay for winter feeding. The seed is
said to be worth, for feeding purposes, about 90 per cent. as much as
corn. The hay is better than corn-fodder and the stalk when properly
cured may be reckoned among the best fattening foods grown.

48

JOHNSON GRASS—(Andropognon sorghum halepense.)—Meadows and
Pasture.

Space for a description of Johnson grass is given in this bulletin
mainly for the purpose of warning Tennessee farmers against it. While
it makes excellent hay and furnishes a large amount of grazing it is at
the same time one of the most troublesome weeds that can be introduced
upon a farm. If one wishes
to raise nothing but hay; if
he has no regard for the rights
of his neighbors; if he expects
never again to grow tillage
crops on his farm, then the
wisdom of sowing Johnson
grass may be commended.
Otherwise it should be left
severely alone for no time will
completely eradicate it when
once well set upon good land.
It has a thick fleshy root stock
that penetrates the soil in
every direction and throws up
a culm from every joint. Ifa
single piece of root an inch
long is left in the ground it
will be the prolific mother of
a numerous progeny of stalks
and roots within a year. It is
possessed of a strange and ex-
Johnson Grass—Andropognon Sorghum halepense. traordinary vitality. A barrel

of salt poured upon a bed of
it eight feet square did not destroy the roots. Within a month the salt
disappeared, leaving a briny surface, but the invincible roots sent up an
army of numerous stalks that waved their flags in victory over the bed
that was intended to be their grave. :

The only possible way to keep Johnson grass in subjection, so far as
the writer knows, is to pasture it with hogs and never suffer the grass to
go to seed. Frequent plowing of the land and bringing the roots to
the surface so that the hogs may find them readily will assist in keeping it
down. One of its greatest virtues is that hogs will thrive upon its succu-
lent roots which they seem to prefer even to artichokes. They never tire
in searching for them.

SOILS—Rich, well drained, calcareous soils and especially rich allu-
vial soils will grow this grass most luxuriantly, but it will thrive on a
sandy dune, in a barren field, on a rocky ledge, wherever it can find a
handful of dirt, and it will even flourish in the bottom of a gully. It
knows not how to fail. In a southern climate it will grow on any spot
and will resist the severest droughts, withstand the coldest weather of
southern winters, and make a vigorous growth where but few other plants

——

49

will live. It is in a sense the most self-assertive of all the grasses and like
the wild garlic will propagate itself equally as well from the roots as from
the seeds.

With all its bad qualities it is probably the most prolific perennial hay
grass in the United States. In the latitude of Tennessee, Northern Ala-
bama, and indeed throughout the South, it may be mowed three to four
times a year and will yield at each mowing from two to three tons of
excellent hay when grown on rich soil. The best time for cutting it to
make hay is before the heads appear. After the seeds are formed the
stalks grow hard, which makes the hay unfit for stock. Jno. B. Mc-
Ewen, of Williamson county, a most observant farmer, speaks in rather
extravagant terms of the quality of hay made from this grass and de-
clares that it is the best hay he makes on his farm.

When young, Johnson grass is very tender and sweet and the pith is
filled with sugary iuices. As a soiling crop it is very much prized, as it
may be cut every month from May until heavy frosts. Dr. Phares, of
Mississippi, says during a long drought it was mowed in the northeastern
part of that state three times and on the first of October there was a
growth from eight to twelve inches high. Upon this cattle were turned
and there remained feeding and fattening on the abundant, rich, rapidly
growing foliage to the last of December.

All writers on this grass, with the exception of a few who live above
the 37th degree of north latitude, while commending it highly for the
fecundity of its growth and the nutritious qualities of its foliage and
roots, speak of it as utterly ineradicable. Prof. Gulley, of Mississippi,
says in the quantity and quality of hay it stands first for permanent

- meadow, especially if sown on rich, well drained, heavy land. Prof. S. M.

Tracy, says: “Johnson grass makes excellent hay and will give from
three to four cuttings a year. While thousands of dollars have been made
by its cultivation and it grows well on almost any kind of soil, it will
never be popular, as, when once planted ‘it sticketh closer than a brother,’
and it is difficult to grow any other crop on the land.”

When the roots become thoroughly matted in the soil the yield of
hay decreases. A good plowing of the ground so as to dislocate the
masses of roots will start the grass to growing again in all its tropical
vigor. As a meadow or pasture grass it will retain its hold upon the
land and suffer no inroads whatever by other grasses or weeds. The only
situation it cannot endure is when sown where it will be overflowed and
the water left standing upon the ground. Under such conditions the roots
will rapidly decay.

The seed weighs 35 pounds to the bushel and one bushel is required
for sowing an acre. It may also be propagated by setting out pieces of
the roots a foot apart.

The writer, however, wishes to emphasize and repeat his warning to
the farmers of Tennessee: Never plant Johnson grass with the expecta-
tion of destroying it for it is a “stick-fast’” and will survive the roughest
treatment. Many excellent valley farms in the central basin of Middle
Tennessee have had their value vreatly decreased by the presence of this
unconquerable grass.

50

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Indian Corn—Zea Mays.

BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION OF INDIAN CORN—(ZEA MAYS, L.)—In the center above is
single stalk, reduced to 1-10th its natural size, showing the terminal male (the “tassel’’),
and in the axil of the third leaf from the base is the female inflorescence enveloped in
broad, leafy bracts. At the base of the figure on the right side this female inflorescence
is shown more clearly; the hair-like tuft is formed by the projecting slender styles (the
“silk.”) ‘To the left at the base of the figure is shown an “ear’’ of corn, the kernels
being the matured ovaries from which the styles have disappeared. In the upper left-
hand corner of the figure are two spikelets. ‘The flowers of Iudian corn are unisexual,
the one male or staminate, the other female or pistillate; both are born upon the same
plant, but each is in a separate inflorescence.

—

51

INDIAN CORN—(Zea Mays. )—(For Forage).

Taking it in all its manifold uses there is no other product of agri-
culture grown in America so important to man and to domestic ani-
mals as Indian corn. The grain is more extensively used in the United
States than all other grains combined. The average annual crop does
not fall short of two thousand million bushels. The oat crop which
comes second rarely surpasses 800,000,000 bushels. The corn crop has
always been a leading one with the farmers of Tennessee from pioneer
days to the present. In fact, in 1840, Tennessee grew more Indian corn
than any other state in the Union.

It is not the purpose of this bulletin, however, to try to teach Ten-
nessee farmers how to raise corn or to go into an elaborate description
of the great number of varieties produced in the United States. The
chief object of this paper is to direct their attention to the value of Indian
corn in the making of hay and forage. The “saving of fodder” was for
nearly a century considered one of the indispensable tasks of the farmers
of Tennessee, but no one in early times ever thought of sowing Indian
corn and mowing it to supply the place of fodder. The dairymen of the
north have, for many years, been using corn so sown as a soiling crop for
their cows during the dry months of July and August after the first pas-
tures have dried up and before the fall pastures have become green with
the latter rains. A vast amount of forage in the form of fodder tops and
stalks is saved in every part of the United States. Even in Europe corn
forage is growing to be very popular, and the grain is now used by the
inhabitants of many foreign states who knew nothing of it thirty years
ago. :
Mr. Mechi, who for a long time enjoyed the distinction of being one
of the best farmers in England, placed a very high estimate upon corn
fodder not only in the feeding of sheep and cattle, but for the production
of milk and butter. He estimated that one ton of such fodder is equal
to forty bushels of grain.

There is a class of small farmers and tenants in the State of Tennes-
see who do not own the land which they cultivate. These farmers must
raise some kind of hay, or as they call it ‘roughness’ with which to feed
their work stock. This can be easily done by sowing, the first of May
upon well prepared land, a few acres in corn at the rate of a bushel and a
half to the acre. It should be covered with a harrow. The corn fodder
will mature in about 99 days, that is to say, it will arrive at that stage
when it should be cut, which will be about the time the tassels and silks
are well developed. Cut at this stage, it will make from 40 to 50 tons
of green forage on an acre of fertile land and from three to four tons of
dry forage. It makes also an excellent soiling crop for milch cows.

There is some difficulty in curing corn-fodder properly, as it is ex-
tremely succulent. It must be cut in good weather and spread evenly on
the land so as to receive as much sun as possible. It may then be put up
in shocks like hay, after it has-been sufficiently dry to escape the danger
of fermentation. It may be managed very much in the same manner as
sorghum. Corn fodder, green, is also an excellent material for ensilage,
especially when grown with cowpeas, oats and soy beans.

or
bo

There is a small variety of corn known as Dixie corn, the ears of
which are not larger than the fingers. This corn usually yields from six
to eight and even as high as fifteen ears to the stalk: The grains are very
small and the corn matures quickly. If this corn should be sown upon
rich land and cut at the time the grains are in the dough state, it would
make a mass of forage highly nutritious and would serve the purpose ot
both grain and hay. The stalks are so small that they may be cut with
a reaper Or mower and put up in the same way as the corn shocks of
ordinary corn when cut in the fall. The sowing and saving of this Dixie
corn for forage deserve the consideration of Tennessee farmers. Stubble
land could be employed for the growing of this crop.

CRAB GRASS—( Panicum sanguinale.)—(Hay and Pasture.)

This is a hardy annual grass, attractive because of its digitate form
of inflorescence. It is indigenous to the soil and troublesome in the cul-
tivation of other crops when clover or peas have not been used in the
systems of rotation. In the early settlement of Tennessee it was far more
abundant in the cultivated fields than at present. This grass comes up
spontaneously. It grows with
the greatest luxuriance upon
stubble fields and in corn-
fields in low situations. It
makes an excellent pasture
from June until October in
the latitude of Tennessee and
even to a later date when
heavy frosts do not occur. Its
most intimate associate is
green foxtail (.Sefarvia viridis),
which is totally worthless
when it begins to seed. Crab-
grass is never sown. When
cultivation ceases it takes pos-
session of the land. It is
justly regarded as an excellent
pasture grass but it forms no
sward. It sends out numerous
stems, however, branching at
the base. Crab grass serves a

Crab Grass—Panicum sanguinale.

2. Upper leaf and inflorescence. 3. Portion of :
one of the racemes. 5. Spikelet, frout useful purpose in stock hus-

view. 6. Spikelet, side view.

bandry all over the south. It
comes on at a time when northern farmers are compelled to resort to
soiling crops in order to supply green food to their milch cows. A dairy~
man from Ohio said to the writer upon seeing a field of crab grass grow-
ing to the height of three feet, that it was the most valuable summer
grass for the dairy he had ever seen. It grows very rank: after oats
and, cut when in flower, often yields more forage than the oat crop that
precedes it. Sometimes as much as two tons of crab grass hay to the
acre have been cut within forty days after the oat crop has been re-

——

53

moved. The hay is sweet but light, and stock seem to prefer it to any
other when cut early before the seeds harden. It will not shed rain very
well and it should be cut during a dry spell. It cures rapidly and unless
very rank it may be hauled in and stored away the next day after it is
mowed. It may be stacked in the open fields but the stacks must be
capped with herd’s grass or timothy hay. The hay is sometimes gath-
ered by pulling it up from between the corn rows. ‘This is a tedious task
but not more so than the pulling of fodder. Crab grass furnishes more
hay for home use in the Gulf states than any other grass. It is usually
cut in August or September, and even as late as October.

Mr. Sinclair says that the clean seed, when boiled in milk, makes a
dish resembling sago. It has been used as a substitute for sago in Ger-
many, and is really cultivated for that purpose in some districts.

BLUE GRASS—JUNE GRASS—(Poa pratensis.)—(Pasture Grass.)

This is a perennial grass and is well styled the king of all the pasture
grasses. It is very choice, however, in the selection of soils and situation.

Kentucky Blue Grass—Poa pratensis.

2. Panicle. 3. Upper leaf. 4. Spikelet. Spikelet of Blue Grass,
5. Empty glumes. showing seed.

Wherever it plants itself the land advances rapidly in price and it becomes
the breeder’s ideal home. Blue grass indeed has no rival within the limits
of its growth. All other grasses that make inroads upon its territory are
regarded as intruders. Whoever has blue grass is possessed of the key
to fortune. Stock breeders depending upon other grasses may do well.
The stock breeder in the blue grass region can hardly fail to do well.
SOILS—The best blue grass soils in Tennessee and Kentucky are
the calcareous loams of the Trenton formation. In Tennessee these soils
prevail in the central basin. There are parts of East Tennessee, where
the Trenton limestone abounds, that will also grow blue grass well.

54

Even upon some of the foot hills of the mountains, as well as in the val-
leys, thick blue grass sod is often met with. Among the limestone hog-
back ridges in that region, and especially in Southwestern Virginia, are
found some of the best blue grass pastures of the South. Blue grass
may be successfully grown upon the more fertile lands of the highland
rim, particuiarly in those localities where the St. Louis limestone abounds.
A singular fact in connection with the heavy clay soils of Montgomery,
Robertson and Stewart counties deserves mention. When the lands are
first opened to cultivation, the soils seem adapted to the growth of blue
grass. ‘[ramping however, soon destroys it. After being in cultivation
for a few years so as to destroy a large part of the original humus, it
seems to reach a condition, a second time, favorable for the growth of
blue grass. All old fields thrown out of cultivation in these counties
soon show considerable areas covered with blue grass. In the digging of
an ice house many years ago on the writer’s farm, the red clay was
thrown out and a mound made of it around the superstructure. Blue
grass after a few years appeared and is now growing in vigor upon this
clay. The presence of locust and walnut trees always induces a growth
of blue grass on any soil clear of underbrush. West Tennessee has some
blue grass lands in the tier of northern counties where limy concretions
abound in the soils. It is also successfully grown in the yards in many
other parts of that division of the state.

Good blue grass pastures, however, are rare in Tennessee outside of
the central basin. The best soil for its growth is strongly impregnated
with the carbonate and phosphate of lime, potash, alumina, ferric oxides
as indicated by the reddish color of the soil, all associated with a large
content of humus. Commingled with the soil are small angular pieces
of limestone gravel to the extent of twelve or fifteen per cent. The
alumina in such soils varies from 15 to 30 per cent., though the subsoil is
often porous. Blue grass sown on such soils is benefited by being tramped
The foundation of all these soils is a soft calcareous limestone belonging
to the Trenton period.

Blue grass is not so highly prized for pastures in England as it is in
the United States. Doubtless its nutritious qualities are there impaired
by the extreme humidity of the climate, notwithstanding Mr. Sole, of
England, calls it ‘the most noble of all the grasses for agriculture.” It
produces nearly all its flowery stems at once and when the seed ripens
and the stalks decay a wealth of blades spring up and falls over in great
folds which furnishes an immense amount of grazing. Its aftermath is
more valuable than its first growth. Blue grass is rarely injured by cold
weather, by close grazing or by the tramping of stock. It bears a
drought heroically. Though it may look brown and sere after a long
dry summer, the first autumnal rains will start it afresh and in a few
days its beautiful leaves will clothe the earth with a rich mantle of
verdure,

Blue grass requires three or four years to become well established. It
should be grazed but lightly during this period. After it has grown into
a good thick sod close grazing will not hurt it. When eaten down to
the ground in favorable weather it will reproduce itself in a few days.

—_-.

5d

The early spring growth, by its succulence, greatly increases the flow of
milk but it does not add materially to its richness. As the summer ad-
vances the quality of the milk grows richer and its capacity for butter-
making increases.

HOW AND WHEN TO SOW IT—If a wooded lot has been selected
for seeding to blue grass, all leaves and trash and underbrush should be
removed. ‘The seed must come in contact with the soil. Sown on a bed
of leaves the seed will germinate during moist weather but under such
conditions the rootlets will soon wither and die. The timber trees
should be thinned out if standing very thickly upon the land. At least
one-half or two-thirds of the area should have unobstructed sunshine
during a portion of the day. ‘The tallest and best timber trees should be
left and the bushy trees should be removed. Blue grass does better when
subjected to the cool of the shade during a part of the day.

So many seasons have been recommended as the best time for sowing
blue grass that it‘may be said each one, under favorable conditions, is a
good one. One Kentucky farmer says: “Any time in the winter, when
snow is on the ground, sow broadcast from three to four quarts of clean
seed to the acre. With the spring the seeds germinate and the sprigs of
grass are then very fine and delicate. No stock should be allowed for the
first year, nor until the grass seeds in June for the first time, which will
be in the second or third year. The best plan is to turn on your stock
when the seeds ripen. Graze off your grass, then allow the fall growth,
and graze all winter, taking care never to feed the grass too closely at
any time.”

Another authority says: “Follow nature and obey her dictates. The
seeds ripen in June and are scattered by the winds and rains as soon as
ripe and therefore, sow your seeds as soon as they can be gathered.”

This plan might be a proper one in a colder or moister climate than
that of Tennessee but here it would result in the grass being often killed
by the droughts that come almost invariably in the latter part of
summer. Many sow on winter snows, which is a very good method, but
care should be observed to have the ground free from leaves before the
snow falls.

There are others who sow in the latter part of February or first of
March. This season does as well as any provided the grass gets sufficient
hold to resist the withering effects of the summer’s drought. The main
point is to get the grass large enough to resist successfully the frosts of
winter or the droughts of summer. It can endure frost better than heat
and this fact justifies the statement that the most approved time of sowing
is in the latter part of August or first of September. If sown at that time
the autumnal rains will cause the seed to germinate quickly and the grass
to grow rapidly. At this season there is comparatively little trash on the
ground, the leaves having not yet fallen. The ground being prepared.
the seed is sown broadcast, at the rate of one bushel of seed in the chaff
per acre. The sower should be followed with a harrow, or if the ground
is very loose with a stiff brush and roller. This will give the seed a
sufficient covering. Blue grass seeds will vegetate best when put at a
depth of one-quarter of an inch. It may be supposed that, with no more

56

covering than will be given by a harrow or brush, a great many seeds
will be left uncovered. This is true but in one pound of blue grass seed
(clean seed) there are 3,888,000 seeds. By a computation every square
inch of surface will contain from nine to ten seeds. With this amount on
the surface, one scarcely need fear a stand, when if one or two take root
there will be a close turf in a year upon good soils.

Dr. F. H. Gordon, of Smith county, who during his life paid more
attention to the growing of blue grass than any one else in the State.
adopted a plan of management that has been repeatedly tested, with uni-
form success. It was this:

He sowed, either in the autumn or spring months indiscriminately, as
suited his convenience. He usually sowed with rye, wheat or barley if
sown in an open field, but if in a woods lot, the blue grass was sown only
with rye, or after a crop of millet. The soil was cleared of all trash and
brush, and broken up as well as the nature of the land would permit.
The grain was first sown, the land harrowed and if possible rolled. After
this, the grass seed was sown over the ground and brushed lightly. Cat-
tle, horses and sheep were then turned in, as many as could be secured.
If there were not enough on his place he borrowed his neighbor’s stock,
and let them run on the land until it was well packed all over the surface.
If sown after millet (and that is greatly recommended, as millet destroys,
more effectively than anything else, all weeds) the land should be har-
rowed about the first of September thoroughly, the seed sown and brushed
in. After this the stock should be turned on the land. If it is desired to
sow the grass in the spring, during the latter part of February or early in
March, if not practicable sooner, the grain field should be harrowed, the
ground having been well prepared in the fall. The seed is sown and stock
turned on the wheat, rye or barley as the case may be. Oat land may be
sown in the same way. ‘The treading of the stock packs in the seeds and
prevents the grass from drying up in summer or freezing out in winter.
Dr. Gordon considered an open, loose porous surface, extremely unfavor-
able to the safety of the young grass. When packed as directed, the
grass will quickly spring up and get a firm hold, and the loose condition
of the subsoil will favor the transmission of the roots to a good depth.

Dr. Gordon would nor permit the grass to seed at all. His great
success in this branch of agriculture gives weight to his authority. Others,
who have been successful in managing blue grass think no stock should
go on it for two years, or at least until after the first seeding, which will
take place in June of the second year. Some of the best blue grass lots
in Middle Tennessee have been started by following either of the methods
given above. The ground should not be well broken up. The surface
should be as firmly packed as possible in order to secure a perfect stand
and to form a perfect turf. When the surface is loose, the grass dries up
in summer and freezes out in winter. With favorable weather, seed
sown in the spring on a crop of oats will do as well as fall sowing. What
is meant by favorable weather, is that no unusual dry weather supervenes.
But the risk of meeting with unfavorable weather in spring sowing is
great, and for this reason fall sowing is preferred. The sowing should
take place as early in the fall as the weather will permit, or indeed in the

ais lat id

57

latter part of summer, if there is a proper degree of moisture in the soil.
Some sow a limited amount of seed daily and over the same surface
sprinkle shelled corn and then turn on their hogs. The hogs root in
search of the corn and thus plant the seed, doing the work of plow and
harrow. This, to say the least, is a slovenly way, and though possibly
insuring a good stand, the ground is made so rough it can never make a
beautiful pasture until worn down.

If the land is loose as some soils are, it will answer a very good pur-
pose to simply scratch the surface well with a sharp toothed harrow, and
this is especially to be commended where there is a large number of roots
in the ground.

AFTER TREATMENT —A blue grass pasture must not be pastured
to death. It will stand almost unlimited grazing, but there is a point
beyond which grazing will cease to be profitable. That limit should never
be passed. The better method is to have the field divided into lots and
allow the stock to run on one lot until it is cropped down, and then the
stock should be removed. No good purpose is served in letting stock
run on a lot in which there is no grass. It will not only do the stock
no good, but by constant tramping, the grass will be unable to throw up
any foliage. Under such treatment the roots will frequently perish.
Time should be given for the grass to recuperate by chang-
ing the stock from one pasture to another, and never permitting it to be
overstocked. Grass that will keep ten oxen in growing order, will fatten
five oxen quickly. Stock of all kinds are constant feeders and there
should always be forage enough to enable them io get plenty to eat with-
out the labor of hunting for it.

There is much variety of opinion as to the amount of stock that ought

to be put on an acre. This arises from the difference in the capacity of

the land to produce grass, the character of the season and the nature of
the soil. Porous soils will stand much heavier grazing than compact
soils. It is better to err on the safe side and it is wiser to put on too
few than too many cattle. If stock are fattened quickly, they are more
remunerative than when fattened slowly. Ordinarily two acres of good
grass are sufficient for one three year old ox and what will fatten one ox
of that age, will fatten ten head of sheep. Some think that blue grass
should be allowed to go to seed once or twice or until the ground is well
set or turfed over and then never again. It is a grass that propagates
itself mainly by its creeping roots or rhizomes after the first sowing, and
it is the disposition of all plants and animals to lose vitality in the process
of reproduction. It lies dormant for a time after a full crop of seed. It
is to be doubted if blue grass should ever be allowed to go to seed after
the first time.

The grass sometimes becomes so dry that it will burn. Stock will,
however, eat it, ravenously, in that condition. The grass having dried
full of nourishing juices, it is equal to the best of hay, and stock will fatten
upon it, unless the dried grass has been drenched with rain.

The fall growth of some lots should be kept untouched by stock so
as to have a good winter pasture. The grass will grow high enough to
fall over and protect the surface foliage. In this condition stock will

‘WUV,] AHSSHNNAT AO ALISMUHAIN NO HUALSVd ,

59

keep up their flesh when permitted to run on it during the winter months
without other food. When snow falls, however, cattle will have to be
fed, but horses, mules and sheep will paw off the snow, unless it is too
deep and get at the grass. It is the first grass that puts forth its leaves
in the spring. Good fat lambs can be sent into the market earlier than
from any other grass. It makes milk rich in butter, and gives the latter
a fine golden color without injuring its taste, or, like clover, imparting its -
peculiar flavor to it.

While blue grass is the most valuable of all grasses for those portions
of Tennessee where the soils are adapted to its growth it is too true that
many farmers living in those sections show a total indifference concern-
ing its cultivation. A farm well set in blue grass will yield a return per
acre of from $10 to $15 for grazing purposes alone. With such profits
from its growth it would seem that every farmer in the state would
hasten to sow it. Many do not because they are unacquainted with the
best system for its management. In its nutritive elements it ranks very
high. Recent tests show that while timothy contains 4% per cent. of
albuminoids; orchard, 6% per cent., red top, 6%4 per cent., blue grass
contains 8 per cent. These results vary with grasses grown on different
soils, time of harvesting and methods adopted in curing.

A standard bushel of seed weighs 14 pounds.

It is the very best grass grown for lawns and yards. A good sod of
it with proper care will last for centuries. It will withstand, under favor-
able conditions, all the vicissitudes of the weather, the heat of summer,
the cold of winter, parching droughts and sweeping floods.

It forms the greatest attraction of a country home. It is the ground-
work of all natural and artificial decorations. Without this grass the
shade is not half so grateful nor the flowers half so beautiful. For the
embellishment of yards it is the best of all grasses. Wherever blue grass
flourishes homes are more inviting and beautiful; lands are more valuable
and in greater demand; the people are more intelligent and cultivated,
have a nobler bearing and a higher sense of honor, become more highly
educated; domestic animals are better bred and of higher types, both for
beauty of form and for profitable marketing. In blue grass regions there
is more wealth, greater taste, more real contentment, a larger hospitality,
more ease and luxury, better society and fewer paupers, less worry, less
enervating labor, more charming surroundings and happier families.

Blue grass is nature’s sweetest smile; it is God’s benediction; it helps
to support us in life; it cheers us on our way by its freshness and beauty
and it covers our last resting place with its perennial mantle of green, at
once the emblem of life, of resurrection and of immortality.

60°

ENGLISH BLUE GRASS OR CANADA BLUE GRASS.
(Poa compressa.)—(Grazing and Hay.)

In many of its features
this grass resembles the Ken-
tucky blue grass, but it has a
more creeping habit, narrower
panicles and flattened stems.
The leaves have a deep bluish
tint and it deserves the name
of blue grass more than the
blue grass does.

This grass does not re-
quire for its growth such fer-
tile soils of calcareous origin
as the Poa pratensis or blue
grass. It is more hardy.: It
will thrive upon dry, sandy,
thin soils. It flowers later than
blue grass proper but its
Dy, blades appear very early.
, ‘7X7 Stock are very fond of it and
English or Canada Blue Grass—Poa Compressa. it is rich in nutritive matter
3. Panicle. 4. Upper leaf. 5. Spikelet. 6. Empty but the amount of its foliage
glumes. 7. Floral glume seen from the side. is not great. Gould says:
“Cows that feed upon it both in pasture and in hay, give more milk and
keep in better condition than when fed on any other grass. Horses fed
on this hay will do as well as when fed on timothy hay and oats combined.
Sheep fatten astonishingly when fed upon it.’ This is high commenda-
tion but this commendation is more applicable to this grass when grown
upon the soils and in the climate of New York than when grown in Ten-
nessee. But little of it is ever seen in ‘Tennessee, except among the
mountains of East Tennessee. It is known in some sections as the “blue
grass of the North.” It is rarely sown in Tennessee. The price of
the seed is quoted at $14 per 100 pounds or $2 per bushel. It is easily
distinguished from blue grass by its compressed stems, its lower habit of
growth, the want of fuzziness on its seed, its smaller panicles and by its
intense bluish color. It deserves to be tried in Tennessee upon those
soils where blue grass will not grow. Many farms in the more sandy
regions of the state would probably increase their grazing capacity by the
introduction of this grass. as it will withstand drought better than blue
grass. It withstands cold as well. On good soils it will grow to the
height of two feet and may be mowed for hay, of which it will make a
yield of from one ton to one and a half tons per acre. The grass is said
to lose less in drying than any other economic grass.

ZA) 4
71} 7

ROUGH MEADOW GRASS—(/oa trivialis.)—( Pastures. )

This grass is a perennial and is known in Lombardy as the queen of
forage plants (la regina dell ’erbe.) It is closely related to blue grass
but it has no conspicuous rootstocks and has rough stems and sheaths;

61

hence its name. It is said to be an excelient grass on good, moist, loamy
soils, but it is not adapted to sandy or dry soils. It multiplies itself
greatly by seed and does not throw out rhizomes and thicken by means
of its roots. It forms a good bottom grass in pastures.

In England it is used for making hay as well as for grazing and is
said to make more hay than rye grass. The hay is very sweet and
nutritious and the partiality which horses, cattle and sheep show for it is
a high recommendation. It will probably be a good grass for the moun-
tains in the extreme eastern portion of Tennessee as it delights in a moist
climate and sheltered situations.

This grass is best for a mixture and should be sown with Kentucky
blue grass and orchard grass. It finds its most congenial situation in
woodland pastures and on the banks of streams. In the climate of Ten-
nessee it is totally unfit for hay-making, as the exposure of its roots to
the sunshine destroys it at once. The seed weighs 15 pounds to the
bushel and is free from fuzz. Half a bushel per acre is ample when sown
with other grasses.

TEXAS BLUE GRASS—(/oa arachnifera.)—( Pastures. )

This grass, as its name would indicate, is a native of Texas, but it
is now largely distributed throughout the Southern States. It is a hardy
perennial and grows with great vigor. It has long leaves, creeping root-
stocks and narrow but densely flowered panicles. It forms a thick turf
and is well suited for making permanent pastures. It.may be propagated
by the roots or seed. The latter is so woolly that it is difficult to sow.
The seed also sells very high, being quoteu at $3 per pound or $42 per
bushel. In rows two feet apart the roots may be planted one foot in the
rows with a certainty of the early thickening of the grass by its creeping
rootstocks. The roots may be depended upon much more surely than
the seed for getting a stand.

Texas blue grass will grow faster and to greater height than Ken-
tucky blue grass. It is one of the very best pasture grasses for the ex-
treme south and it remains green throughout the year, even in as high
a latitude as Tennessee. It grows during the winter months, and blooms
the latter part of April or the first of May. It will stand more heat and
will resist a drought better than blue grass, while its capacity for grazing
is not surpassed by any other southern grass. Any good fertile soils and
especially calcareous loams will grow this grass in rank luxuriance and
beauty. It should take the place of Kentucky blue grass in all soils ex- °
cept those especially adapted to the growth of the latter, but Kentucky
blue grass well set will endure longer than any ‘other grass. The rich
soils of East Tennessee appertaining to the small valleys are well adapted
to the growth of Texas blue grass, as are the calcareous soils of the cen-
tral basin and of the highland rim. The loess formation of West Ten-
nessee supplies soils that will grow this grass to perfection. Having a
southern habitat and being of southern origin, it will not endure severe
freezes.

y;
WAW

Texas Blue Grass—Poa avachnifera.

a. Spikelet. 4, Flowering glume.

63

SWEET VERNAL GRASS—(Anthoxanthum odoratum.)—( Pastures. )

This is a perennial pasture grass and is only valuable because it is one
of the first to shoot up its green leaves in the spring and one of the last
to disappear in cold weather. It is almost worthless when sown alone but

Sweet Vernal Grass—Anthoxanthum odoratun.

it imparts to the pastures, or to hay cut from such pastures, an agreeable
fragrance. It scarcely deserves notice, as its foliage when green is bitter
‘to the taste.

The seed weighs 10 pounds to the bushel. A few pounds of seed as a
mixture sown on an acre will not be objectionable in a pasture.

YELLOW OAT GRASS—( 7risetum flavescens.)—( Pastures. )

This grass has recently been introduced from Europe where it is
greatly prized as a mixture for permanent pastures. It may be grown
on every variety of soil but it seems to prefer in this country mountain
slopes having fairly good soils. It is a slender, loosely tufted perennial
with fibrous roots, and grows to the height of about two feet.

In England its natural habitats are dry pastures, heaths, rocky places
and chalk meadows. Sheep and cattle relish the early foliage. The high-
est yield recorded in this country was when grown on clayey loam like
much of the valley land of East Tennessee and of the highland rim.

Prof. Beal thinks it promises little for this country.

Prof. F. Lamson-Scribner thinks it has some agricultural value.
But for the misleading name of oat grass it might be passed over without
mention.

BERMUDA GRASS—( Cynodon Dactylon.)—Pasture and Meadow. )

Bermuda grass is of little or no value when grown above the 37th
degree of north latitude. It is the child of the sun and luxuriates in a
tropical or semi-tropical climate. It cannot stand the rigorous winters of

64

the northern states. The value of this grass has rarely been appreciated.
Because it is a most troublesome weed in tillage it has been decried as
almost worthless by a large class of planters in the south, who want corn
and cotton and not grass and stock. Though regarded as a nuisance its
merits are disclosed by the fact that when young and tender it is preferred
by stock to almost any other grass and it is very nutritious. It is a friend
in disguise. It is one of natures allies to conceal and heal the wounds
inflicted upon mother earth by bad cultivation. It is the best of all natural
agencies for stopping gullies. It will fasten its roots upon the bottom of
the gullies and catch the burden of soil as it is carried down by a rain.

Bermuda Grass—Cynodon dactylon,

2. Inflorescence. 3. Spikelet. 4. Empty glumes.

As the bottom of gullies fill up the grass rises with it, building up, little
by little, until the general surface is reached.

Bermuda grass is a perennialjand the most valuable for a pasture
grass of any grown in the cotton states. It will also grow on rich soils
in all parts of Tennessee and especially in West Tennessee. Freezing
weather endangers its vitality and therefore it will not do to rely upon in
exposed situations, especially upon great elevations. It prefers sandy
soils and fluviatile deposits, but it is not so well suited to sandstone soils
such as obtain on the Cumberland table-land. It will readily grow upon
the moist rich soils of the central basin but winter freezes often leave
great vacant places upon such soils. The clayey soils of East Tennessee
in proper situations will grow it in vigor. It has the capacity to endure
the greatest amount of summer heat, and droughts that will threaten the
vitality of all other grasses will not arrest its growth.

HOW IT IS PROPAGATED—Bermuda grass does not mature
seed in Tennessee and only to a limited extent in the Southern States.
The best and surest means of propagating this grass is to cut pieces of the
turf and scatter it along shallow furrows or sow it over the land well pre-
pared by plowing and harrowing and cover or compress the roots into

65 >
the soil with a roller or drag brush. A stand can be secured also by cut.
tings of the grass if it is at once distributed over the land and covered.

A writer in the Southern Farm Magazine says: ‘‘Let the plants be
gathered, root and branch, from some patch of ground thickly occupied
by them. Let them be shaken free from earth and passed through the
cutting-box as though designed for the manger of an animal. Let these
giblets of an inch long be sown by hand broadcast before the harrow
along with the oats in the spring of the year. Every joint will be as
sure to germinate as the seed corn. But the little plants will be too tiny
the first year to interfere at all with the cereal crop. The next-year the old
stubble will have become the Bermuda sod, yielding an almost incredible
amount of pasturage and incapable of being grazed out by the severest
treatment in the hottest summer drought.”

Seed is rarely sown for two reasons. One is that the seed is expen-
sive and sells for $1.00 to $1.25 per pound, and_a still better reason is
that the germinating power of the seed obtained from the West Indies
is very low.

When Bermuda grass is once thoroughly rooted it spreads itself with
amazing rapidity and soon takes possession of a field. It is extremely
difficult to exterminate. It should never be planted on any land intended
for tillage as it becomes a very troublesome pest. Shade will ultimately
destroy it. A crop of peas sown upon the land for two or three years
will do much to exterminate it. Exposure of the roots to winter freezes,
which is done by shallow plowing, often destroys it in the latitude of
Tennessee.

Rev. C. W. Howard, a well known writer on grasses, says he has
found “no difliculty in destroying it upon the uplands of Georgia by close
cultivation in cotton for two years. When not pastured broom grass or
briers soon destroy it.” He also thinks it very doubtful whether ‘there
is one acre of land in the South thoroughly set with Bermuda grass that
is not worth more than any other crop that can be grown on it.”

Dr. C. W. Dabney says: ‘The Bermuda grass sod, not only in the
cotton states, but in Virginia, has proved itself the most fruitful of all
pasturage. There are well-known fields, not on superior soil and never
fertilized, which are today fattening more than one head of cattle per acre.
This will almost equal the blue grass in Kentucky. Some wheat farmers
in Virginia have almost surrendered tillage for the sake of cattle rearing
upon these Bermuda grass fields, because they have found live stock

’more profitable than wheat, and their present pursuit free from many vex-
ations. The farmers upon the red-wheat lands of Virginia report that
Bermuda crass can be entirely dispossessed by turning it under and keep-
ing it constantly under the plow for two or three years. In this case they
advise, after taking off the wheat crop in June, to plow the stubble under
and sow the field in peas. In September the peas are turned under as a
fallow crop and the field resown in wheat. After two or three summers
of this double cropping, which should yield profitable returns in itself,

Bermuda grass will be found to be extirpated by the shade of the pea

vines while the enrichment of the soil still continues.”

For the making of hay Bermuda is held in high esteem in all those

:

BouQUET OF GRASSES FROM THE GRASS GARDEN,

TENNESSEE EXPERIMENT STATION.

(U. S. Dept. Agric.)

——————eSe

67

sections of the South where it grows to a sufficient height for mowing.
The grass must be cut early and often to make good hay. If left until
the culms harden it is almost valueless for feeding purposes. Just as soon
as it grows high enough it should be cut and cured much after the manner
of timothy hay. Prof. S. M. Tracy, in an address delivered before an
Agricultural and Horticultural Convention in Jackson, says of its hay-
making qualities:

“With us, Bermuda is the staple sort for both hay and pasture. It
grows well all through the South, will make from two to four tons of hay

» per acre and the hay is fine, tender and nutritious. During the summer

it gives the best of pasture, and is uninjured by the longest droughts. At
the Experiment Station we have been feeding with both Bermuda and tim-
othy hays during the last three years, as a test of their feeding values.
The timothy was selected especially for the purpose by a man who ships
that hay very largely and was of the very best quality; the Bermuda was
purchased from a neighboring farmer. Without going into the details of
the trial, I may state that, ton for ton, we found very little difference be-
tween the two, though the balance was slightly in favor of the Bermuda.
As the timothy cost, delivered at the Station, nearly twice as much as did
the Bermuda, the balance of profit was very decidedly in favor of the
home-grown hay.”

Prof. Phares, writing in the early seventies says of it: “As a peren-
nial pasture grass I know of no other that I consider so valuable as this.
As hay this grass has been cured and held in high esteem in Mississippi
for more than forty years. It does not bear dense shade but grows best
where most exposed to the intense heat of the sun. To make good pas-
ture it must be kept well trodden and grazed to keep it tender, and to
suppress other objectionable grasses and weeds. To make good hay and
the largest yield, this grass must be mowed from three to five times every
summer. Thus briars, brome grass and other weeds are also repressed
and prevented from seeding, multiplying and ruining the meadow. Prop-
erly managed this grass grows from ten to fifteen inches high.”

BERMUDA GRASS AND SHEEP—Bermuda grass has long been
recognized as one of the very best grazing grasses for cattle in the United
States, but its capacity for carrying large flocks of sheep has not received
the attention from the people of the South which the subject merits. No
grass will bear tramping so well in all kinds of weather. The Southern
States are the largest producers of cotton in the world; they should rival
or surpass Australia in the production of wool. On the same plantations
where cotton grows best, Bermuda grass finds its most congenial home.
The cheapest wool should be produced on the’ same fields that produce
the cheapest cotton. One acre of Bermuda grass well established on soils
entirely adapted to its growth will carry ten sheep for eight months in the
year, and in many parts of the South, ten months. Texas blue grass,
sheep fescue, and in some places Kentucky blue grass, when properly
cared for, will carry the flocks through the remaining months. When one
considers the great profits that may be derived from the sale of early
lambs in the northern markets, and the growing demand for first-class

American wool and mutton, it is not too much to expect that within the

Botanical Description of Wheat—Triticum sativum,

On the left, a ‘‘head”’ or spike of beardless wheat. A, a single spikelet; the two
uppermost florets are reduced to small sterile or empty glumes. C, empty glume seen
from the side. Cx, the same seen from the back. J, flowering glume. £, palet. £1,
grain seen infront. A2, the same seen from the back. A, a portion of the axis of the
spike. /, the pistil. G, lodicules. On right, a ‘head’ or spike of bearded wheat

Wheat, which belongs to the same family as the grasses here described, is occasion-
ally cut in the spring or early summer for forage. It is frequently grazed a little, but
must not be too much ctesed:

69

next score of years sheep and wool, mutton and early lambs will be as well
known products of southern agriculture as cotton is at the present time.
The establishment of Bermuda grass pastures for the purpose of carrying
sheep, supplemented by pastures of winter grasses, will work an indus-
trial revolution in the South. This would bring about a realization of un-
told wealth. It is a prize well worth contending for to be the largest pro-
ducers in the world of two of the most important fibres for clothing the
population of the globe. They form the basis of the most numerous and
most useful industrial establishments in the world, which give employ-
ment to a larger number of people than any other manufactories. A
larger part of this cotton and wool should be manufactured where pro-
duced.

SMOOTH BROME GRASS—(S4vromus inermis.)—(Hay and Pasturage. )

About 1880, the Agricul-
tural Experiment Station of
California introduced this pe-
rennial grass into that state
from Europe. It is stolznifer-
ous like Bermuda grass and
soon makes a thick turf. It
seems to be adapted to every
climate. from Canada to Ten-
nessee, and was grown suc-
cessfully at the Experiment
Station at Knoxville. It re-
sists droughts and cold equal-
ly well and thrives upon dry,
loose soils and so may be well
adapted to the Cumberland
mountain region. It grows,
however, more vigorously
upon good soils. It is difficult

to exterminate, but not so
Smooth Brome Grass—Bromus inermis. h B d h
2. Panicle. 3. Upper leaf. 4. Spikelet. 5.Empty UCN so as bermuda OT John-

glumes. 6,7. Floral glume. son grass. It possibly may
supply a want on the gravelly soils of East Tennessee and of the siliceous
soils of the highland rim. Its introduction, however, is attended with
some risk. It remains green the greater part of the winter and is desira-
ble as a winter pasture. It is said to be low in its nutritive elements. A
_ bushel of seed weighs 14 pounds and sells for $20 to $22 per hundred
pounds. As three bushels of seed are required for one acre, it is hardly
probable that the grass will receive much attention from the farmers of
_ Tennessee. It is one of those grasses of questionable value that may
_ prove an enemy rather than a friend to the farmer. If in its habits it at all
resembles its kindred grass, cheat, (Bromus secalinus) its introduction
would be altogether injurious to the best interests of agriculture.

Botanical Description of Oats—Avena sativa.

A, a portion of the inflorescence which is a simple, open panicle.
two-flowered, with a sterile rudiment terminating the rachilla. C, one of the broad,
lanceolate empty glumes. JD, a flowering glume; this bears an awn on the back just
below the two-toothed apex. /, pistil; the ovary of which is very hairy. G, lodicules.

~— The oat isa most useful forage plant; but its culture and uses are well understood
and require no discussion here.

B, a spikelet,

}

71

RESCUE GRASS—AUSTRALIAN OATS—( Bromus unioloides. )—( Winter
Grazing. )

This grass is a native of South America. It is an annual, but as it
seeds freely the young plants succeed the old ones so quickly that it is
practically a perennial. It supplies good grazing during the winter. It
grows from one to three feet in height. It makes its best growth during
cold weather and has come to be regarded as an excellent grazing grass
for the winter months. It resembles chess or cheat in its habits of
growth, and danger to agriculture may lurk in its introduction. It is

J

Rescue Grass—Bromus unioloides.
2. Panicle. 8. Upper leaf. 4. Spikelet. 5. Empty glumes. 6. Flowering glume.

not therefore recommended for cultivation to the farmers of Tennessee.
The notice of this and the preceding grass is made as a warning rather
than as a recommendation. Farmers will never regret the exercise of
due caution in the introduction of new and but partially known grasses.
They have herd’s grass and blue grass and wheat, rye, barley and win-
ter oats that will serve as winter pastures without taking the risk of intro-
ducing a strange grass with unknown qualities that may prove to be an
enemy.

_ HAIRY FLOWERED PASPALUM—(faspalum ovatum or dilatatum.—

(Pastures. )
This is a perennial, said to be a native of Brazil, and is considered an
excellent grass for late pastures, as it makes its principal growth in
autumn. Dr. Gattinger, of Nashville, mentions it in his Tennessee Flora

as being one of the grasses found in open ground and in grass plots. It

72

grows from two to four feet high and has long narrow leaves. It is
greatly relished by stock and does not appear to have any troublesome
qualities.

There are twelve species of this grass, according to Dr. Gattinger,
found in the Southern States, seven of which are found in the State of
Tennessee. He says: “The various species which represent this grass
within the State of Tennessee rank, in my opinion, foremost by the num-
ber of individuals, nutritious qualities and tenacity of life, amongst the
whole of the grazing herbage. They are perennials with thick, strong,

Hairy Flowered Paspalum—Faspalum ovatum.,

2, Inflorescence. 3. Upper leaf. 4. Spikelet. 5. Spikelet laid open. 6. Floral glume.
7. Palea and lodicule.

running roots, often making a dense matting. Wherever they take hold
other plants disappear. * * * Blue grass and paspalum are frequently
commingled but the latter succeeds the former by four or five weeks and
comes in full force after the former has perished away. They are vigor-
ous growing succulent grasses with heavy culms, large and smooth seed
grains with a smooth and thin epidermis. They must surely be very
nutritious and their habit and cultivation ought to be studied.”

/

PART II.
DOMESTICATED LEGUMINOUS PLANTS.

The leguminous plants embrace not less than 6500 species. They are
widely distributed in every quarter of the globe and vary in size from a
lowly plant that scarcely lifts its head above the surface to the majestic

locust trees found in tropical lands.
Of the leguminous plants Dr. Gattinger in his Tennessee Flora enu-
merates 35 genera, 85 species and 3 varieties, making 88 species and varie-
ties. Nine’of these have been introduced, three are woody plants, three
are trees and seventy-two belong to the flora found in the counties imme-
diately around Nashville.

For the making of hay and for pasturage many of these leguminous
plants rank with the best domesticated grasses in nutritive elements, and
in their capacity for furnishing forage for live stock. As a restorer of
worn-out soils leguminous plants are far more valuable than the grasses.
Every leguminous plant is endowed with nodules, the habitat of special
microbes. which have the power of catching free nitrogen from the at-
mosphere, this nitrogen being assimilated by the plant itself. .These
microbes are believed to embrace as many species as there are species of
leguminous plants, and the cultivation of one leguminous plant is thought
to destroy the microbes of another. ‘‘Clover sick” is probably due to the
destruction of the clover microbes, or bacteria. To preserve the fertility
of the soil it is important that leguminous plants become one of the crops
in rotation, and there should also be a rotation in the leguminous crops
themselves. Clover should alternate with cowpeas, soy beans, crimson
clover, etc. Nitrogen, in leguminous plants, occurs in the form of. pro-
teids, which make meat and milk, and so is the most valuable constituent
in the food for cattle, especially for milch cows. The dry forage of legu-
minous plants is worth nearly twice as much for such stock as dry hay.

The following domesticated leguminous plants will be discussed in
the order named in this bulletin:

Red Clover—7yrifolium pratense.

Crimson Clover—77ri/folium incarnatum.

Bur Clover—Wedicago maculata.

Alsike Clover—7+i/folium hybridum.

White Clover—7ri/folium repans.

Sainfoin or Esparcet—Onobrychis sativa.

Melilotus—Je/ilotus alba.

Lucern, or Alfalfa—A/edicago sativa.

Cowpeas— Vigna catjang.

Peanuts—A rachis hypogea.

Japan Clover—Lespedeza striata.

Soy Bean—G/lycine soja or Soja hispida.
. Short mention of other domesticated leguminous plants will also be
made.

74

RED CLOVER—( 7rifolium pratense. )—( Pasture and Hay.)

There is no forage plant in all respects so useful to the American
farmer as red clover. It has been well styled the corner stone of agricul-
ture and this because it seems to be the concomitant or forerunner of all
successful agriculture. In the border States a farmer who is too
poor to sow clover is too poor to own a farm. In our climate and soils
this plant is weil nigh indispensable. The soils of Tennessee fatten upon
it. It furnishes an immense amount of grazing, yields an abundance of
nutritious hay, and is a profitable crop, considered with reference to the
seed alone. But beyond all these it acts as a vigorous ameliorator of the
soil, increases more than any other forage plant probably the amount

CLOVER FIELD AT SOMERVILLE, TENN.

of available nitrogen, supplies humus and so becomes an important agent
in keeping up the productive capacity of the soil, increasing the yield of
other crops and thus adding io the prosperity of the farmer who sows it
Scientific inquiry has about reached the conclusion that the little excres-
cences or tubercles upon the roots of clover enable the plant to utilize
the free nitrogen of the atmosphere as an important element of fertility.
It must be borne in mind that a soil may contain the most abundant sup-
plies of every substance demanded by a growing plant, and yet that plant
may perish of starvation. If these substances are not in a condition to

ee

(iS)

be dissolved by rain-water or the plant juices they are as impotent to sup-
port plant life as the uncrumbled surface of a desert rock. The food
must be prepared for plants just as the corn and wheat must be shucked
or threshed, ground and baked for the use of man. Clover acts as the
miller and baker for other crops. It prepares the food so that it becomes
available and digestible by them.

SOILS ADAPTED TO ITS GROWTH—Red clover is a biennial
plant, which under judicious tillage, may be made practically a perennial,
and is specially adapted to calcareous or limy soils; but it will grow well
upon sandy soils, when a “catch” is secured, by the application of a top-
dressing of gypsum or barnyard manure. I have seen it growing with
vigor upon the feldspathic soils of Johnson county, upon the sandstone
soils of the Cumberland table-land, and upon the sandy loams of West
Tennessee; but it finds a more congenial soil in the clayey and limy lands
of the valley of East Tennessee, or on the red soils of the Highland Rim,
and grows most luxuriantly on the limestone loams of the Central Basin.
But the deep, black, porous soils of this division are not suited physically
for the growing of clover. Such soils become very dry in summer and
open in great cracks or fissures. The clover grows well enough at first
but is apt to be killed by the dry, hot weather of summer. The clayey
lands of West Tennessee, containing nodules of calcareous matter, have
no superior for the production of clover. It often grows upon these lands
from four to five feet in height, and when it falls forms a mat of great
density and thickness. As much as four tons of clover hay have been
taken from a single acre. There is also a soil derived from the Dyestone
or Clinton formation in East Tennessee that grows clover with surpris-
ing luxuriance. On such soils in McMinn county, the ordinary red
clover sometimes grows six feet in height. Probably three-fourths of the
lands in Tennessee will grow clover remuneratively, and of the soils that
will not a large portion are included in the old gullied fields that con-
stitute the shame and mark the shiftlessness of too many farmers. It
may be set down as an infallible rule in the State of Tennessee that good
farming and abundant clovering go together.

SOWING CLOVER—Clover may be sown in Tennessee upon
wheat, rye or oat fields, or alone. Instances have been reported where a
splendid stand was obtained by sowing after cultivators in the last work-
ing of corn in July. This is unusual however. So is fall sowing. The
best time to sow is from the first of January until the first of April. If
sown in January or February, the seed ought to be sown upon snow.
This is not only convenient in enabling one to distribute the seed evenly
over the land, but the gradual melting of the snow, and the slight freezes,
bury the seed just deep enough to insure rapid germination when the
warm days of March come on. For the same reason, if sown in March,
the seed ought to be sown when the ground is slightly crusted by a
freeze. If the sowing is deferred until too late for frosty nights, the
land should be well harrowed and the seed sown immediately after the
harrow. Upon land seeded to wheat, this harrowing will not only serve
to secure a good stand of clover, but will add greatly to the yield of the
wheat. It will hasten germination and cause a larger proportion of seed

76

to grow to harrow the Jand after the seed is sown. With oats, the seeds
should be sown after the last harrowing or brushing, with a slight after-
brushing to cover them.

It often happens when clover seed is sown with wheat or oats, espec-
ially if the land be much worn, that a “catch” will not be obtained. The
practice is so universal throughout the country of sowing clover with
small grain. that many farmers labor under the impression that this is the
only way of seeding land to clover. This idea is erroneous. A better stand
of clover with less seed, may always be secured by sowing upon land pre-
pared for clover alone. An excellent catch upon “‘galled’ places may be
had by breaking the land well and sowing the seed without any previous
or after harrowing. In nine cases out of ten a stand will be secured in
this way upon soils where clover sown with small grain will fail in nine
cases out of ten. Clover seed sown upon a well harrowed stalk field will,
in most cases, secure a stand.

The quantity of seed to sow per acre depends upon the character of
the soil, its state of pulverization and also upon the fact whether the land
has ever been seeded to clover. Upon good, fresh, rich soils where clover
has not been previously grown, one bushel for eight acres should be
sown. If the soil is thin and unproductive one bushel for six acres
ought to be sown. If the land has been regularly rotated with clover,
one half the quantity of seed mentioned above will sufhce; sometimes
much less. Clover seed, owing to the large quantity of oil which it con-
tains, is nearly indestructible when placed ten or twelve inches beneath
the surface.

The frequent failure to secure a good stand of clover should admon-
ish the farmers to exercise more care in the seeding. When sown
late in the spring many of the seeds sprout and are killed by dry weather.
It would be all the better if the clover seed could be buried a half inch
(or even an inch on loose soils) beneath the surface after the middle of
March. The common practice in England is to sow not only clover,
but all grass seeds, with oats or barley in spring. After the seeds
are sown the field is harrowed and then rolled, so as to cover them
and at the same time to smooth the surface of the field. While upon well
prepared soils a bushel to eight acres is sufficient, yet’a bushel to six
acres will, in a majority of cases, give better and more satisfactory results.
In England 24 pounds are usually sown to the acre when the crop is in-
tended for hay. The smaller the stem the more acceptable it is to cattle.
When the clover is thin, the woody fibre is greatly increased. There is
no greater blunder committed by the farmer, than to be sparing of grass
seed. It is difficult for grass to be too thick. The plants shelter one an-
other; they retain for a longer time the dew and moisture when thickly
set, and they must push upward as there is no lateral space to occupy.

GROWTH AND MANURE—Red clover rarely makes much
growth the first season, if sown with grain. Should the weather be sea-
sonable after harvest, and the land fertile, it will sometimes attain the
height of thirty inches and put out blooms, making an excellent fall pas-
ture. When sown alone, it will always blossom in August. |

Sheep and hogs are very injurious to young clover, and should never

|

oo |

be allowed to run on it until the second year. Grasshoppers often eat
out the crown and destroy it. Dry weather in a stubble field where the
rays of the sun are reflected and repeated a thousand times from the
surface of the yellow stubble, is very trying to its vitality. Yet if the land
has been well and deeply broken and is moderately fertile, a sufficient
stand may be depended upon.

As 500n as the clover begins to grow, in early spring, an application
of two bushels of gypsum or land plaster, upon granitic or sandy soils, is
absolutely necessary to get a good growth.

An application of gypsum is rarely beneficial upon clayey loams, but
its effects are very apparent on strong limestone soils, such as are found
in the Central Basin. where irom 50 to 100 pounds per acre should be
sown upon clover. On the chocolate colored soils of Warren, Mont-
gomery, Stewart and Robertson counties, gypsum benefits clover very
little. Upon the soils of the Unaka and Cumberland mountains, it is
indispensable, to secure a remunerative yield of foliage.

Mr. C. W. Johnston in a prize essay on the application of gypsum to
the artificial grasses, says that it should not be considered as a stimulant,
but as an essential food. ‘When the farmer finds that those fields which
once produced luxuriant crops of red clover, or sainfoin, will no longer
yield them in abundance; if he notices that the young plants spring up
very numerously, but die away as the summer advances; if he finds that
his fields will only grow clover successfully once in eight or twelve years,
and that his neighbors tell him his land is tired of clover, or “clover sick,”
he may then safely conclude that his crops have gradually exhausted his
land of sulphate of lime; and he may, with every confidence of success,
apply a dressing of gypsum by scattering it evenly over the ground on the
clover plants at the rate of 200 pounds per acre, taking care to choose a
wet morning for the application; and this may be done at any season of
the year, but it is best either in April or the first days of May.” In Ten-
nessee gy.psum should be sown in the spring as soon as the clover begins
to grow, and again the following spring.

Mr. Smith, of Highstead, England, states that he found the greatest
benefit from the use of gypsum to his clover leys; for where the simple
soil produced one ton only per acre of hay, the portion of the same soil
to which five bushels per acre of gypsum had been applied, yielded three
tons—the first only yielding 20 pounds of seed while the latter produced
105 pounds. Mr. Smith, too. first noticed what observation has since
confirmed—that cattle, horses, etc., always prefer the clover growing on
the portion of the field that had received an application of gypsum to any
other. The same remark is made by those who spread coal ashes, which
contain a considerable quantity of this earth, on their grass leys.

Red clover, the second year, has two growing seasons. It makes its
most vigorous growth from the first of April until the 15th of June, be-
ginning to bloom usually in the latitude of Tennessee about the 15th
of May, and attaining its full inflorescence about the first of June. After
this, unless pastured by stock or cut for hay, the heads begin to dry up,
and stems and leaves begin to fall, forming a mat upon the land. Some-
times this mat is so thick as to catch and concentrate the heat of the sun

78

to such a degree as to scald the roots and destroy the clover. Usually it
is best after clover has attained its full bloom, either to cut it for hay or
pasture it until about the first of July, when the stock is removed, or
the clover hay cured and taken off. If there is rain enough, a second
crop will spring up from the roots at once. This second crop is the most
valuable for seed, the seed maturing about the last of August and sooner,
if there be copious rains. To make the most abundant yield of clover for
grazing, it should be allowed to grow all it will, but never let it make
seed, always grazing it down when in full bloom. When grazed down,
take off the stock until it blooms again. Several successive crops may
thus be made during the summer. The crop of August is unfit for horses
or mules, the seed having the effect of salivating them to such a degree
as to cause them to lose flesh.

Clover has no superior as a grazing plant. When in full vigor and
bloom it will carry more cattle and sheep per acre than blue grass, herd’s
grass or orchard grass. After it has been grazed to the earth, a few
showery days with warm suns will cause it to spring up into renewed
vitality, ready again to furnish its succulent herbage to domestic animals.
Though very nutritious and highly relished by cattle, it often produces a
dangerous swelling called hoven, from which many cows die. When
first turned upon clover, cattle should only be allowed to graze for an
hour or two, and then be driven off for the remainder of the day, grad-
ually increasing the time of grazing, until they become less voracious in
their appetites, never permitting them to, run upon clover when wet.
Clover made wet by a rain at midday is more likely to produce hoven
than when wet by dew. If taken in the stomach of cattle when wet by
rain at midday, and after the stalks and leaves are heated by the sun, fer-
mentation in the stomach will occur much sooner than when the herbage
is cool, though wet with the morning dew. Cattle are more easily af-
fected by clover than horses, because, being ruminants, they take in the
clover rapidly, filling the stomach at once, without chewing. Diges-
tion is for the time checked and a rapid fermentation sets in.

Stock should never be turned upon clover until it blooms. The prac-
tice of many farmers, to turn all the stock upon a clover field early in
April, is very destructive. ‘The crown of the clover is eaten out, causing
it to perish. The tread of heavy cattle has the same effect.

As a soiling crop red clover is excelled by no crop grown in the
South. The practice of soiling in thickly settled communities is one much
commended by agricultural writers. A half-acre of clover on a rich soil
will supply one cow throughout the months of June, July and August, if
cut off and fed in a stall, while twice the amount in pasture, according to
some English experimenters, will barely subsist a cow during the same
period; but this will depend, of course, upon the luxuriance of the growth.
Soiling—that is cutting the grass and feeding it green—is a very desirable
practice, near small towns, where many persons own small lots and de-
sire to keep a milch cow. No other plant, perhaps, will produce a larger
flow of milk. ;

EFFECTS OF CLOVER UPON SOILS—Numerous facts have

taught the farmers of every country where agriculture has flourished, that

— ose”

79

in many cases the value of the aftercrop depends upon the preceding
crop. In other words a proper rotation is a necessary antecedent to suc-
cessful farming. ‘The cultivation of some crop with extensive root rami-
fications, will prepare the soil for the subsequent growth of a cereal. But
the farmer should not deceive himself. Every crop takes away a part of
the available plant-food and the field has not increased in fertility, but
the plant-food has been made more readily effective for the production of
a crop. “The physical and chemical condition of the fields has been
improved, but the chemical store has been reduced.” ‘‘All plants,” says
Liebig, ‘“‘without exception, exhaust the soil, each of them in its own
way, of the conditions for their reproduction.”

A field then, which produces more kindly after rotation, is not neces-
sarily more fertile, but is in better physical condition. It has already
been mentioned, that the mechanical effects of clover upon soils is not
the least among its valuable properties. The reaction rendered possible
by the penetration into the soil of the iong tap roots and the effect of the
dense shade upon the land have a tendency to increase the productiveness
of the soil.

Clover, however, is the greatest of all fertilizing plants. Other legu-
minous plants as well as clover collect nitrogen from the atmosphere and
save it, but clover more rapidly improves the physical condition of the
soil. A crop of clover taken from the land, while it abstracts some of
the elements needed for plant growth, yet, in increasing the content of
nitrogen, it gives back to the soil much more of value than it takes away.
Clover has been called ‘“‘a trap for nitrogen,’ which it catches and pre-
serves for the nourishing of growing crops. Dr. Kedzie says: ‘Clover
hay or sod contains enough phosphoric acid for more than double an
average crop, enough nitrogen for more than four average crops and
enough potash for six average crops of wheat.”

The analysis of red clover indicates what manures would increase its
growth. Sulphate of lime or land plaster, the phosphates, wood and coal
ashes, are all excellent top dressings for the clover field. Common stable
manure, containing as it does all the elements of a good fertilizer, is suit-
able as a top dressing for any pasture or meadow.

Sulphate of lime is found on limy or sandy soils, to largely increase
the growth of clover. When used on a wheat field seeded to clover in
early spring, a ‘‘catch” of clover will be secured on the thinnest spots and
it will grow luxuriantly after such top dressing. ‘The greatest benefits
from an application of commercial fertilizers upon wheat are often ob-
tained in this way. A good stand of clover, however secured, is the best
possible preparation of land for a succeeding crop of wheat. And this
arises not only from the available nitrogen which a clover crop supplies,
but from the thorough subsoiling which is effected by the deep, pene-
trating tap-roots of the clover. They often descend to the depth of four
feet in search of food, while its broad leaves ‘absorb carbon from the
atmosphere, changing it into solid matter, and causing elements in the
soil to assume organic forms, rendering them more available as food for
other crops.” If the soil be robbed of its fertility, the deficient elements
must be added before clover will “take.”

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As clover derives a large percentage of the constituents necessary to
its growth from the atmosphere, it is all important that there should be
a good top growth. Its value as a renovator of the soil depends largely
upon the quantity of the roots, and the roots will always be proportioned
to the quantity of foliage. For this reason it is better to cut clover off
than to feed it off. A writer in the American Cultivator, speaking of this
subject, says:

“Where a clover sod is desired for future grain or other crop, it will
be found that the cutting of clover is generally better than feeding it off,
because every leaflet upward has rooted downwards, and if a leaflet be
taken off the rootlet will not grow, so that if sheep or pigs be fed upon
the surface, the constant cropping of the leaves diminishes the under
production. Always feeding the top will leave but few roots below.
This was illustrated by a practical experiment on a field of clover, divided
into two parts. The whole was cut in July; half was left to grow again,
and the other half fed off. In October the roots of each division were
dug up, carefully cleaned and weighed, with a result that showed a pro-
portionate weight of 3,920 pounds to the acre where the clover was cut
once and fed afterwards, while the part on which the clover was cut
twice yielded at a rate per acre of nearly 8,000 pounds of roots. The sys-
tem of cutting instead of feeding resulted in leaving two tons extra of
vegetable matter, valuable in nitrogen, and which had a perceptible effect
on the corn crop that followed.”

WHEN TO CUT AND HOW TO CURE CLOVER HAY—
Clover for hay should be mowed at the time when the nutritive elements
—those elements which give strength and produce flesh—are at their
maximum. ‘Those who are in the habit of feeding stock find that clover
cut about the time of full bloom, when a few of the blooms begin to
dry up, and just as the reproductive functions are being brought into
play for the maturing of seed, will, pound for pound, produce more fat
and muscle than that cut at any other stage. The only art in curing hay
is to retain as many of the life-giving constituents in it as possible, or to
preserve it as nearly as practicable in the same condition in which it is
cut, with the water only abstracted.

The plan generally adopted is to mow the clover in the morning and
let it lie in the sun several hours until a wisp taken up and twisted will
show no exudation of moisture. It is then thrown up into small cocks,
say four feet in diameter and four feet high. In these, unless there is
appearance of rain, it is allowed to remain for a day or two, when it may
be hauled to the barn and stored away without danger of damage. Care
should be taken not to let the dew fall upon it as it lies scattered by the
mower after it has begun to cure. The dew of one single night, under
such conditions, will blacken the leaves and destroy the aroma for which
good clover hay is so much prized.

Another plan practised is to. mow it and let it lie just long enough in
the sun to wilt, and then carry it to an open house and lay it upon
beams or tier-poles, where it can receive the free action of the air. After
a few days it may be packed down without any danger of fermenting.
Cured in this way, in the shade, it retains its green color, is fragrant, and

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makes a most excellent feed. The only objections to this plan are the
great amount of room under cover required for curing, and the addi-
tional burden of hauling while green.

Another plan is to haul it up as soon as it wilts, using about half a
bushel of salt to the ton of cured hay. A layer a foot or more in thick-
ness is put down, over which salt is scattered pretty freely, then another
layer and salt, continuing to repeat the operation until the space set
apart for hay is filled. A rapid fermentation will ensue, and the hay will
be cured by the heat of this fermentation, the salt acting as a preventive
against putrefaction. Instead of salt, layers of wheat straw may be sub-
stituted. By using straw the clover may be cured in the field. The quan-
tity of straw to be used in the rick or stack depends upon the moisture in
the clover—the greener the clover the thicker should be the straw. The
straw will act as an absorbent and during the process will itself be greatly
increased in value as food for stock, having imparted to it the flavor and
aroma oi the clover plant.

One of the largest farmers in Maury county, Tennessee, whose land
is admirably adapted to the growth of clover, and who has made a great
success in saving clover hay, gives the following account of his method
of saving it:

“Clover should be cut when about half of the first blooms are dead,
to make the best hay. My plan is to begin cutting early in the morning
and continue throughout the entire day. The next morning just before
the hay becomes entirely free from the dew I rake it into windrows, then
put it into shocks where it remains from 24 to 36 hours. I never permit
it to remain spread out on the ground until it becomes dry and crisp
from the heat of the sun. Putting it up into shocks while yet green or
half cured causes fermentation to begin immediately, but this fermenta-
tion is net excessive because the air can penetrate it and keep it com-
paratively cool. I rehandle it after it has begun to heat, which airs it
well and it then remains perfectly bright and sweet after it is put into
ricks or barns. No other rehandling is necessary except that which is
incident to the hauling and storing of it. In threatening weather I put
up my hay in the barn aiter one day’s sun, but in that case I rehandle it
after 36 hours and it is thus aired thoroughly. My opinion is that fer-
mentation, if left undisturbed, will injure the hay for food because it usu-
ally induces mould and in this condition it is objectionable to stock. I
never stop cutting hay for rain, though a protracted rain will ruin it. One
rain only will make it of dull color, but does not materially change its
value as food for stock.

“There is no hay known, in my opinion, to southern farmers that
equals good clover hay for stock. I prefer it to choice timothy for reg-
ular feeding. It is the principal hay, which I use for horses, mules and
cows and they never seem to tire eating it and always keep healthy and
fat. In the management of my clover fields I usually sow about 50
pounds of gypsum per acre upon young clover and repeat early in
March the following year. This gives a very large yield of hay. My
clover crop is probably as profitable as any crop I grow. I estimate its
value one year with another at $20 to $25 per acre.”

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Hon. L. N. Bonham, of Oxford, Ohio, uses a different method in
putting up clover hay. He says:

“For several years I put up clover hay as did my father and other
Jersey farmers. I have long since abandoned their method and now put
my clover hay in the mow the same day it is cut. The hay is far better,
and the labor and risk in making it are far less. I select a bright day
and start the mower as soon as the dew is off. By 11 o’clock I have cut
as much as can be hauled in between 1 and 5 o'clock. The clover is
then all turned and shaken up loose before we go to dinner. By one
o’clock it is dry enough to rake into windrows if the day is an average
hay day. No time is lost now in getting it into the mow. The hay is
warm and free from external moisture. The warmer it is the less mois-
ture is left on it. By five o’clock we have it all in the mow, if we can.
If not all in then, we prefer to leave it in the windrow until near
noon the next day. After we stop hauling, at 5 p. m., the mower is
started to cut what we can haul in the next day. The clover cut so late
in the day is not wet with dew, and will not wilt enough to be blackened
by the dew. It will be ready to shake up and spread out before ten
o'clock the next day, and by one o’clock we can begin to haul it into
the mow.

“The clover hay thus made goes into the mow bright and with every
leaf and head left on it. The secret of the whole business is, it is free from
external moisture, while the warmth of the hay when it goes into the mow
hastens the approach of the temperature of the mass up to 122 degrees
when the germs which cause increased fermentation are destroyed, and
the hay keeps bright and sweet, and comes out fragrant clover, with all
the heads and leaves of good color. My mow is 28 by 28, and as tight
as good siding and strips painted can make it. There are no windows in
the sides to let in air. The clover is put in as compactly as we can get
it, to save room, and kept level, to have the heat uniform. Sometimes
we sprinkle a half gallon of salt to the load when putting into the mow,
but this is of doubtful value.

“To exclude the air from the top of my clover mow, I often cover
with straw. But this dves not pack closely. I find it better when haul-
ing in wheat to fill up over the clover with wheat. This excludes air,
and packs the clover so that it keeps bright to the very top. The old
theory that the mow must be open and the clover thrown in loose, and
treated to ‘plenty of salt,’ which may mean much or little, is exploded.
Green clover will keep green in the silo if well packed and the air is ex-
cluded. Clover hay, put into the mow warm and dry, the day it is cut,
will keep brighter and purer and sweeter than if cured longer in the
field.

“The trouble, however, in farmers adopting the method I have suc-
cessfully used, is they do not attach enough importance to the fact that
the conditions named must be followed. It will not do to cut clover in
the morning and haul it in after sun-down. It will surely mould or
come out brown or fire fanged, simply because dew falls at five o’clock.
Nor can we cut clover and put in the mow the same day without favora-

83

ble cenditions of sun and air. In neither case will the hay go in free from
external moisture.”

It should always be borne in mind that clover hay will not shed rain.
The best farmers now build open sheds in the field for storing it. When
stacked it should either be thatched or have a thick top-covering of
whezt straw or other hay. The tedder is thought by many to be indis-
pensable in saving good clover hay. Unquestionably it is of great ser-
vice, and the hay made by the use of the tedder in dry, hot weather, is
superior to that made without, but good hay can be and is made by many
farmers who never saw a tedder. Clover hay is more difficuit to cure
than hay from any of the true grasses, and this arises from the fact that
it contains more water than the true grasses. For this reason also, it is
more difficult to keep, being more liable to damage in the mow. It will
not bear handling or transportation except when damp and while it wil!
always be a favorite hay for home consumption, it will never be shipped
to distant markets like timothy hay. For horses and mules clover hay
is very nutritious. Many persons make a crop by feeding on clover hay
without any grain whatever and the working stock keep fat. Clover is
also a superior hay for cattle, producing in milch cows a fine flow of milk.
It makes the best hay when the stalks are small and stand thickly upon
the ground.

SAVING CLOVER SEED—AIl the clover seed used in the border
states should be produced in them. Besides, there should be a large
surplus to be sent to other markets, for no section of the Union will pro-
duce, acre for acre, a larger quantity. Six bushels per acre have some-
times been gathered, although the usual average is about three bushels.
Large quantities are grown in and shipped from Bedford, Maury, Wil-
liamson and other counties in Tennessee.

As the first crop of clover, coming to maturity in June, will not per-
fect its seed, this must be removed either by feeding or by mowing for
hay. The seed must be gathered from the second crop. The quantity of
seed will depend much upon the weather. Should there be much rain er
heavy winds, the yield will be small, but when the weather has been fine
and calm and the seed free from dock or other noxious seeds, the crop
will be as remunerative as any other grown by the farmer. A bushel of
clover seed will weigh usually about 64 pounds, though 60 pounds is the
standard bushel by the statute regulation.

The second crop of clover should be allowed to stand until the husks
have become quite brown and the seeds have passed the milky state. It
should then be mowed and permitted to lie upon the ground until it is
well cured. After it is cured rake it up into swaths. Rain will rather
benefit than injure it, making it easier to separate the heads from the
haulm, which is done by passing through an ordinary wheat separator.
A clover huller attachment is adjusted to the separator below the vibrator,
which hulls the seeds, and they are separated from the chaff by the fan,
care being taken to shut off as much air as possible by closing the sliding
doors. Machines are now made especially for threshing clover seed.

The crop of seed can be largely increased by mowing or feeding off
the first crop of clover about the first of June, and then top-dressing with

84

stable manure. The earlier the first crop is cut the larger will be the crop
of seed. By treating the clover fields in this way, the yield of seed is
often doubled. Uplands will yield more seed than bottom lands, but
they should be enriched by a liberal application of manure. About the
first of September is the time to mow for seed, and the straw will thresh
all the better for being exposed to the weather for three weeks. The
threshing is usually done in the field, though the haulm may be hauled
up after being thoroughly dry, and stacked with a good straw covering,
or else stored away under shelter on a good tight floor until it suits the
convenience of the farmer to thresh. Care should be taken not to run
over or tramp upon the clover after it is dried, as many seeds are thus
shelled out and lost. The better plan is to haul to the thresher from the
field just as soon as the straw is in a proper condition to thresh. This
will save the trouble and expense and loss of handling it twice.

Some farmers prefer to sow seed in the chaff, believing that a better
stand of clover is thus secured. Usually about thirty bushels in the chaff
are considered equivalent to one of cleaned seed. Of course this will de-
pend greatly upon the yield of seed, and experiments ought to be made
to determine the relative amount to sow when in chaff.

It is a curious fact and one, I believe, first mentioned by Mr. Darwin,
that the bumble bee plays an important part in the fertilization of this
plant. Careful observation has determined the fact that the amount of
clover seed gathered from a particular field will, other things being equal,
be in proportion to the number of bumble bees that feed upon the flowers.
In the act of feeding they gather the pollen from one flower and transfer
it to the next one upon which they alight, thus acting as important agents
in the fertilization of the flower, and consequently in increasing the pro-
duction of seed.

a
CRIMSON OR SCARLET CLOVER—(7rifolium incarnatum.)—

(Pastures and Hay.)

* Within the past decade crimson clover has become a staple crop in
some of the counties in Tennessee. It is an annual and grows to the
height of three feet on good soils. Few things in the vegetable world
present a more beautiful sight than a field of crimson clover in full
bloom. It seems to be better adapted to southern climates than red
clover and it has given satisfaction at the North Carolina Experiment
Station and as far south as Louisiana.

Prof. Stubbs, of Louisiana, says: “It is thoroughly at home in
every part of the State, making a large crop of excellent hay. A combi-
nation of this crop and cowpeas affords the readiest means of quickly-
restoring worn out lands or of furnishing a continual supply of fresh
hay for stock.”

A large area of this clover is sown every year in Franklin county,
Tennessee, in the Belvidere settlement. In answer to inquiries Mr. Jno.
Ruch, of that place. says: ‘‘We sow it in August or September, using two
or three gallons of seed to the acre. It comes to maturity. the last of
April or first of May, when it is cut and cured for hay in the same man-

85

ner as red clover hay. I consider the hay as good, in every particular, as
that made of red clover. Crimson clover has given excellent results in
Franklin county.”

The advantages of crimson clover are chiefly four:

Crimson Clover—Trifolium incarnatum.
(U.S. Dept. Agric.)

1—It is a good “catch” crop and when a failure of red clover occurs
it may be sown upon the same land and so preserve the regular rotation.

9—After the clover has been cut in early May, the same land may be
ploughed and planted in corn.

3—It makes excellent pastures during the fall months after the other
green crops have dried up.

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4—As a crop for green manuring it ranks high. It is turned under
in the spring as it makes its growth during the fall and winter months.
In this it differs from all other crops for green manuring.

At Belvidere it is sown on a deep clayey loam impregnated with more
or less of the carbonate of lime, but it is not what may be called a cal-
careous loam. Crimson clover should be sown alone as it will need all
the land. For the feeding of milch cows it is held in high esteem as it
induces a full flow of rich milk. Growing as it does in the fall, it pro-
longs the season of green food and so increases the profits of the dairy.
A co-operative creamery at Belvidere has its butter products largely in-
creased from the general habit of the farmers in the vicinity of sowing
crimson clover in the fall. .

This forage plant deserves more attention from the farmers of the
South for dairy purposes than it has heretofore received.

It will yield from three to ten bushels of seed per acre. Mr. Ruch
says he has made both these extremes.

It is generally believed in those places where crimson clover has
been sown for a number of years that though not equal to red clover it is
a very good substitute. The farmers who have grown it once feel in-
clined to continue to grow it, especially when there is a failure of red
clover.

A bulletin from the United States Department of Agriculture, recently
issued, has this to say in regard to a possible danger in the use of crimson

clover:
“The introduction of the annual leguminous plant, crimson clover,

into the United States is comparatively recent, but its use as a forage
plant and green manure is rapidly extending. This is easily explained
by the decided advantages this clover possesses of covering and protect-
ing the soil from washing and leaching during the winter, and of fur-
nishing a green manure for spring crops or a succulent and nutritious
food at a time when such food is likely to be scarce. It has been found,
however, that there is a danger in the use of the overripe clover, espec-
ially with horses, that should be carefully guarded against. The small
hairs which occur in the heads of the clover are so constructed (when the
plant has passed the flowering stage) that they collect together and form
large, round, impervious balls in the intestines of horses, and many cases
have been reported in which these have caused the death of animals.
When the balls have once developed to such a size that they cannot pass
through the intestine no practical remedy can be suggested. But the
prevention of the difficulty is in most cases easy. The hairs of crimson
clover do not become stiff until the plant has passed the flowering stage
and begun to ripen. It should be made a rule, therefore, never to feed
crimson clover after the crop has ceased flowering, and especially never
to follow the pernicious practice of feeding stock with the straw of
crimson clover raised and threshed as a seed crop. By guarding against
improper methods of feeding there is no reason why crimson clover
should not continue to maintain its well-merited reputation and increase
in use as a forage plant and green manure.” ;

No reports from the farmers growing crimson clover in Tennessee
make any mention of having lost stock directly or indirectly by feeding it.

— S

87

Mr. J. Kaserman, a very successful farmer in Franklin county, Ten-
nessee, who has sown crimson clover for many years, mentions one dis-
advantage of crimson clover hay, for horses especially, in the fact that
the chaff’ causes a dust, which is injurious to horses. He, however, says
nothing in reference to the formation of balls in the stomach of horses.
Mr. Kaserman also says: “Crimson clover is sown in September or Octo-
ber and the usual amount of seed sown per acre is about ten pounds. It
matures the following May, and ought to be cut for hay when it is in full
bloom. ‘The usual yield of hay per acre on good soil is from one to one
and a half tons. I do not consider it as good as red clover in sustaining
stock. Ii perfectly cured it keeps about as well as red clover hay, but
being very sappy it is harder to cure. I do not consider that it has any
advantages over red clover, but it is easier to get a stand of crimson
clover than of red clover. It is sown alone or with winter oats to be cut
together for hay. In this section the yield of seed has been from four to
six bushels per acre.” /

BUR CLOVER—SPOTTED .MEDICK—CALIFORNIA CLOVER.
(Medicago maculata. )—(Grazing. )

Bur clover is admirably adapted to lowlands that are well drained.
Sown-in connection with Bermuda grass it is a great desideratum, inas-
much as it makes its principal growth during winter months and dis-
appears just about the time Bermuda grass begins to grow. Both to-
gether make a continuous pasture for cattle and hogs. Horses, however,
do not relish it. It is unfit for growing in any place where Bermuda
grass will not thrive. In some of the lands on the Mississippi River
it would be a valuable addition to the pasture plants. It is an annual and
so must be sown every year, but is hardly so valuable as the crimson
clover, because it will only grow on very rich soils and is not relished by
all kinds of stock. It is worthless for hay.

ALSIKE CLOVER—( 7) rifolium hybridum.)—(Hay and Pasture. )

Linnaeus gave the specific name of hybridum to this clover because
he imagined it to be a hybrid of the white and red clover as in its ap-
pearance it seems to be intermediate between the two. It is a perennial,
has a slenderer stalk, a narrower leaf and paler colored flowers and foliage
than red clover. The flower stalks are larger, the blossoms more fra-
grant and fuller of honey and for this reason it is sometimes sown by bee-
keepers for the making of honey. The blooms are faintly tinged with
pirk when they first open. Afterwards they deepen into a pale red.
The seed is kidney shaped and is less than half the size of the seed of red
clover.

It is a good idea to sow the seed with red clover, as, being a peren-
nial, the clover will cover the ground when red clover runs its biennial
course and alsike clover does not get its full strength until the third year
‘after sowing. It does well also sown with orchard grass, for when sown
alone the stems are so weak it is liable to fall and lodge. The sturdy
culms of orchard grass will hold it up. It consorts well with herd’s grass
also.

88

This clover is not well adapted to dry, sandy or gravelly soils with
porous or leachy subsoils. It prefers moist clayey soils. It does best in
the climate of Tennessee on rich bottom lands, on deep clayey lands, and
even in the swampy lands where the wild growth should be exterminated
by plowing and the land thoroughly drained of its surplus water. It
yields a very superior quality of hay and a great deal of it. A Michigan
correspondent of the Western Rural mentions four tons of finely cured
hay as having been cut from one acre of land where the soil had been
deeply broken and the land was rich, moist and underdrained. It grows
to the height of three and a half feet on such land and much thicker than
red clover. It stands dry and cold weather better than any other clover,
is not easily winter killed and is a great favorite with those who have
tested it. In giving an estimate of its value the correspondent referred
to, says:

“For soiling cows, horses, etc., when pastures fail, it is equal or supe-
rior to green corn, and attended with much less trouble in the gathering
and ieeding. During the past year, I cut three crops from the same
ground, standing at the first cutting from two to three feet in height; last
cutting one fout in height, as thick as it could stand, small, delicate,
stalks, with numerous branches, and perfectly glorified with a mass of
small peach-blow colored blossoms, filling the air with the most delight-
ful and exhilarating perfume, and swarming with bees every fair day.
The root is like that of red clover, but longer and more fibrous. The
haulm is small, tender and nutritious; when well cured, as it should be, in
full bloom, every part will be eaten with avidity by all kinds of stock.

There is no plant known that will produce so much good honey, but-
ter, cheese, beef, mutton, wool and hay per acre, as this plant, not even
excepting corn. Jn using the latter for soiling, you get only the haulm,
while in the alsike you get the haulm and a large yield of honey; and if
the ground is prepared as well by deep tilth, manure, and plaster or other
fertilizers, as for corn, you will get as much by weight of the haulm.

It bears feeding to an enormous degree. I think its fattening qualities
superior to the famous blue grass of Kentucky, and as it will flourish
well on such soils as I have designated, from the Gulf to Lake Superior,
farmers can easily divine its immense advantage to their pockets. Be-
sides, the expense of ‘seeding down’ every three or four years is saved.
It is a great renovator and disintegrator of hard, tenacious soils. Its long
tap roots and numerous fibres reach deep for its pabulum, and thus
loosen the soil and endure drought well. Some think there are two
kinds of this clover. I think not. The difference in growth, etce., in
diverse localities. is owing to the character of the soil. I never saw any
but the large kind on land once covered with beech, maple, oak, bass,
lever wood, etc.. and I never saw any but the small kind on light, sandy
and gravelly soils. Also on pebbly soils with calcareous debris and good
tenacious subsoil it succeeds well.”

This clover is very prolific in the yield of seed. From three to eight
bushels are usually gathered per acre from a good stand. The yield will
average probably five bushels per acre. In its capacity for seeding land
this is equivalent to about fourteen bushels of red clover seed, as the

a SS

89

proportions are 16,000 of red clover and 45,000 of alsike clover seed in
an ounce. The seed varies from a dark green to a violet color; weight
94 to 100 pounds per bushel. 4

The farmers of the South would do well to try this species of clover
by sowing it with red clover or herd’s grass in the spring of the year upon
bottom land, and upon mellow and moist, well-drained clayey soils. The
many moist bottoms along the streams would suit it. The valley of East
Tennessee offers some excellent soils for its growth as well as the High-
land Rim of Middle Tennessee, and the uplands of Northern Alabama
and Georgia.

WHITE CLOVER—( 7rifolium repens.)—(For Pasture. )

This hardy species of clover grows in almost every part of the

United States and Europe. It is said to be the shamrock of Ireland.

Various estimates have been made as to its value, many persons claiming
that it is totally worthless, while others place it among the most valuable
of the grazing plants. In Tennessee it unquestionably stands next to
blue grass for pastures. It is to the pasture what red clover is to the
meadow. All stock, even hogs, will fatten on it, but after its first inflo-
rescence it salivates horses. To the beekeeper it is very valuable, being
one of the best honey-making plants in the South.

It is rarely sown in any of the states, but it comes up spon-
taneously, sometimes almost disappearing one year and in another year
completely covering the pastures and yards. Farmers often speak of
white clover years and this is due to the prevalence of early rains in the
spring. Whenever blue grass is pastured too heavily white clover comes
to its relief and supplies good grazing during the dryer months of sum-
mer. Jt will grow on almost any character of soil, sterile or fertile, cold or
warm, moist or dry. It is virtually a perennial plant, which gives it a great
advantage as a pasture grass over red clover. Analyses have determined
its highly nutritive qualities. It is said to be richer in these than blue
grass. It is not fit ior a meadow as its dwarfy growth makes it difficult
to cut, though hay made from it is said to be excellent. A good pasture
of white clover is by no means to be despised by thrifty farmers. The
seed may be bought from seed stores and sown at the rate of about one
bushel for twelve acres.

The time of sowing is the same as that for red clover.

SAINFOIN OR ESPARCET (Century Diet )—( Onobdrychis sativa. )—( Hay. )

This is a perennial leguminous plant resembling the pea more than it
does clover. It has straggling, smooth, tapering stems from two to
three feet long. Its flowery stalks are higher than the leaves, ending in a
spike of crimson or variegated flowers. This is what the French call a
sacred grass and is considered more valuable in that country than almost
any other.

It will grow upon dry calcareous soils, which are too sterile for
growing either clover or alfalfa. The soil must be well drained for it
dies whenever the ground becomes saturated with water. Sainfoin re-
quires two or three years to arrive at maturity and is rather difficult to

90

establish because the plants are very delicate when young, but when once
established it will last a score of years.

Instances are given in France where it has lasted on a single piece of
land, with rich soil, a hundred years. The yield of hay is not so great as
that from red clover or alfalfa, but it is of a very superior kind and is
more nutritious than that of red clover. It is highly valued as a butter-
making hay and its seeds are said to be superior to oats for feeding stock
and more nutritious. They are excellent for feeding to poultry to incite
them to lay.

Sainfoin will stand a large amount of heat though it is sensitive to
cold. The writer has seen it growing in Stewart county, Tennessee, hav-
ing been brought there by a Swiss family. It would probably grow well
in all parts of the South, especially on dry soils. It requires two
bushels of seed, as usually cleaned, for sowing an acre and it should be
sown from the first of May to the end of June on well prepared land. In
order to insure germination the seed must be covered with a harrow.
When very clean seed are used half as much as has been indicated will
be sufficient.

In all those places where the ground is too dry or too sterile for
growing red clover, sainfoin might be introduced with profit. Possibly
it would do well upon the benches of the Cumberland mountain and
upon the siliceous soils of the Highlands and on the high ridgy lands of
East Tennessee where there is some lime in the soils.

Sainfoin will make from ten to twenty-five bushels of seed per acre,
forty pounds being the weight of a bushel.

For pasturing it is not a very desirable plant, as it does not have the
ability to withstand tramping as well as red clover.

MELILOTUS—SWEET CLOVER—(WMelilotus alba.)

This forage plant is highly commended as a restorative crop for cal-
careous soils. It acts also as a drainage plant. The roots descend to the
depth of several feet, and, being large, they supply innumerable down-
ward drains for carrying off stagnant water. This gives warmth to the
soil and permits the roots of succeeding crops to descend to a greater
depth in search of food.

The writer has often grown this in a small way in a garden but his
experience is that no stock will eat it. It makes a splendid growth upon
rich soils, attaining the height of six feet or more. It starts very early in
the spring and soon becomes a conspicuous object with its bluish green
foliage. It is said by observant writers that stock will soon learn to eat
and relish it. It is a biennial, but it makes a very luxuriant growth the
first year and two crops of hay may be harvested during the summer
succeeding the spring in which it is sown.

Prof. S. M. Tracy, of the Mississippi Experiment Station, says: ©
“While the hay from this plant will not sell as well as that from Lespe-
deza, the crop is heavier, furnishes pasture earlier in the spring, and is
by far the most valuable crop we have for a natural fertilizer. Seed
must be sown in August or February at the rate of half a bushel to the
acre.”

i i ta i

91

Whether this plant is suitable for feeding stock or not there is no
doubt it is an excellent plant for building up worn-out soils, and for this
purpose, if for no other, it may be recommended to the farmers of the
South for restoring fertility to lands of a calcareous nature. It has a dense
foliage; it grows rapidly; its roots are abundant; it has the capacity like
clover of gathering nitrogen from the atmospnere; it is more hardy than
clover and it is much easier to secure a stand upon run-down soils. It
therefore supplies a want for some localities where the land needs humus
and an increased supply of nitrogen.

lf the statement that stock soon learn to love it is true, it makes it
still more valuable to the farmer, for the immense amount of dry forage
which can be made from it when grown upon soils even of moderate fer-
tility, is almost incredible.

ALFALFA OR LUCERN—(WMedicago sativa. )—(Hay. )

Alfalfa, or lucern, stands unrivalled among all the forage plants for
its abundant yield, its longevity, its hardiness when once established, its
extended ‘habitat and its great antiquity. From the vast highlands of
Western Asia it was introduced into Greece at the time of the Persian
War, 470 years B. C. It was cultivated extensively by the Romans, was
carried into France probably when Caesar invaded Gaul, and then into
Spain. From Spain it came to Mexico and then to South America, and
from South America to California. It was introduced into New York
before it was brought to
California.

Alfalfa is now cultivated
to some extent in every
State and Territory in the
Union, and in every State
and Territory it has met
with more or less suc-
cess. Wherever it has been
well established it has re-
ceived great favor. It is a
child of the sun and revels
in heat that would destroy
any other species of clover.
Its nutritive elements are
almost identical with those
of red clover. It has one
advantage, however, of red
clover, in that it is a peren-
nial plant. It does not at all
resemble clover in its ap-
pearance. The purple pea-
like flowers are in long,
loose clusters or racemes,

and are scattered over the bs
entire plant. Alfalfa—Medicago sativa. (U.S. Dept. of Agric.)

92

SOILS ADAPTED TO ITS GROWTH—Alfalfa does not grow
well on any soil that has a hard pan or on thin soils. It is a deep rooted
plant and must have a deep soil. Wherever the roots find a permeable
soil they will descend to a great depth and on river banks they have been
traced to the depth of 60 or 70 feet. On the rich sandy soils of the South
it is invaluable, and will grow luxuriantly and make enormous yields of
hay. Underlying rocks or impervious subsoils, or sour, marshy soils, or
crawfishy soils. or stiff, clayey soils are fatal to its growth. So is stagnant
water. It will grow on favorable soils at almost any height from sea
level up to an elevation of 7000 feet.

Alfalfa is not affected so much by altitude as by the depth and
warmth of the soil and the depth of the water-table beneath the surface.
A rich, sandy loam, limy with a porous subsoil suits it best. A region in
which the rainfall is excessive is not favorable for the growth of alfalfa as
the plants are quickly killed even by surface water. Nor is the presence
of a large proportion of iron in the soil favorable to the growth of this
plant. Soils that have a large content of lime, phosphoric acid, potash
and magnesia are those best adapted to its growth, but lime seems to be
the most essential. A considerable amount of sand in the soil is not
objectionable.

HOW TO PREPARE THE SOIL—The soil should be prepared in
the most thorough manner. It must be finely pulverized; it must be
broken deeply and subsoiled and it must be free from any trash or weeds.
It is better to sow alfalfa after some hoed crop, as tobacco, cotton, pota-
toes and root crops such as beets, carrots, turnips and rutabagas. In
the middle South the seed may be sown in the fall or spring. October and
March are the best months. It is best to sow the seed in drills from 15 to
20 inches apart. Twenty to twenty-five pounds of seed per acre will be
required. When the plants have come up and grown high enough a small
cultivator should be run between the rows so as to destroy any grass or
weeds that may have made their appearance. Many persons sow the
seed broadcast but if this is dcne it must be upon land that has been kept
free from any noxious weeds by crops or clover.

Alfaifa when young is an exceedingly delicate plant and requires much
nursing. It is sown by some persons with oats or wheat but in the cli-
mate of Tennessee when so sown the young plants rarely survive the
summer heat. Ne crop requires more extraordinary preparation to se-
cure a good stand than alfalfa, but it should be remembered that one
preparation will last for a generation. for if it is planted upon suitable soil
and a good stand obtained it may yield luxuriant crops for thirty or forty
years. It rarely happens that alfalfa will grow tall enough the first year
or will be sufficiently free from weeds to be mowed for hay, yet if it has
been sown broadcast in the spring it will be wise management to run the
mower over the land as often as weeds and grass may grow high enough
to cut. It reaches its best growth during the third year. When properly
managed up to that period the number of cattle which can be kept in
good condition on an acre by soiling throughout the whole season sur-
passes belief. It is no sooner mown-than it pushes out fresh shoots, and
wonderful as the growth of clover sometimes is, that of alfalfa is far more

rapid. Upon soils suitable for it it will last for many years, shooting its

roots—tough and fibrous almost as those of liquorice—downward for
nourishment, until they are altogether out of the reach of drought. In the
dryest and most sultry weather when every blade of grass droops for
want of moisture, alfalfa will hold up its stems as fresh and green as ina
showery spring.

Alfalfa has been fully tested in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and
Kentucky, and has given great satisfaction. Horses are very fond of it,
and it is claimed by many that they require no other food, except when
they have been at work. Five tons of good hay may be made to the
acre. It is estimated that five horses may be supported during the entire

CUTTING ALFALFA.

year from one acre of alfalfa in full growth. It is ready for the mower a
month before red clover, and springs up long before the usual pasture
grasses.

ALFALFA FOR PASTURE—Alfalfa is indifferently suited for pas-
ture. The tramping of stock upon the land compacts it so much that
the plants rapidly deteriorate. It is often pastured in the west but rarely
when it is intended for making hay, as, when once pastured, so many
roots are destroyed as to greatly diminish the yield of forage. It is, how-
ever, extensively used as a pasture for hogs and they do not seem to injure
it as much as heavier stock. One acre of alfalfa will furnish abundant
forage for ten to twenty hogs throughout the season. It is a great pork
producer.

94

Mr. Jared G. Smith, the Assistant Agrostologist of the United States
Department of Agriculture, states that ten pigs put on a field of it will
gain 100 pounds each during the season from May to September. He
says that pigs will come out of the field in autumn in capital condition to
fatten with corn or small grain. For a hog pasture alfalfa should be
mowed once or twice during the summer so that young and tender her-
bage may be supplied, which is more nutritious than the forage from
older plants.

ALFALFA HAY-—It requires much skill to properly cure alfalfa
hay. Being ranker usually than red clover, and cut when the first blooms
begin to appear, it is full of sap and must be managed with great discre-
tion and judgment. The best method of saving the hay is to cut it in the
morning after the dew has been dissipated. It should lie in the sun until
it is wilted, then raked into windrows; after remaining for 24 hours it may
be carried to the barns or open sheds, or stacked in the field., It should
be handled just as little as possible. It sheds its leaves much more easily
than red clover and, as the leaves are the most nutritious part of the hay,
handling greatly impairs its value.

In wet weather it is very difficult to save alfalfa hay without mould-
ing. Ifa rain should fall upon it, while in the windrow, hard enough to
pass through it, it should be shaken up just as soon as the sun comes out,
but the sun does great damage to it by drying the leaves and so causing
them to shatter when the hay is being handled. Therefore the best plan
in such a case is to throw the windrows into small cocks before the leaves
are thoroughly dry, but these cocks must be small enough for the air to
circulate through them. A hard rain will diminish the value of the hay,
under any circumstances, fully one-half. If very much injured it should
be used as a top-dressing. It will be more valuable employed for this
purpose than for hay. In sub-tropical regions the hay may be cut seven
or eight times a year. The writer has seen it growing in the northern
part of Mexico with such luxuriance that it seemed almost impossible for
an ordinary mower to cut it. In the State of Chihuahua, upon bottom
lands where alfalfa is irrigated after each cutting, the yield sometimes
reaches fifteen tons in a single year. It is cut every four weeks and the
seasons last from February to November. With the stimulating effects
of heat and moisture upon the rich soils in the valleys of that region the
amount of hay which may be obtained from a single acre is often great
enough to supply the demands of a considerable ranch. Alfalfa hay is
rich in protein but it is deficient in fat and carbohydrates. It is therefore
recommended that some of the coarser fodders, such as wheat or oat
straw, millet or root crops, be added to the feed. Prof. Smith says that
“one ton of alfalfa hay and three tons of green fodder will furnish food for
one milch cow of a thousand pound weight for 136 days without notable
loss of any of the digestible compounds in the forage.”

There is no better hay, however, for all kinds of domestic animals and
especially for young and growing cattle and horses, and for sheep.
Alfalfa is well adapted to the use of persons living in small towns or vil-
lages who have a lot they wish to devote to hay for a horse and a cow.
No other kind of forage crop will equal it in the quantity and quality of

:

95

its produce, for all experience has demonstrated that it is as good as the
best. From such a lot alfalfa may be cut green and fed every night and
morning. Care must be taken, however, not to feed too much, or to feed
it to cattle when it is wet, as it is liable to produce bloat or hoven. Sheep
are also liable to be affected in the same way, but horses and hogs are not.

Prof. Smith warns the orchardists against planting it in an orchard.
The roots descend so much deeper than the roots of the fruit trees that
the latter are often killed. It is a good forerunner for an orchard because
the roots penetrate the subsoil deeply and in their decay furnish an ex-
cellent fertilizer for fruit trees, inasmuch as the alfalfa roots have the
power to collect nitrogen from the air just as other leguminous plants,
and the field is greatly enriched.

In an analysis of the soils upon which alfalfa is grown it is found that
they differ widely in their chemical composition. However, the carbonate
of potassium and the carbonate of lime are usually the most abundant in-
gredients, followed by the phosphate of lime. In clayey and chalky soils
the carbonate of lime reaches nearly 50 per cent. Alfalfa will produce
the largest quantity of forage for domestic animals and will, at the same

time, enrich the lands upon which it is grown.

COW PEAS—( Vigna catiang.) —(Pasture, Ensilage and Dry Forage.)

No agricultural product of the South has come so rapidly into well
merited and almost universal favor within the past twenty years as cow
peas. Though they were introduced into South Carolina over 150 years
ago it is but within recent years that they have been grown in all the
Southern States. They are now a staple crop in the border states and are
grown in every portion of them. Twenty years ago their cultivation was
confined mainly to the cotton growing districts, but at present they have
taken to a large extent the place of clover, and especially where the lands
have become “clover sick,” or the clover crop uncertain. Cowpeas, in fact,
richly deserve to be called the “clover of the South.” It is a leguminous
plant and appropriates nitrogen from the atmosphere as all other plants
of the same family do. They supply as much humus to the soil as clover,
and may be successfully grown upon soils that are so sterile clover would
wither and die on them.

There are many varieties or subvarieties of the cowpea. These
varieties often take local names derived from the persons who introduced
them. The best established varieties for the Southern States are the
eureka No. 1, the unknown, clay and black; in the Central and Northern
section the eureka No. 2, black, black eye, whippoorwill and Carolina.
Some of these are bunch varieties and some trailing or climbing.

SOILS FOR COWPEAS—One of the greatest advantages which
the cowpea possesses over every other forage or fertilizing crop grown is
its adaptability to every soil. The writer has seen it growing with strong
foliage upon a dozen different soils in the State of Tennessee. Some
varieties seem to prefer one soil, and some another, but all varieties will
make a satisfactory growth upon any soil. But the cowpea is especially
valuable for dry sandy soils, inasmuch as clover rarely does well upon
such soils.

96

The peas may be sown at any time from the first of May until the last
of July. It takes from sixty to eighty days for them to mature. The soil
may be prepared by breaking it with a two horse plow. The peas should
then be sown at the rate of one bushel and a half per acre and the ground
afterwards well harrowed. Some farmers prefer to drill the peas in rows
two and a half to three feet apart, the neas being at intervals of one or
two inches in the row. After they have come up a cultivator should be
run between the rows. Peas furnish a large amount of feed when planted
between the corn rows at the last plowing of the corn. The bush varieties
ripen soonest but the California cowpea, the clay pea and the black pea ©
are more profitable as they do not rot so readily in wet weather and will
remain sound and keep a large number of stock the best part of the winter
after the corn has been gathered. The whippoorwill pea planted by itself
will give the earliest returns.

Stubble ground after oats or wheat is turned to good account by
breaking and sowing it with peas. The pasture comes on at a time when
it is most needed. In the southern part of Tennessee and in Northern
Alabama a crop of peas grown on stubble land goes a long ways towards
fattening hogs for slaughter.

COWPEAS FOR HAY-—It is generally conceded that when prop-
erly harvested and cured cowpea hay is the eaual of red clover hay in
every particular and indeed much richer in protein. The only exception
to this general admission as to the value of cowpea hay comes from the
Kansas Experiment Station, where it is reported that stock would not
eat the vines green, cured or in ensilage.

Recent experiments at this Experiment Station go to show that in two
tons of timothy hay and in three tons of cowpea hay, each the product of
one acre, the following results were obtained:

FERTILIZING MATERIALS.

NITROGEN PHOSPHORIC ACID POTASH WORTH
Timothy—25 ibswatI2retsrat yee 10 lbs. at 5 cts.| 18 lbs. at 5 cts.| $4.40
Cowpeas—58 lbs. at 12 cts......... 15 lbs. at 5 ct... |40 lbs. at 5 cts.| 9.71

FOOD MATERIALS.

PROTEIN CARBOHYDRATES | FATS
SLSR s.8 0 te filed wcaateete ae vem ts 118 lbs. | 1500 lbs. 50 lbs.

Cowpens iin incu suis> pert memree antl 500 Ibs. | 1700 lbs. 87 lbs.

“We see, thus, that legumes furnish three to four times as much pro-
tein and more carbohydrates and fats than common hay. They contain
over twice as much nitrogen and twice as much potash. This nitro-
gen is derived from the air, and removing it does not deplete the soil.
The best plan is, thus, to feed leguminous plants and return to the soil the
manure, which will still contain four-fifths of all the fertilizing elements.
As nitrogen of the air is the cheapest source of nitrogen for plants, so it

97

is the cheapest source of protein for animals. Soiling is a good plan for
dairymen. Save the manure. Grow more legumes. They furnish the
cheapest manure for the soil and the cheapest food for stock, because they
obtain from the air the nitrogen necessary for plants and animals, which
costs 12 to 15 cents a pound.”

The director of the Delaware Station testifies that in one experiment
the yield of dry hay per acre was 2353 pounds, which contained 58 pounds
fat, 147 pounds ash, 320 pounds protein, 1596 pounds fibre and carbohy-
drates and 232 pounds of moisture. Comparing it with wheat bran it
was shown that the bran leads in fat, but in all other respects the dried
vines excel.

“The proper stage for cutting peas for hay,” says the Hon. H. M.
Polk, “is when the first pods begin to turn yellow and while the leaves
are green and the stems soft. The greatest care must be exercised in
curing cowpeas for hay. The vines are full of moisture and they will not
shed water. They should be cut in clear weather after the dew is off and
treated very much as clover when cut for hay. The great end to be ac-
complished is to cure the vines to the extent of getting rid of a part of
the moisture without having the leaves burned by the sun. When exposed
too long to the sun the leaves become dry, fall off the stems and are lost.
When put up too green and too compactly, they heat, and when fermen-
tation of the juices in the vine and unripe pods occurs, the hay is seriously
damaged, if not completely spoiled. Mildewed hay of any kind is very
poor food for stock, and when eaten at all it is only taken from necessity
to ward off starvation. Some planters house their pea hay in open sheds,
or loosely in barns, with rails so fixed as to prevent compacting. Others
stack in the open air around poles on-which are left limbs from two to
four feet long, to keep the mass of vines open to the air. The top of the
stack must be covered with hay or straw that will shed water.”

COWPEAS AS A SOIL RESTORER—Not even clover surpasses
the cowpea as a soil renovator. The most badly worn and abused. soil
may be quickly brought to a condition for profitable production by plant-
ing a succession of pea crops upon it. Nor are the best results obtained
by plowing under the pea vines when green. Careful experiments made

_at the Georgia Station show:
(1) That the best disposition of a crop of field peas is to convert the
_ vines into hay.
(2) The next best is to permit the peas to ripen and gather them (or
_ pasture them.)
(3) Turning the pea vines under green gave the poorest economic
; results.
t To which the director adds the following note:

“It may be truly said that the practice of turning under a crop of
cowpea vines—ready for the mower, and in a few days for the barn and
for the cattle—has no more reason to sustain it than would the practice of
turning under a crop of wheat, oats, corn or cotton at its most vigorous
Stage of growth. Nearly every form of stock food would be a valuable
and effective fertilizer if applied immediately and directly to the soil; but
the farmer in an economic sense can no more afford to manure his soil

98

with a crop of pea vines that are ready to mow, than he can to sow good,
sound wheat bran on his land as a fertilizer.”

Of the capacity of the cowpea as a fertilizing agent Prof. Stubbs, of
the Louisiana Experiment Station, says:

“Valuable as this plant is for its vine and fruit as food, its superlative
excellence lies in the property which it has of restoring worn soils. This
property it shares with all leguminous plants, but it surpasses them all in
producing the maximum results in a minimum of time. Clovers, trefoil,
lupine and alfalfa are used in different countries as soil renovators. They
are planted in the fall or spring and occupy the ground the entire season
or longer for good results. In the South the cowpea is planted in the late
spring or early summer and the crops of vines or peas are harvested or
buried for fertilizing purposes in early fall. The growth and develop-
ment of this plant is both rapid and enormous, particularly when planted
on good land. It perhaps assimilates more plant food in a short time
than any other leguminous plant.

This plant in common with all others of the pulse family, assimilates
the nitrogen of the air and if phosphates, potash and lime be present in
the soil, it will grow with great rapidity and luxuriance. The manner of
assimilation of nitrogen has recently been patiently investigated by scien-
tists, and while the exact process by which it is accomplished is not yet
clearly understood, the primary cause is clearly shown. If a farmer will
pull up carefully, with its roots, a pea vine plant from his field, and ex-
amine closely each rootlet, he will, if he has selected a healthy growing
specimen, find each one covered with wart-like protuberances or tubercles.
These tubercles, if examined under a powerful microscope, will be found
filled with micro-organisms called: bacteria. They are living on the plant
and are drawing from it the mineral matter requisite for their existence.
Simultaneously, however, they are assimilating the free nitrogen of the
air which reaches them through the porosity of the soil. "These bacteria
have a very ephemeral existence but great facility for rapid multiplication.
Hence millions die every few moments. This living togethe- of the plant
and its seeming parasite, each acting as a purveyor of food for the other,
is a most remarkable discovery made almost simultaneously by Dr. W.
O. Atwater of this country, and Hellriegel of Germany. While it has
long been known that leguminous plants had these nodules on their roots,
and longer still that they were in some way nitrogen gatherers, and there-
fore soil improvers, yet the relations between these nodules and the plant
were determined only a few years since by these distinguished scientists.”

Much more might be written to show the great value of the pea crop.
Summing up its chief merits we have:

1—The pea will thrive upon every variety of soil and will grow on
land too poor to grow clover.

—It will produce a heavy and rich crop to be returned to the soil
in a shorter period than any other green manuring crop.

3—On the same land in one year two crops can be grown, but it
requires two years for clover to produce a hay crop, so it will be seen that
four crops of peas may be grown in the same time as one crop of clover.

4—The pea crop feeds lightly upon the soil but largely upon the at-

99

mosphere, appropriating nitrogen through the agency of the bacteria that
infest its roots.

5—It is one of the best preparatory crops for wheat, as it leaves the
soil in excellent condition, adding a large content of nitrogen which is an
essential element in the growing of wheat.

6—The rapidity of its growth makes it the only crop in the South
that may be used as a manurial crop between the harvesting of grain and

_ the sowing of it on the same land.

' 7—It grows as vigorously as clover and in connection with that plant
makes the South peculiarly rich in those vegetable agents that improve
the soil.

8—It may be grown in connection with the corn crop, furnishing
almost as much nutriment as the corn crop itself, with a positive benefit
to the land.

9—It is a substantial factor in the production of cheap beef, pork, milk
and butter.

10—It doubles the capacity of the land for wintering stock, and gives
double the material for making manure heaps.

11—The galled and waste places in the South can be more quickly
and cheaply restored by a judicious cultivation of the pea, and by proper
rotation of other crops with it, than in any other way.

12—By adding humus it preserves the humidity of the soil and so
enables the crops to resist droughts.

13—The vines of cowpeas furnish the very best material for ensilage.

14—The composition of cowpeas and pea vine hay shows that they
have a very high feeding value for all domestic animals.

PEANUTS—(Arachis hypogaea.)—(Forage for Cattle and Seed for
Hogs.)
Peanuts have long been a staple crop in some portions of the South.
They were introduced into Tennessee from North Carolina about sixty
years ago and for a long time the crop was regarded as one of the most
profitable that was made in the State. Within recent years, however, the
price has fallen so low that the quantity raised has sensibly decreased.
Two varieties are grown in Tennessee, the red and the white.
The red is an upright grower and produces a small nut, the epidermis
or outer coating of which is dark red in color.
The white grows with spreading branches that lie flat on the ground.
_ These branches bear peanuts almost throughout their entire length. It
_ is highly important in growing white peanuts to have the land very mel-
_ low so as to permit the bearing ‘‘spikelet” to penetrate the ground. The
: white peanuts command a better price than the red. The pods are larger
and whiter and present altogether a much better appearance.
w A few Spanish peanuts are grown in places. They are earlier than
4 the other varieties and have an upright growth like the red. They mature
a larger proportion of the nuts, so that, though the nuts are small, there
are fewer inferior nuts or “pops.”’ There is another advantage which is
claimed for this variety and that is that the pods cluster around the vines
so closely that when the vine is pulled up nearly every nut clings to it,

sah ‘

100

making the loss very inconsiderable in harvesting. The flavor of the
Spanish nut is very delicate and the kernel does not differ materially in
chemical composition from the Tennessee nut. except in its larger content
of water. Many people, however, prefer the larger nuts and so these
usually outsell the Spanish peanut, but the Spanish variety is a much
surer crop. When the white variety by reason of bad seasons makes a
comparative failure, the Spanish peanut often makes a large yield and it
is also more valuable for the feeding of hogs than the white peanuts. It
is said that when it is planted in Tennessee in a few years it grows as
large as the Tennessee nut. Extremely warm weather is not necessary
for the fruitage of the peanut. Cool weather will cause the pods to form
as readily as the hottest weather in July. It requires five months to ma-
ture the white variety. The Spanish variety will mature in about four
months.

The best peanuts are planted early and therefore an early spring is
desirable, with no beating rains, especially if the land is strongly argilla-
ceous, for when the ground is baked the delicate young stem cannot pene-
trate the hard crust. A bad stand then results, which is scarcely to be
remedied by replanting. The regions growing the best nuts for eating
are embraced in Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky. The extreme
Southern States grow the peanuts fully as well as the states mentioned,
but they contain so much oil as to impair their flavor and make them
more indigestible. On the other hand, when grown in the far South
they are better for fattening purposes, and far better for making peanut
oil, which is now regarded as one of the most valuable of the oil products.

Peanuts have been successiully grown in Tennessee for many years in
the counties of Perry, Hickman, Humphreys, Dickson, Lewis and
Wayne, situated in that natural division of the state known as the High-
land Rim, and in a few counties in West Tennessee.

THE BEST SOIL—The best soil for the peanut is a light colored
clayey soil, filled with finely-comminuted, cherty, angular gravel, which
makes the ground loose and prevents it from baking. The ground should
be well drained and light in color, for it is a singular fact that there is a
correlation between the color of the soil and the color of the nut. black
or deep red soils making a dark colored nut and light or whitish soils a
light-colored nut. The darker soils may, and most frequently do, make
a larger yield per acre but the nuts do not command such a good price
and are classed in a lower grade.

Land with much humus is not suited to the growth of peanuts. The
soil should be strong but with a small amount of vegetable matter in its
composition. Peanuts, therefore, do not yield well after clover or in
freshly cleared lands. In such conditions the amount of vine is excessive
and such larid is best fer growing peanut hay, but the quantity of good
peanuts is very small. The best results are obtained by planting the
crops after corn or tobacco or potatoes, or after any crop that requires
clean cultivation.

TIME AND MANNER OF PLANTING—The land for peanuts in
Tennessee is usually prepared during the latter part of April after the
danger of frost is passed. It should be well broken and finely pulverized —

.

101

with a harrow. For white peanuts or the spreading variety the land is
checked off in rows two and one-half to three feet apart, and two kernels,
after being carefully hulled by hand, are dropped at the points of inter-
section of the furrows like corn and covered with a hoe to the depth of
one and one-half to two inches. In shelling the nuts care must be taken
not to break the delicate covering that surrounds the kernels, for this will
impair or totally destroy their vitality. If the land after planting should
become compacted by a hard rain, a light harrow should be run over it
when the land is dry enough to plow, in order to break the obstructing
crust, so that the very delicate shoot can make its way to the surface.
Red peanuts are planted in ridges like cotton. The rows are run off three
feet apart and four furrows thrown on these. The ridges thus made are
opened on top by a bull-tongue plow or coulter and the seed dropped at
intervals of eight to twelve inches apart and covered two inches deep by
a board like that emploved for covering cotton seed, or it would be better
to procure a one-horse corn planter, adjusted so as to open the ridges to
the proper depth and to drop the kernels at the required intervals, and
at the same time, cover them. About two bushels and one-half in the
hull are required to plant an acre. The brown millipede, the cutworm,
the wood mouse. and the mole are all great enemies of the peanut when
just planted. - Replanting should begin, if the plant does not appear above
ground, in ten days.
FERTILIZERS—Many peanut-growers object to the use of any
manure whatever, but in this they undoubtedly commit an error. The
application of a large amount of stable manure would prove detrimental,
but in small quantities it is highly beneficial. The best fertilizer for the
peanut is an ammoniated superphosphate of lime with some potash. An
application of lime in its caustic state on other than limestone soils during
the fall previous to planting would be beneficial. The peanut must have
lime, but not too much of it. The heavy limestone soils will produce a
great quantity of pops. No top-dressing of lime of any kind should be
made. The superphosphate and the nitrogenous manures may be
strewn in the furrows at the rate of 300 pounds to the acre. Ashes or
kainit will supply potash, and a greater amount than 150 pounds to the
acre is not necessary. Cottonseed meal and barnyard manure in limited
quantities are excellent fertilizers for this crop. Being a leguminous
plant the peanut has the power of extracting nitrogen from the atmos-
phere.
CULTIVATION—TIf the land has been well prepared before the pea-
_ nuts are planted the after-cultivation is very simple and inexpensive. The
_ weeds should be kept down by using a narrow harrow or a double culti-
_vator. Many growers use a one-horse turning plow and bar off the soil
_ from the peanuts when they first come up. Afterwards in the cultivation
_ of the white peanut this middle ridge is leveled down with a harrow or
_ double shovel. For the red or upright growers the dirt at the second
pr owing is usually thrown back to them, if they have attained a height
| great enough not to be covered up by the process. The peanut will thrive
| with the same cultivation that is given to corn. Any cultivation is good
that will destroy the weeds and keep the land in good tilth, but it must

102

not be extended beyond the period when the peanuts begin to form, and
especially must this caution be observed in the case of the trailing or
white peanuts. Level cultivation is far better for the white peanut and
equally good for the red.

Many years ago it was thought that a necessary requirement in the
cultivation of the white peanut was to cover the bloom. This practice has
long been discontinued, for it not only does no good, but it does much
damage and decreases the yield of the crop. The “spikelets” form above
ground after the fall of the flowers, but the ground should be soft enough
to permit the sharp thorn-like points to penetrate the surface. When
once beneath the surface the ovary at the end of the “spikelet” begins
to enlarge and ripens into a pale, yellowish, wrinkled pod, slightly curved,
sometimes contracted in the middle, and containing generally two, some-
times three and rarely four kernels. A dry spring is always desirable
for planting and cultivating, but when the “spikelets” begin to push down
into the ground frequent showers are indispensable to a large yield.

HARVESTING—The harvesting must always take place before
frost, for the nuts and haulm are both greatly injured, if not ruined, by
frost. If the fall should be wet, or the peanuts mature very early, many
of the first formed nuts will be ruined by sprouting. Dry weather should
always be selected for harvesting. It cannot be done when the ground
is wet, for then the dirt will adhere to the nuts and ruin them or at least
greatly detract from their market value by injuring their color.

The crop of white peanuts is harvested by running a furrow on each
side of the row with a bull-tongue plow or a pea-digger, so as to dislocate
the roots. Care must be taken not to detach the nuts from the vine in
running the side furrow. After the plow has been run on each side of
the row (and it is sometimes necessary to run twice on a side) then lift
the vines gently with the hand, carefully shaking the dirt off, and lay
them on the ground. Let them remain in this way, if the sun is shining,
from six to eight hours. The vines will wilt like clover, when they may
be brought together and stacked. The stacks are made around a pole
planted in the ground and rising some eight feet above the surface. A
platiorm made of old rails rests upon logs placed around the pole and
upon this the stack is built. The platform protects the nuts and vines
from the mold and dampness of the ground. In stacking, the nuts should
be put on the inside next to the stack-pole, but not so close as to prevent
the air from circulating freely from the bottom to the top of the stack.
To make the stack entirely secure it should have a capping of hay or corn
fodder. Put up in this manner the nuts will keep securely all the winter
should it be desired.

The red nuts are more easily harvested than the white, as they have
but few roots and the nuts adhere closely about the stem. In loose land
they may be pulled up without running a furrow on each side of the row,
though to do this will make the work much easier. ‘There are but few
red nuts now grown in Tennessee. An over-production of them for a few
years reduced prices below the cost of the labor required in producing
them.

Usually the nuts are allowed to stand in the stacks about four weeks —

103

and are then picked off by hand, the white nuts always. The red nuts
are sometimes threshed off by taking up bundles and beating them against
a rail or the side of a box. This latter plan greatly injures the nuts. Five
to six bushels of red peanuts can be picked off the vines in a day by a
nimbled-fingered person, but the picking of three to four bushels of the
white is considered a good day’s work. Women and children are said to
be much more expert in this work than men. The price paid for picking
is about ten cents a bushel. After this they ought to be screened in a
cylinder so as to separate them from the dust and leaves and also for the
purpose of brightening the hulls by abrasion. After sunning they are put
in sacks containing four to five bushels. So much may be added to the
selling price of the peanut crop by proper cleaning and assorting that it
has been found profitable in all localities where many peanuts are grown
to erect great recleaning houses. These houses are four stories high.
The upper or fourth floor contains a large hoppér into which the peanuts
as they are delivered by the farmers are poured. They run down through
pipes to the third floor, where they pass through a screen or cylinder and
by abrasion the nuts are cleaned and the hulls brightened. From the
cylinder the nuts are carried to the second floor, where they are passed
through a fan by which the light ones are blown out. The heavier ones
are caught on an endless belt passing longitudinally over the surface of a
long table. On both sides of the table employes, usually girls or boys,
stand and pick out all black or discolored nuts. At one end of the table
is a sizer, where the nuts are separated into three classes: Jumbos, or
fancy, which are very large nuts; No. 1 and No. 2. On the lower floor
all grades are caught and sacked. The puffs and black or discolored nuts
are shelled and sold to confectioners. The owners of the recleaning
establishments buy the nuts direct from the farmers and resell them on
the market after they have been cleaned and assorted.

YIELD PER ACRE—The weight of a bushel of peanuts in Tennes-
see is twenty-three pounds; in Georgia twenty-eight; in North Carolina
and Virginia twenty-two pounds. The Tennessee peanuts are larger
than those of Georgia and smaller than those of North Carolina and Vir-
ginia. Of those raised in Tennessee, less than one-fourth are of the red
variety. The usual yield per acre is from thirty to fifty bushels, though
as high as 100 bushels are sometimes made. The white peanuts will make
from ten to twenty bushels per acre more than the red, but not being so

easily cultivated or gathered, they were until recently considered less
_ valuable as a crop.
USES OF THE NUT—The present consumption of peanuts by the
American people for eating purposes alone reaches 4,000,000 bushels.
This is largely in excess of what we produce. It is estimated that the
_ peanut crop of the world now amounts to 600,000,000 pounds or 26,087,000
bushels. Much of this product is used in the Old World for making oil,

which is regarded as an excellent substitute for olive oil, as it has an
agreeable taste and odor. The shelled nuts will yield about 40 per cent.
of oil. It is said that the Tennessee nut yields an oil that is often used

and is highly esteemed for culinary purposes. Estimating that the hulls
_ of the peanuts make 6 per cent. by weight and that 40 per cent. of oil may

\

7

104

be extracted from the kernels, there should be obtained 8.65 pounds of oil
from each bushel of twenty-three pounds. This would give in liquid
measure 1.15 gallons, which at the price of $1 per gallon, would make
$1.15 for the oil extracted from one bushel of peanuts. Manufacturers use
this oil as a substitute for olive oil in fulling cloth. A large amount is
used in the manufacture of soap. It is not very desirable as a lighting
fluid, as it does not give as clear light as whale oil or petroleum. For the
fattening of hogs peanuts are exceedingly valuable, and have proved very
' satisfactory on account of their large content of fatty matter. Hogs are
very fond of them.

THE VINE AS A FORAGE CROP—The haulm or vine, when
carefully harvested, before it has been injured by frost, is an excellent
food for cattle and sheep. Horses are exceedingly fond of it, but the
amount of dirt which necessarily adheres to it is apt to produce a disa-
greeable cough. The red peanut makes better hay than the white, because
it grows erect, and is, therefore, freer from dirt. Usually about one ton
is saved per acre, though upon strong Jand, where the vines grow luxu-
riantly, two or more tons have been saved. Many practical farmers prefer
this hay to clover hay. Like clover hay it must be handled carefully, or
the leaves will fall off, leaving nothing but the stems, that are practically
worthless. It produces a copious flow of rich, creamy milk when fed
to milch cows. Ewes in lambing time can have no better food given them
than well-cured peanut hay, because it increases the flow of milk and
enriches its quality.

JAPAN CLOVER—BUSH CLOVER—KING GRASS—(Lespedeza
striata) —(Grazing and Hay.)

There were numerous species of Lespedeza found in the South as far
back as the time of the Spanish occupation of Louisiana. They were then
observed and mentioned in Spanish records and regarded, at the time, as
being good forage plants. The seeds of the Lespedeza striata were intro-
duced into South Carolina about 1849 from Japan or China or probably
from both, doubtless coming over in tea chests. Its existence in Japan
was mentioned as early as 1784, by a German chemist, who saw it growing
in that’country. A jew years after its first appearance in South Carolina
it had spread as far as Macon, Ga. It appeared in Tennessee about 1870
and spread rapidly through many counties in the State, covering old
fields, rooting out broom sedge and other grasses, and showing such a
vigor of growth and tenacity of life as to arrest the attention of every
observant farmer. It will grow with great luxuriance on the poorest
soils, and will resist the severest droughts. Soils that are totally unfit
for the growth of any other plant will produce Japan clover high enough
to make good pasturage. On more fertile lands it will grow to the height
of two feet or more. It is an annual and should be sown in the State of
Tennessee during the month of March, but it is rarely necessary to sow
it at all as, when it once becomes established in any spot, it soon spreads
throughout the locality. It is an excellent plant for restoring fertility to
old fields and many of these in the state have been reclaimed through its

instrumentality. In many of the Southern States it is regarded as the

105

most valuable of all forage plants for the very reason that it will grow on
the most sterile or exhausted soils. It is largely used for hay, especially
when grown on calcareous soils, being said to have a high feeding value,
though less than that of the cowpea and clover. It does not stand cold
weather. The first frost will kill it, and occasionally it suffers from hot
weather when grown upon thirsty, sandy soils. Its roots penetrate to a
great depth in the soil and like all other leguminous plants it collects
nitrogen from the atmosphere. It is much more highly esteemed in the
extreme Southern States than it is in Tennessee.

Mr. H. B. McGehee, of Woodville, Miss., says: ‘‘“My experience is that
Lespedeza striata (Japan clover) is the most satisfactory and best all-
around forage crop we have in Southwest Mississippi. It is the quickest
grown, easiest handled and affords the most abundant yield of any hay
crop we have. We prepare our lands and sow in October or March one-
half bushel of seed to the acre. It yields from one and one-half tons to
three tons per acre, reseeds itself, and the meadows may be left from two
to three years without replowing. Often after preparing lands and sow-
ing our fall oats we sow Lespedeza among the young growing oats some

_ time in March, after all danger of a freeze is over, and thereby get two

crops from the same piece of land during one year. Stock of all kinds
eat this hay readily and fatten on it. It sells on a local market for from
$12 to $15 per ton. Ours is a loamy, sandy soil, with a good deep sub-
soil.”

Prof. S. M. Tracy, says of this plant: ‘“‘Lespedeza is the standard
clover plant of the South. It will grow on the poorest and dryest soils
and, pound for pound, is the best hay I have ever used for fattening or for
milch cows. Three years ago last October, our barn containing the hay
we had stored for winter use was destroyed by fire. The last of October
is late for making hay in Mississippi. On the day after the fire we put
our mowing machines into a field of Lespedeza, which we had before
thought hardly worth the cutting, and in two weeks we had stored a fresh
supply of hay, mostly Lespedeza, but with a liberal mixture of asters,
golden rod and plum bushes; but even this hay gave us better results in
milk and butter than did equal weights of imported timothy.”

Mr. Samuel McRamsey, of Warren county, Tennessee, who was in

_ the dairy business for many years, says: “This clover made its appearance

in this locality in 1870. It is fast covering the whole country. It supplies

much grazing from the first of August until frost. It is short, but very
hardy. Sheep are very fond of it, and cattle will eat it. It is killing out
the broom sedge wherever it appears. It grows exceedingly well on red
clay, and with a little care covers red hillsides that are much too common

_all over the state. If it will do this and destroy the broom sedge, it should

be cultivated. It is not good for meadow and is only valuable for

_ pasture.”

Upon the farm of the writer in Montgomery county, Tennessee, the

chief soil of which is a deep clayey loam belonging to the Lithostrotion

bed of the subcarboniferous formation, Lespedeza appeared about 1880,
and it quickly took possession of several wooded lots and also spread in

some older fields that were not in cultivation. At first cattle were totally

‘MOGVH] HH], NI daHHS

oo oe

107

indifferent to it and would not eat it, but gradually both cattle and sheep
began to relish it. The advantage of this plant is its drought-resisting
quality. On good soils it will remain green and continue to grow until
the advent of frost. Broom sedge, in many places, especially in fence
corners, has yielded to its conquering march. It is far less troublesome
than broom sedge in every particular, and if it does no other good it will
be regarded as a benefactor in its ability to destroy one of the most
troublesome of all growths to meadows and pastures. During the period
of dry weather it will turn brown upon thin soils, but the first rain will
give it a new growth.

The best estimate of its value was made many years ago by Prof. E.
M. Pendleton, of Georgia. He says: “I am willing to concede to it sev-
eral things that do not, apply to any other plant we have ever grown in
this latitude.

“It has great powers of endurance, so far as the roots are concerned;
but the branches and leaves will parch and die out under a burning sun
very soon, especially where it grows sparsely. During a wet summer it
luxuriates wherever propagated on poor hill-sides as well as on meadow
lands. It loves, however, rainy seasons on thirsty lands and I fear will
not prove to be all we desire in such localities. It however, reminds us
of an anecdote of Mr. Dickson, when he was showing some gentlemen
his farm during the prevalence of a severe drought. As they passed
through a corn field in which some of the stalks were actually dying for
lack of moisture, one of them called his attention to several in that con-
dition. ‘Yes,’ said he: ‘I perceive the fact, but it dies game.’ And so
of the Japan, clover; it dies from severe drought, but rallies again as soon
as the rain sets in.

“It is good pasturage for stock and I think would make good hay, if
cut and cured. But I do not believe that our stock like it as well as the
native grasses and J doubt whether it is as nutritious as the Bermuda. As
cattle love variety, however, this may subserve a good purpose in that
way. My opinion, however, is, from a not very close observation in the
matter, that they would soon tire out on it exclusively.

“It furnishes a large supply of vegetable matter to the soil, and I
believe will prove to be the best humus-making plant we have at the
South, where so much is needed from our clean cotton culture. As it is
said to be difficult to gather the seed in large quantities, I intend to plow
up the surface where it has seeded, and rake up the grass and top soil,
and sow this dirt over my oat and wheat fields, and especially on the poor
places. My opinion is that a most luxuriant growth of this clover will
follow, which can be turned under in the fall while green, and thus fur-
nish not only humus but nitrogen to the soil.

“Another rare quality of this plant is indicated in the name I have
given it—‘King grass’—in the fact that it absolutely roots out and dé-
stroys every living plant in its wide-spread path. Not even old Bermuda,
which has so long held undisputed sway over his circumscribed fields, can
resist its encroaches. I have a bottom long since given up to the Ber-
muda. Recently I passed through it and found that the Lespedeza had
almost completely throttled it, though like Mr. Dickson’s corn it died

108

game, as here and there, peering above its enemy, could be seen an
isolated sprig of Bermuda, which, as it cannot stand shade, will have to
yield entirely before the close of another season. I have but little doubt
that any pest, like coco or Bermuda, could be, rooted out by this ‘King
grass’ in a few years in any locality, and would recommend it to be
sown on such fields, if for no other purpose. I intend to give it a fair
trial myself on one or two similar localities.”

The North Carolina Experiment Station has this to say:

“The ability to grow on land too poor to produce even broom sedge
and to crowd out all other plants; its dying each winter and leaving its
roots to fertilize the soil; and its possessing the nitrogen-fixing power
peculiar to the pulse family of plants, place Japan clover at the head oi
renovating plants adapted to the climate of Southern States. It is un-
equalled as a restorer of worn fields, such as are generally turned out to
grow up in pines.”

SOY BEAN—COFFEE BEAN—SOJA BEAN—( Glycine hispida.)—
(Forage, Ensilage and Pasture.)

This plant has recently been introduced into cultivation in the United
States, though it has been known in China and Japan from a remote an-
tiquity. It is one of the crops grown for human food in. oriental coun-
tries. It yields a large amount of seed while the forage, both green and
dry, is capable of sustaining and even fattening domestic animals. Ex-
periments that have been tried in Tennessee in its culture have been fairly
successful.

The soy bean is an annual, belongs to the leguminous family, and is
grown for the same purposes as cowpeas and clover. As a soil renovator,
as a hay and as ensilage it is nearly the equal in every respect of red
clover.

There are many varieties of the soy bean. The early varieties are
thought to be the best to cultivate for seed. The medium early green is
the best for hay and this with the medium early black is best for soiling
and for ensilage. Soy beans will grow upon almost any soil, but that
which is supplied with potash, phosphoric acid and lime is said to give the
best results. Good crops have been made on very thin soils in Kansas
and South Carolina. It is a great drought-resister and will suffer less
from continued dry weather than almost any ordinary field crop. It will
grow in every latitude in which corn will mature. It is not so sensitive to
cold as cowpeas or the ordinary garden bean. It will bear moisture well
and a case is given by Mr. Robert C. Morris, of Illinois, where soy
beans stood three weeks in water during the month of July without any
permanent injury. For hay the beans should be sown at the rate of one
bushel per acre upon land well prepared by thorough pulverization. The
geed may be covered with a harrow. If planted mainly for seed it is best
to plant in drills, say 80 inches apart, and cultivate in the same manner as
corn. About five or six plants should be left for every foot in the row. It
is best to stir the earth after every rain, but not to work the plants when
they are wet either from rain or dew. The haulm of the soy bean is very
rich in fat and muscle making constituents and should always be fed in

109

connection with fodder, corn or sorghum. It should be cut for hay when
the plants are in late bloom or when a few of the pods begin to form. It
is a hay very difficult to cure. much more so than red clover, and it is
necessary after cutting to throw the plants into a windrow until they have
wilted, then to put them up in cocks with small diameter so that the air
can pass freely through them. Handling the hay injures it very much in
causing the leaves to be broken off and lost. Probably the best plan for
saving the hay is to stack it around a pole upon which long limbs have
been left. These limbs admit the air, which causes the hay to cure

Soy Bean—Glycine hispida.

(U. S. Dept. Agric.)

much better, but as soy bean hay does not shed rain the stack should be
capped with wheat straw or hay that will shed water.

When harvesting the crop for seed it may be cut with a scythe or
mower and put up into small cocks until the pods become thoroughly
dry. The threshing may then be done with a flail or with a threshing
machine. The soy bean will yield upon good strong land from ten to
fifteen tons of green forage per acre which will make from two to three
tons of cured hay. At the North Carolina Station an experiment was
made with the soy bean and cowpea upon the same character of. soils,
both grown under similar conditions. While the soy bean yielded 2 1-4
tons of cured hay per acre the cowpea yielded less than a ton.

110

The yield of the soy bean is very prolific, running from 25 to 40
bushels per acre and even 100 bushels have been reported under very
favorable conditions. ‘The soy bean like the cowpea may be sown upon
stubble land after the wheat or oat crop is harvested. Ttwo crops may
thus be grown upon the same land and the land left in much better condi-
tion than it would be after the wheat or oat crop. In fact the bean crop
is often worth twice as much as the wheat or oat crop, the seed selling for
$1.00 to $2.00 per bushel, and the haulm is as valuable as an equal
amount of red clover hay. All the analyses which have been made of the
soy bean show that it compares well in useful qualities with other legu-
minous plants. The green haulm has nearly the same composition as
red clover. It is richer in protein and fat than the cowpea.

In a comparison of many analyses made, it appears that the soy bean
stands as well in digestibility as the clovers, cowpeas, alfalfa or any other
legume whatever. As a soiling crop it is regarded as one of the most
important. A succession of forage may be had from summer to autumn
by sowing several varieties that mature at different times. As an ensilage
crop it is surpassed by few. It is said that the silage keeps well and is
readily eaten by stock, and the animals show good results in flesh and in
the production of milk. When, as often happens, the bean is allowed to
get too ripe for hay it may, with more profit, be used as silage. The hay,
being coarse, is not eaten so voraciously as red clover hay or peanut hay,
and that of many other leguminous plants.

Probably the best use which can be made of the soy bean in the
South is for the fattening of hogs. When so used the labor and expense
of harvesting is saved. It also forms an excellent pasturage for sheep.
Prof. Georgeson, in his experience at the Kansas Station, has this to say
in regard to its value for the production of pork: ,

“It was found that a lot of three pigs which was fed for 126 days ona
ration consisting for the first eleven weeks of Kaffir corn meal alone, and
the last seven weeks of Kaffir corn meal and shorts, gained a total of 191
pounds, while a similar lot fed two-thirds Kaffir corn meal and one-third
soy bean meal gained 547 pounds in the same time. Another lot of three
pigs which was fed on corn meal for the first eleven weeks of the experi-
ment, and a mixture of two-thirds corn meal and one-third shorts for the
last seven weeks of the experiment, made a total gain of 306 pounds in
126 days, while a similar lot of three pigs fed on two-thirds corn meal
and one-third soy bean meal throughout the experiment gained 554
pounds in the same time. ‘The largely increased gains in these pigs must
be credited chiefly to the soy bean meal.”

The soy bean may also be regarded as a valuable acquisition as an aid
in the restoration of soils. It, like all other leguminous plants, adds
nitrogen to the soil. For this purpose it is highly valued in Japan, and is
one of the crops planted in rotation with the cereal crops. It is now gen-
erally believed that if planted in a corn field at the last plowing it will not
only do much to enrich the field but it will also furnish almost as much
food for live stock as the corn crop itself.

Prof. Jared G. Smith, Assistant Agrostologist of the United States
Department of Agriculture, says that “the feeding value of the bean has

111

been found to be greater than that of any other known forage plant except
‘the peanut.” This is certainly very high commendation.

The farmers of Tennessee would do well to test the value of this bean
practically on all the different varieties of soils. It would unquestionably
be a valuable addition to the crops of the Cumberland table-land. It
would be valuable in the sandy soils of West Tennessee but it would grow
with the greatest luxuriance upon the valley lands of East Tennessee and
upon the limestone soils of the Central Basin and the clayey lands of the
Highland Rim.

“On

Timothy—Phleum Tali Meadow Fescue

Herd’s Grass—
pratense. —Festuca elatior.

Agrostis alba.

Meadow Oat Grass—Arrhenatherum Perennial Rye Grass—Lolium perenne.

AVENACEHM,

Five IMPORTANT MEADOW GRASSES.

a

PART III.
MEADOWS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT.

Upon the proper selection of soils and situations for meadows will
depend largely their permanency and their productiveness. The soil, its
condition and situation are the most important elements of success.
Above all things the soil must be fertile, or it should be made so by abund-
ant fertilization. Poor soils will not produce rich grasses. Stable ma-
nure must be freely used on the soil if it is sterile in its character. Before
such an application, however, the land must be deeply broken and under-
drained if very dry or very wet. It is a well known fact that underdrain-
ing dries wet soils and gives the capacity to dry ones of retaining humid-
ity. It stimulates plant growth earlier in the spring and keeps it up later
in the fall, because it carries away the cold subterranean water, and by
doing so the lower portion of the soil is warmed by diminishing evapora-
tion. Droughts are never so disastrous upon well drained soils as upon
undrained ones. When the soil is saturated with water, plant food be-
comes so much diluted that the roots must take in a larger quantity of
fluid to nourish the plants, and the hay is greatly injured by this excess of
moisture. Many soils that are intractable may be made mellow and well
fitted for the growing of grasses by thorough draining. Drainage also
makes all fertilizing matter have a better effect. The productiveness of
the land when drained is largely increased, for the reason that the roots
are enabled to range through a wider extent of soil in search of plant food
By permitting the roots of the plants to penetrate deeper, drainage makes
them more independent of the moisture of the surface soil, and so has the
same effect as a rain fall.

Another great advantage which meadows receive from proper drain-
age is in the prevention of the formation in the soil of acids which are
injurious to vegetation. Another is that it arrests or checks the heaving
out of grasses in winter by freezing. Drainage also lessens the tendency
to the formation of a hard crust on the surface after rains with super-
vening hot weather. Above all, drainage greatly facilitates that reaction
which prepares the organic and mineral matter in the soil for plant food.
All soils saturated with water are placed in a condition that stops the
decay of vegetable matter incorporated with it. The mineral matters also
reauire to be exposed to the air before they are put in a condition to be
readily assimilated by plants.

Underdraining is but little practiced in the South and yet there is no
work that is more essential to a good meadow. Drains should be made
from forty to sixty feet apart and should be put at least three feet beneath
the surface of the ground, with an outlet that will carry the water from

114

the field. Tiles make the best drains, though drainage is often affected
by subterranean channels made of stone or even logs and brush. Low
lands lying on creeks or rivers should have the drainage tiles placed in
lines perpendicular to the general course of the stream. It must be
understood that these drains shall have an inclination sufficiently great to
carry off the water to the outlet. Nor should there be any low depres-
sions in the drain where water will stand and stagnate.

If the soil is neither very wet nor very dry in its character it will not
be necessary to go to the expense of underdraining to secure good
meadows. Select a low lying situation on a stream if possible. If this
cannot be done take an upland valley in which the silt from the surround-
ing acclivities may be gently deposited from time to time upon the grass.
The surrounding hills must not be so high nor so abrupt as to cause
large quantities of silty material to be deposited at once. The deposit —
should be just sufficient to cover the base of the grass but not enough to
cover the crowns. In the latter case much of the grass will perish; in
the former the silty material will act as a fertilizer and as a mulch for the
retention of moisture. Grass must have plenty of water but it must not
be in excess. Nothing is more hurtful to a meadow than standing water,
for after it retires many vacant spots will be seen. Argillaceous soils are
often so compact as to prevent a healthy growth. In very loose soils the
roots of grasses frequently suffer for want of moisture. In the selection
of lands for either meadows or pastures the depth of the underlying rocky
strata must be taken into consideration. If the underlying rocks come
near the surface the grass will parch up during a dry season. The
united depth of the soil and subsoil should be not less than four feet, and
the subsoil should be a retentive clay capable of conserving moisture.

The soil best adapted to the growth of the leading meadow grasses is
a calcareous loam with clay enough in its composition to give it a con-
siderable degree of adhesiveness, and that will hold the grasses firmly, but
not enough to give the soil so much compactness as to prevent it from
being aerated and the roots from penetrating to a good depth. The soil
must be neither too compact nor too porous. When too porous the
manure applied to the meadow sinks too rapidly to a plane beneath the
feeding depth of the roots. If too compact the roots are not able to go
deep enough to secure the proper moisture; nor can the fertilizing mate-
rial sink deep enough to be within the plane of moisture.

Some sandy soils make excellent meadows, especially when resting
upon a clayey subsoil which retains moisture. Strong clay soils with a
large admixture of sandy material in the form of chert, or of calcareous
matter in the form of limestone gravel, make good meadows in proper
situations. It is not unusual to find little strips of bottom lands lying on
mountain streams in which the soil is largely composed of silty deposits
with about an equal proportion of humus, sand and clay. Such meadows
are very productive both of timothy and herd’s grass hay. River bottom
lands having black soils, which are liable to crack into deep fissures with
the advent of hot weather, however fertile they may be, are unfit for
meadows. Nor are those lands suitable for meadows that are liable to
have a thick slimy deposit of vegetable matter left on them after over-

115

flows, for though they may be excellently well adapted for the growth of
corn, the grasses will soon wither and die in such situations.

Good meadows are found in the latitude of Tennessee upon suitable
soils, with every exposure and in almost every situation. The earliest
meadows and those that produce the most nutritious hay have slightly
southern exposures but not enough to absorb heat from the sun to such a
degree as to wither the grasses at noon tide. A slight southern inclina-
tion, especially if facing a water course having a fringe of trees between
the stream and meadow, is in all respects the best situation. Large quan-
tities of hay may, as a general thing, be harvested from meadows having

A / hey ea
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BLUE GRASS PADDOCKS, MAURY CouUNTY, TENN.

a northern exposure. The soils in such situations will retain moisture
longer and moisture is indispensable to a heavy growth of grass. Though
the growth will not be so quick or so early as upon southern exposures,
it will be continued later in the fall months and in general the grass will
be ranker and denser. Soils on northern exposures are also more fertile
in a region having the same general character of soils. An eastern ex-
posure will grow larger quantities of hay than a western one, because the
growth of the grasses on the latter is checked to a greater extent by the
heat of the afternoon sun. The earliest and most nutritious hay crops are
harvested from meadows having a southern exposure; the largest yields

116

from those having a northern exposure. The meadows with eastern ex-
posures will yield more hay upon similar soils than those having western
exposures, but at the cost of a slightly inferior product. From the sun
hay derives its sweetness and to the sun it is largely indebted for its rich
stores of nutritive juices. Experience and analyses have demonstrated
the fact that hay grown on well-prepared, well-drained and well-manured
soils is more valuable than that grown on prairie or other unimproved
lands in the larger content of its flesh-forming material; in the diminution
of its indigestible matter; in the amount of its saccharine and other solu-
ble constituents; in its succulence and fatty matters, and in its compara-
tive freedom from dust, trash and noxious weeds. Every observing
farmer knows that stock prefer the grasses grown on rich, well-prepared
land to the grasses of the highway pastures or those grown on poor land.
They prefer the grasses grown in the sun to the grasses grown in the
shade, and the grasses grown in a dry season to those grown during the
prevalence of rain and cloudy weather. The unerring instincts of domes-
tic animals suggest many valuable ideas. Shade in a pasture, though
desirable to a limited extent for protecting stock from the fervor of a
mid-day sun, is highly detrimental to the nutritiousness of the grasses.
Some shade should be provided in every pasture but never in a meadow,
for all grasses grown in a meadow under shade are injured for hay
making.

Lands intended for meadows should be prepared in the very best
manner. Not only should the drainage be made perfect, if not so nat-
urally, but the soils should be as well prepared as for the growing of the
most highly cultivated crops. It should be put in the finest mechanical
condition. Every trace of wild growth and of unimproved land should
be effaced. Stumps should be extracted so that mowers and horse rakes
may be used. All bushes, roots, stones, trash, brush and the turf of wild
grasses.and weeds, should be removed or destroyed. The cultivation of
the land for a few years in crops requiring clean cultivation and high fer-
tilization is probably the best preparation for a meadow. A crop of an-
nual grass such as millet fits the land for a perennial meadow by destroy-
ing the weeds. New land with fertile soils, however, when put in good
tilth, grows the meadow grasses to perfection. If old land is selected it
should be deeply plowed and, if possible, sub-soiled; for deep tillage is
essential to the luxuriant growth of the perennial grasses. Their roots
constantly seek a lower level, and if the land is at first drained and after-
wards fertilized year after year, and kept free from noxious weeds, the
meadow will grow stronger and better with time.

There is a great difference in the duration of grasses and in their time
of maturing. Some live but a short time; others are more permanent.
Some mature in-one year; others do not become firmly established for
several years. Some are very nutritious; others are more showy than
useful. Different species require different soils and in sowing a meadow
some regard must be had for these differences. A much greater amount
of hay may be made by sowing several species that ripen together. This
arises fram the fact that some grasses will grow in one situation but not
in another and by the further fact that a plant of one species is a greater

117

enemy to another plant of the same species than to a plant of a different
species. Among the grasses that may be most profitably sown for mead-
ows in Tennessee are timothy, herd’s grass, perennial rye grass, meadow
oat grass, and tall fescue grass, with a slight sprinkling of clover. In
sowing a meadow each kind of seed should be sown separately. If the
seeds are mixed together the weight of some will prevent them from be-
ing uniformly distributed with the lighter seeds. He who desires a good
meadow should not spare the seed. A wise plan is to sow nearly as much
of each kind of seed upon the meadow as is required when only one kind
is sown.

The best time for sowing meadows in Tennessee is the last of Sep-
tember or the first of October. After the seeds are sown they should be
covered with a roller or a light brush and all stock kept out. Farmers
more often than otherwise sow grass seed in the fall of the year with
wheat. This is poor economy. A meadow should be sown for its own sake.
In trying to save the cost of preparing the land a second time there results
in a majority of instances, the total loss of the grass seed. At any rate
in sowing grass sced with wheat, rye or barley a whole year and a half
must elapse before any returns can be realized from the meadow. An-
other objection to this method is the temptation to pasture the stubble
lands during the heated term and so destroy or impair the vitality of the
grasses. If the soil has been properly prepared and a sufficient amount
of good grass seed sown alone in the early fall one may expect with the
greatest confidence a good crop of hay the succeeding summer. Often-
times the heaviest crop of hay is the first one.. This arises from the fact
that close mowing the first year frequently kills a portion of the meadow
grasses, leaving bare spots. Grasshoppers often eat the crowns of the
fresh grass in the fall of the year, and so thin it out. Grazing the after-
math, which many farmers practice, does much damage to the meadow,
to say nothing of the injurious effects resulting from the heavy tread of
cattle, especially when the ground is soft and wet. Tramped in this con-
dition the soil becomes. after exposure to the sun, little better than a sun
dried brick.

It frequently happens that a meadow becomes “hide-bound;” that is
to say, the soil and subsoil run together and become very compact either
from tramping of stock or from standing water. When this is the case
the grass will show a diminished vitality by turning yellow. Under these
conditions it will rarely grow tall enough to be mowed. The best rem-
edy for this “‘hide-bound” condition is to take a very narrow subsoil plow
with a coulter attached and run it at intervals of two feet through the
meadow and as deep as possible. This will roughen some places but by
running a fine toothed harrow over it it may be made sufficiently level for
the mower. The best time for this subsoiling is early in the spring, as
soon as the ground becomes dry enough to plow. Old meadows may be
made productive by pursuing this plan and top-dressing with manure
directly afterwards. This same treatment should be given to pastures
after they have ceased to be productive.

MANURING OF MEADOWS—The farmers of Tennessee rarely
cut the aftermath. Sometimes it grows high enough during a wet sum-

118

mer to mow but they usually depasture it. In fact meadows are put to
their severest trials after they are mowed in June or July in consequence
of the dry, hot weather which supervenes. It is best not to apply stable
manure during the continuance of hot, dry weather for such manure has
the effect of making the meadow still dryer and of attracting a number of
insects that cover and feed upon the small green blades. The best treat-
ment after mowing is to top-dress with about 100 pounds per acre of the
nitrate of soda. This preserves the verdure of the grass. In two or
three weeks an application of an equal quantity of bone meal or the super-
phosphate of lime should be added. Some ammonia in the form of sul-
phate will have a beneficial effect. Where there is clover gypsum may
always be applied with good results. After the fall rains begin stable
manure should be applied freely. It is the best of all manures, on our
soils, for grass lands.

Baron Lawes writing in 1858 thought that ‘‘a dressing of dung once
in five years with two hundred weight of the nitrate of soda each year for
the other four years’ was the very best manure that can be used. Dr.
Voelcker was of the opinion that good barnyard manure is “the most
efficacious and economical manure both for seeds (of clover) and per-
manent pasture.” The effect of bone dust on meadow lands is not
thought to be as great as on pasture lands. “Bone meal is usually wasted
when applied on cold clay soil.” Dr. Voelcker also says: “unfortunately
the application of artificial manures to permanent pastures is often dis-
appointing in an economical point of view. As a rule, no artificial
manure gives so favorable a return as good farmyard manure, and I can-
not help thinking that it would be more profitable for a farmer to apply
the larger portion of his yard manure rather to his pasture land than to
the arable land; for there is no difficulty in growing roots and cereal
crops economically with artificial manures.”

A writer in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society in 1869
says: “After much experience, I think manuring grass lands is one of the
worst subjects to treat. I have seen bones applied and produce no good’
whatever; and on the other hand, I have seen them used with immense
advantage. I have seen guano produce a splendid crop, while the year
following the crop has been worse than before guano was applied. It is
impossible to give any definite rules without knowing the kind of land to
be manured, and other attendant circumstances. Still, money judiciously
laid out in the improvement of grass land brings in a more certain return
than when expended in the growth of wheat.”

In the manuring of clover fields gypsum will greatly increase the for-
age but not the seed. Superphosphate of lime. nitrate of potash and stable
manure are much better for increasing the yield of seed and should be
applied to the clover after the first crop has been cut off for hay or de-
pastured by stock. All manures will, as a general proposition, so in-
crease the strength and vitality of the better grasses as to diminish the
weeds. ‘This may be seen by the application of stable manure to a broom
sedge field: the broom sedge disappears and the better grasses assert their
sway.

In some famous experiments conducted by Lawes at Rothamsted in

—-

119

England it was clearly shown that superphosphate of lime was favorable
to the growth of the true grasses, but not to the leguminous plants. Am-
moniacal salts were of but little benefit to the grass when applied to the
meadow. Nitrate of soda increased the grasses and kept them green for
a longer period, more leaves and fewer stems being the result of the ap-
plication. A mixture of superphosphate of lime and ammonia had pre-
cisely the same effect as the superphosphate alone. Mineral manures
alone increased the leguminous plants and diminished the grasses. Min-
eral manures and ammonia increased the grasses but not the leguminous
plants. Mineral manures and nitrate of soda had the same effect as
mineral manures and ammonia. Gypsum produced its greatest effect
upon leguminous plants but its effect on the grasses was slight. The
most potent application was farmyard manure, which increased the hay
grasses and the leguminous plants and encouraged the growth of many
good grasses and some bad ones, as well as some noxious weeds. It was
by far the best application, though attended with some undesirable re-
sults. The general conclusion reached was that drainage is highly im-
portant. The application of mineral manures, such as potash, lime, gyp-
sum and marl, is followed by good results, though attended with too much
expense. The use of bones was discouraged. “The grasses proper ap-
pear to be the most strikingly independent of any artificial supply of car-
bon. The hay crop is more exhaustive of potash than wheat or barley.
A predominance of mineral elements in the fertilizers increased the pro-
portion of the culms of grasses, while a predominance of ammoniacal salts
increased the proportion of leaves. Those manures which much increased
the produce of hay, at the same time very much increased the proportion
of graminaceous plants. The total miscellaneous herbage (chiefly weeds)
were the most numerous in kind and nearly in the greatest proportion on
the unmanured land, viz: 16 per cent., while on the manured plat they de-
creased to 2 per cent.” *

In summing up the results of these painstaking and suggestive experi-
ments, Baron Lawes says: .

“We learn from these results that good pasture grasses can never
thrive upon a poor soil; and if a soil does not contain in itself the ele-
ments of fertility they must be added from external sources. I may add
that if the pasture of a rich soil deteriorates from bad treatment the good
grasses do not die out, but only retire from the contest to wait for better
times. Under invigorating treatment it will be found that the good
grasses soon reassert their supremacy.

“The general result, comparing the product by the different manures
in one and the same season, seems to be that the more the produce is
graminaceous the more it goes to flower and seed, and the more it is
ripened the higher will be the percentage of dry substance in the hay.
Under the same circumstances, the higher will be the percentage of
woody fiber and the lower will be that of the nitrogenous compounds and
of the mineral matter. On the other hand, in a large proportion of the
non-graminaceous herbage the reverse of these things is true.”

TROUBLESOME PLANTS IN MEADOWS—The proper care of
meadows after they have been mowed must not stop with the application
of manures. There are many noxious plants and weeds that spring up

120

when the grasses are enfeebled by mowing, especially if the mowing is
followed by dry weather. The most pestiferous of these is broom sedge
(Andropogon Virginicus). If left alone it will grow to the height of
three feet after the hay has been cut. If permitted to seed, the meadow
will show a largely increased number of these plants the following sea-
son. Each tussock of this vile grass before it goes to seed should be cut
up with a sharp sprouting hoe. If permitted to grow the meddow will be
destroyed in a very few years. ~

Another troublesome plant is the fleabane (Erigeron Philadelphicus)
known as “white top” in Tennessee. This will thicken on suitable soils
very rapidly. There is no remedy for this except running the mower
over the meadow before the seeds ripen.

The trumpet flower (Tecoma radicans) infests meadows on rich
bottom lands and it is especially troublesome on strong limestone soils.
When cut off by the mower it forms hard knots which will arrest the ac-
tion of the sickle. This vine should be dug up “root and branch.” While
white clover and blue grass are both great enemies to the meadow
grasses, their presence will have the effect of rapidly converting a
meadow into a pasture.

THE HAY HARVEST—The first grass that ripens for the harvest.
in Tennessee is the Italian rye grass. There is only a small quantity of
land, however, laid down in this early meadow grass. The red clover
crop demands the earliest attention from a majority of farmers. This is
cut for hay from the time it blooms in the middle of May until the middle
of June. Varieties of soils exert a perceptible influence upon the period
of inflorescence. On strong limy soils clover is usually ready for the
mower two or three weeks earlier than when grown on cold or heavy clay
soils. ‘Timothy and herd’s grass follow soon afterwards and the harvest-
ing of these usually continues until the middle of July. Millet grown on
strong soils is harvested in about sixty days after it is sown. It is not
possible to define the precise stage in which grasses should be cut, for
this depends upon the uses to be made of the hay and upon the character
of stock to be fed. If the object is to produce the greatest quantity of
milk, grass should be cut before coming into blossom, for at that stage it
contains the greatest amount of succulence and will produce the largest
flow of milk. If the richness of the milk is desired rather than quantity,
grass should be harvested while in blossom. For work horses, mules and
oxen and for fattening cattle the harvesting should be deferred until the
seed is in the milky state and the blades of the grass are still green, or
at least but slightly spotted. For “roughness” or ‘distending’ forage
the hay should be cut when only a portion of the flowers have fallen. At
this stage it is filled with starch, gum and sugar. After the seeds become
ripe these ingredients are changed into woody and indigestible fibre.
The seeds themselves, indeed, after ripening contain a large amount of
very nutritious matter but the value of the hay grasses with ripened seed
is greatly lessened and the juicy stalks and blades will be worth no more
than wheat straw. With wheat, corn, barley, rye and oats the reverse is
true, as the seeds are worth much more than the forage from such crops
would be if cut when in flower. :

Prof. Armsby comes to the following conclusions as to the best time

121

for cutting hay: “Young plants while rapidly growing contain relatively
more protein and less fibre than more mature ones; consequently early
cut fodder must be of better quality than that cut late. It is more
digestible.

“Three elements enter into the problem of selecting the best time for
cutting, viz.: the quality of the fodder, its quantity, and the amount of
labor expended upon it. While any grass is ripening a large part of the
protein and starch passes from the leaves and stem to the seeds, which
are so small that they are seldom masticated or digested. Moreover,
they are easily lost in curing. The hay made from fully ripe grass is
essentially straw.

“Tf only one crop is to be obtained, probably the best time for cutting
is usually when the plants are just beginning to blossom. At this time
a larger crop is obtained than if cut earlier, while the digestibility is not
seriously impaired.”

If cut early there is a great advantage to the second crop, as shown
by an experiment at Hohenheim:

| PERCENTAGE OF | TOTAL POUNDS OF TOTAL DRY MATTER,

PROTEIN PROTEIN POUNDS
me ue. | 16.3 | 434 2,662
MWMO CHES: co soa! | 24.4 / 668 3,274

| |

One cut—Percentage of protein, 16.3; total pounds of protein, 434;
total pounds dry matter, 2,662.

Two cuts—Percentage of protein, 24.4; total pounds of protein, 668;
total pounds dry matter, 3,274.

“The legumes are characterized by the large proportion of protein
contained in the plant as a whole, and in the seeds. As fodders, when
properly cut and cured, they are very rich, but have the disadvantage of
being rather bulky, and of being easily subject to deterioration by me-
chanical losses. As a general rule clover is richer in nitrogenous matters
than grass. Compared with meadow hay, which is made from the true
grasses, its protein is about equally digestible, its crude fibre ete oa |
less digestible.”

Full instructions have been given in Parts I and II as to the proper
method of curing the different varieties of hay and forage plants. . With
the improved harvesting machinery and implements now in general use
consisting of the mower, tedder, horse-rake, six-tined pitchfork and hay
wagon bodies, the expense attendant upon saving a crop of hay is not
one-fifth as great as it was when farmers had to rely upon the scythe,
wooden pitch-forks and hand-rake. This great reduction in the cost of
harvesting the hay crop has increased the pr duct many times throughout
the Southern States.

In 1880 the production of hay in these states was 1,412,358 tons; in
1898, 4,386,669 tons. The yield has increased from .82 of a ton per acre
in 1880 to 1.45 tons per acre in 1898. The increase in the State of Ten-
nessee has been still more rapid as may be seen by the following table
from the census report:

122

HAY PRODUCED IN TENNESSEE.

LS TON SAS Si eR ues 116,582 tons
LBS irae axiteioae’s ae 186,698 tons
POO rn tio ae tens mace i eace he 630,417 tons

The extraordinary increase during the past ten years in the acreage
sown in cowpeas is one of the most favorable signs in southern agricul-
ture. It will be one of the marked changes that will appear in the report
of the twelfth census. ‘Throughout the State of Tennessee this increase
has been within the present decade fully 500 per cent. The haulm of the
pea is now largely employed for the feeding of cattle and sheep during
the winter months. Those varieties of peas that produce seed not subject
to early decay from humidity are left ungathered, and they form no in-

PASTURE, CAMDEN, BENTON CouUNTY, TENN.

considerable item in reducing the expense of fattening swine and of
carrying stock through the stress of winter. This change was one greatly
needed, for, in addition to furnishing nutritious food for stock, the pea
crop is a good fertilizer. Nor is the pea crop subject to the disastrous
failures of the clover crop, though yielding a forage and a fruitage equally
as valuable to the farmers of the South.

PASTURES—Much land that is totally unfit for meadows may
profitably be laid down in pasture. Such lands as are too rough for cul-
tivation often make the very best pastures. The utilization of the rough
limestone lands of Southwestern Virginia for making pastures has made

123

them as valuable as the best arable lands of that state. On these pasture
lands hog-back ridges are often seen, making it impossible to grow any
tillage crop, and yet these lands make the finest blue grass pastures in the
South, not excepting those in Central Kentucky, and are worth from fifty
to a hundred dollars per acre for the raising of cattle. Likewise in some
of the rough lands of East Tennessee may be seen strong growing, nutri-
tious grasses upon lands that are worthless for any other purpose except
for pasture.

In selecting grasses for the pasture an opposite course must be pur-
sued from that pursued for a meadow. In the latter only such grasses
should be sown as mature about the same time. Ina pasture, on the other
hand, the grasses selected should form a succession of green forage from
early in the spring until late in the fall. Some pasture grasses also die
out after the first year, while others do not reach their greatest value for
several years after being sown. In selecting pasture grasses regard must
be had to their turf-making qualities. A grass may be eminently adapted
to the making of hay and yet be totally unfit for the pasture. Our best
meadow grass, timothy. will not survive as a pasture grass because it
cannot bear the close cropping and heavy tread of cattle.

Some grasses are relished by one kind of stock and not by another.
The author of British grasses, M. Pleues, put the case happily thus:
“Sheep have strong likes and dislikes. They will hasten to a kind of
grass which is a favorite with them, tramping down all the other grasses
as unfit to taste. Horses, again, have their preference and cows theirs,
and we have even seen swine exercise considerable cunning to secure a
feed of a favorite grass. So the agriculturist has as much to consider as a
master of ceremonies; he must consult the capabilities of situation, the
qualities of his provision, and the various tastes of his company.”

In the selection of a situation for pasture it is highly important that
the soil be naturally moist in its character. Pastures suffer more in the
South from dry than from cold weather or heavy grazing. When they
occupy a thirsty soil they may furnish good grazing during the wet
spring months, but the grasses parch to a crisp when the hot weather of
July and August comes on. Early pastures do well on southern slopes,
but low level bottom [lands or north hillsides having rich soils can only
be depended upon for good pasturage during the heat and dryness of
summer.

The best grasses for pasture lands in Tennessee are the following:
Blue grass—( Poa pratensis. )

June grass—( Poa compressa. )

Orchard grass—(Dactylis glomerata. )
Meadow fescue—( Festuca pratensis. )
Hard fescue—( Festuca duriuscula. )
Herd’s grass—( Agrostis alba.)

Bermuda grass—( Cynodon dacty/on. )
Meadow foxtail—( Alopecurus pratensis. )
Sheep’s fescue—( Festuca ovina.)

White clover—( 7rifolium repens. )

Red clover—( 7rifolium pratense.)

Four or five of these grasses, the names of which are given above,
should be sown together in the fall of the year on land intended for a per-

124

manent pasture. The larger the number of grasses sown on a pasture
the longer the pasture will last and the fewer the vacant spots, especially
if it is on land capable of retaining moisture. In Holland, one of the
finest grass countries in the world, the meadows are ojten depastured
during one year and cut for hay the following year, and so on alternately.
In that country it requires about two acres of pasture land to fatten a
large ox. In the bottoms of the greatest fertility along the Rhine an
extent of surface equal to 1800 square yards is calculated to keep a cow.

The farmers of Tennessee should have more permanent pastures than
they have at present.

GRASSES SUITABLE FOR LAWNS—Many people with subur-
ban places and farmers wishing to beautify and adorn their homes have

asked for a mixture of grasses suitable for lawns and woodland pastures. |

To gratify this desire the subjoined mixtures with the amount of seed to
be sown per acre are recommended. A few of these grasses are unfit for
general cultivation in the State of Tennessee, and yet as a mixture in
lawns they: may be sown with almost a certainty of securing a good
stand. If it is intended to mow the lawn or yard frequently the follow-
ing mixture may be used:

Kenbickya DIteaerasse vstasceete ets eee ae 10 lbs.
ard LeSette st: cniiiectwehk vee whiteiete rene ene 5 lbs.
Wood: -meadow: grasSitec: cs catssjceetyelalenes 5 Ibs.
Slee priescue 7. ins echt Oetoeroeks 2 Ibs.
Meadow tesciies aos s te ssarct ears c oto ee 4 Ibs.
Sweet scented vernal grass ............. 2 Ibs.
Red top snuc score Dace en academe 15 lbs.
Yellow sogtverass ye sk once settle 4 lbs.
Crestedsdogis tae Oan sano me een - 6 Ibs.
OTreharalerassiyn tha suet cecil tthe 5 Ibs.
Mieadowntoxtailtaces eerie aiepicuian erie 5 Ibs.

63 Ibs.

Flint recommends as a mixture for permanent lawns and pastures
lying within the vicinity of dwellings or public highways the following, to
which I have added one or two other grasses:

Meadow: foxtatl( aesjae nsec. cristae ion om oe 3 Ibs.
DMmeck, Scented evEritcgie si s.nilc tia wets ee age i eS).
Opchand! “Orasstniectsecic feate cele iene 3 Ibs.
Plartitiescuer i mans ces te ecient ere 2 Ibs.
Sheep s#fescties ae sy ..vat-loeuteweie cite ave eens 2 Ibs.
Meadow: teScue’ sic. aitsa chins atta treraasiners 2 Ibs.
Ltaltat- rye etass’ iy. oc ccs stare cree cee 3 Ibs.
Perennial rye -tass:sin vo. antec me 4 Ibs.
AT UGAOEINY oc lev.o7s.7 4 Bia te nn od Se Re 3 Ibs.
Red (top sai aaicenia er ocean meee 3 Ibs.
Prgiish) bine Verass 22 secs ee kee ees 5 Ibs.
Rough-stalked meadow ..............-. 3 Ibs.
Yellow oat igrass tinea subentire be lb;
Red “clover: 35 war sere sateen seiaecets 2 Ibs.
Pérential ted ‘clovertian’s vcs ueslauccctasthe’ 2 Ibs.
White’ clover 5): 5 setarcrtanwan sear 4 lbs.
How! tmeadowy erases teiaersscitseu sul ee 3 Ibs.
Wentudley:, life sor assit\ eens steers shen 14 lbs.

125

In the selection of these grasses for lawns the idea of beauty should
be preserved as well as the nutritiousness of the grasses. Some grasses
will grow and maintain their verdure throughout the dry season, giving
a freshness to the lawn, and yet will be of but small value for the grazing
of stock.

The following mixture is also suggested, which will probably do bet-
ter on argillaceous soils thinly shaded than the first mixture named:

MRT CART TASS! 1. ooo as vere Skis oe aaa? 1% lbs.
Bernie te Pho es BEA oa te 1% Ibs.
Meadow: fESCHA beced ners adasacs oe hid ts 1% Ibs.
CAI O Ws LO REA bese occas, vesicisial Ste ay aes Lid:
SORE. PIAGG An aces dedi s,222 NO 2 . Ibs.
FilarduaeSCue me. isa ser See chan ee eee tbe
SPONDS NIESEH Era be Reise tas sing chee 2° -lpsi
Ouialeine S@tASS Sina fh rcs @esawnde toed Hi YZ Ih.
ib eras yer pissutes Pood Fieeee a ak! YZ |b.
Sweet scented vernal .........4...... beet o}
SERINE § ccckvl So uA tata a arineotie ya id ie § heii 1% Ib.
Kentucky blue grass. Ues ts. 600s ak 14 Ibs.
ee MI os crate. aise bes iees ay eee RS 10_—s Ibs.
Daithe Matt SSBB ey orcs ae snes ope nee 4 Ib.
EAM CIOVER oe tic Acids oe tte esa Ee 5+ Ds:
GV site OWED hen ns ix ee RAS Hees 3 ADS:
Mig eRPRAOW. oslo sak ora Poets ere 2~— Tbs:

441% lbs.

For orchards and shady places the following mixture of grasses and
the quantity of seed per acre will be found suitable:

RE ECCS Pas Be ba 2 elie a a 20 Ibs.
LE BATE OR ee ee aR Ah 2 Ibs.
ICRC a hte See veh e oe ac peas 2 Ibs.
MEET VENT AES 0 o5 yo pate cieare oe ete sie Sa 3 Ibs.
PPLEMGISIOCYE STASE”\. dy Sau rey Vetted ak 3 Ibs.
MI eo cs. LT onde te sabebies eae 6 Ibs.
OM HOB iris, Sees kG Farce eas oe oasis oe 10 Ibs.
WioDd ineddOw Srass yous Ae ree 4 Ibs.
Rough-stalked meadow grass .......... 2 Ibs.
PPOs DICE PSE ca 0:. 4 slave ne sare Se 4 Ibs.
Pereuntial red Clover 03 2. 3. figsies ante oe 3 Ibs.
DEER CLO VEL s.c os. s what ween ania eaioiees 4 Ibs.
63 Ibs.
For rocky or gravelly lands the following mixture is recommended:
MEG NOG i At alc eaeenes eee oan 2 Ibs.
SRAEDPUSAL ES chaccnie's. 0' A ds Axe oer A 2 Ibs.
ERSLEORAOG)S Fall. aort ate ieee ata taka ots 3 Ibs.
MPRORAT Us ePASE ox ed Coed a iva PRR ws Pe 3 Ibs.
eds feSCue “nis. ta Soe. Seek et ee beats 4 Ibs.
MPAnog OOlb STATE. = sc. csicpth« ocular hoes 2 Ibs.
WOrCGNigb TVS SPASE..o- ye :de brs afk datas. 6 lbs.
a ee EL AB ele al ee AP 6 Ibs.
Wood meadow grass cof. woe fe. oJ: IDs.
ete DUE WER SB cs is) s cle aselée etx He Be > 2 lbs.
Rough-stalked meadow grass .......... 2 Ibs.
ee CUES tare Dag cx vile gots in oo wie" * © 3 Ibs.
IT RMIT OR hr a ot sg aid eR ae oa: 0.0 8 Ibs.

46 lbs.

126

Lands liable to be overflowed with fresh water will do best if sown
with the following mixture:

PiOrin vases aes eae MES tek, bo 4 lbs.
Porniedishts Bentrct.s ive cette ae ee thea Sul DS:
SAU PESCUE Se face thine scales ooo hle see ee 5 lbs.
Slender fescue, cerca far: entre ae 2 Ibs.
Mannan Oras: vcs panscisire there eee Ke Risto 5 Ibs.
Reed canary: grass secs nts Cee eee 3 Ibs.
ATHOTHY, ... 8-5 5509 os aA Ee. to asi se 4 Ibs.
Redstope...::/ui. foe rs at tc rede Gre pate Ra 3 Ibs.
Rough-stalked meadow grass .......... 4 lbs.
Rog ihmeadow -wtass..24ua» os. ek aee ie 6 Ibs.
IW TIE CLOVER arin Sitevs seuss heaves ere See 3 Ibs.

42 Ibs.

Prof. Beal, of the University of Michigan, recommends the sowing
of two bushels of Kentucky blue grass and two bushels of small bent

VIEW ON LAWN, UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE.

grass, known as Rhode Island bent, brown bent, or creeping bent, or red
top, to the acre for lawns. He thinks a few ounces of white clover seed
might be added, but it is by no means important. The bent grasses, so-
called, correspond with our herd’s grass. He, as well as Prof. Scribner,
objects to the sowing of orchard grass in a lawn. My observation and
experience convince me that when orchard grass is sown at the rate of
three or four bushels of seed per acre in a woodland pasture where most
of the trees are oak it does better than the finer grasses, because it is a

127

stronger grower and is able to withstand the damaging effects of the
heavy oak leaves. Being sown thickly it covers the ground completely
and will not appear in a tussocky form for two or three years. My opin-
ion is that orchard grass in such situations is to be preferred to any other.
Lawns should be sown with about double the number of seed that is used
for a pasture. The object is to have the ground covered. The seed
should be sown without any “nurse crop.”

In the preparation of lands for a lawn the greatest care must be
taken to have the soil enriched and raked until it is as fine as garden
mold. No clods or stumps or rocks should be left on the surface. After
the seed is sown the lawn should be rolled and as far as possible all the
little inequalities in the surface filled. Frequent mowing of lawns is the
only method of preserving their attractiveness and beauty. The grass
should never be permitted to seed.

Bermuda grass makes a beautiful lawn, but is apt to turn brown the
latter part of the summer. Where there is a sufficient supply of water to
keep the ground moist by sprinkling it forms a beautiful covering for the
yards and lawns oi the Southern States.

_ The question in the South is not so much what will make the most
attractive lawns, but what grasses will best resist the heat of the long
summers. Any grass, however, will look better than the bare earth, and
every effort should be made to have the wooded lawns and the shady
yards covered with verdure.

THE HIGHWAY PASTURES OF TENNESSEE AND THEIR
NUTRITIOUS HERBAGE.

Probably no state in the Union, lying east of the Mississippi river,
has such a wealth of highway pastures as Tennessee. These pastures are
common in every division of the state. In East Tennessee the “balds” of
the Unaka mountains, at an elevation of 5000 feet above the sea, are well
watered and are supplied with rich soils upon which several grasses and
leguminous plants grow luxuriantly and furnish good grazing for stock

‘several months in the year. The areas of these natural mountain pastures

are limited, but in their capacity for carrying stock they are not surpassed
by an equal area of the best blue grass pastures of Kentucky. The fre-
quent rains in the mountain district during the growing season with the
fertility of the black granitic prairie soils induce a rapid growth of the
wild grasses so that there is a continuous succession of nutritious her-
bage from April until October. During this period all kinds of stock-
horses, cattle, sheep and swine, feed on these grasses unvexed by the flies
that so often torment stock on valley plains. In many of the open woods
of East Tennessee lying at the base of the mountains are found growing
in spring and summer wild grasses and other plants of great value for
grazing purposes.

But the most extensive highway pastures in the State are found on
the Cumberland table-land at an elevation of 2000 feet above the sea.
Broad, grassy stretches of open woods, and acclivities green with verdant
turf, characterize the top of this table-land everywhere except in those

places where the abundant underbrush has choked out the grass. In trav-

128

eling over the grassy undulations of the top of this natural division of the
State in the spring of the year one is able to realize the description of the
pastoral countries of the Orient ‘with cattle upon a thousand hills.” Hun-
dreds of streams with thousands of contributing rivulets furnish the
purest of water, while the park-like landscapes with their beautiful arbo-
real growth of pine, oak, chestnut, gum and other trees supply grateful
shade to the stock during the heat of the day. The sun shines upon those
airy heights with a splendor unknown elsewhere in the State, and breezes
sweep over the mountain during the fervor of the day, tempering the air
and making one of the most delightful summer climates to be found in
America. The purity and elasticity of the air make this whole region one
of greatest healthfulness to man and beast. When passing through the

Panicum latifolium.

silent forests of the mountain the earth covered with untrodden grasses
and emblazoned with myriads of wild flowers—‘“born to blush unseen’’—
it requires no great stretch of the imagination to suppose the landscape to
be now as it was before the discovery of America by Columbus, when it
existed in all its primeval beauty. There are no natural pasture lands in
America that surpass the pastures of the Cumberland table-land when the
healthfulness of the region, its freedom from blizzards, its ample supplies
of shade and water and its beautiful situation are taken into consideration.
The grasses spring up in April, grow until late in November, and often-
times supply some grazing throughout the winter months. The area of
this division of the state is, over 3,200,000 acres of which not less than
2,300,000 acres are given up to natural pastures.

Lying west of the Cumberland table-land is the region about 900 feet
above the sea known as the Highland Rim that encircles the great central
limestone basin of the State. This Highland Rim comprises nearly 6,000,-

——————— ee

129

000 acres, one-third of which area is devoted to highway pastures. West
of Nashville in the counties of Cheatham, Dickson, Hickman, Hum-
phreys, Lewis, Wayne, Perry, Houston and Stewart, not over one-fifth
of the land is in cultivation. Out of the 2,699,520 acres embraced in these
counties only 481,456 were returned by the census of 1890 as improved
lands. The remainder was in woodlands and natural pastures.

The highway pastures in West Tennessee are not so extensive as they
are in the other two grand divisions of the State. These pastures are con-
fined mainly to the Mississippi bottoms where a dense growth of cane

_keeps a large number of cattle throughout the year.

The wild grasses and legumes that are found in the highway pastures
of Tennessee are numerous. The most valuable ones with their habitat
are the following:

IF
[eSS

oO:
i LIfe?
Lge

Barnyard Grass—Panicum crus-galli.

GRASSES IN HIGHWAY PASTURES.

Andropogons (heard grasses).—There are several species of these
grasses. Among others may be named: Andropogon scoparius, Andro-
pogon provincialis; Andropogon argyraeus, Andropogon macrourus, and
Andropogon Virginicus. ;

Andropogen scoparius (mountain sedge) has long been known in the
mountains of East Tennessee. By some it has been confounded with the
Andropogon Virginicus. It is a good pasture grass when young and
tender, but when it shoots up its culms it becomes hard and indigestible.
It is not general over the State. :

Andropogon provincialis, var. furcatus, Tennesseensis and others,
(big blue stem) though growing taller and stouter than the Andropogon
Virginicus, does not so readily take possession of old fields and meadows
but prefers open woods and retired nooks and dry soils. The stems are

as

ta Wea

‘

*>

131

very leafy. It supplies good grazing and is not so troublesome as the
Andropogon Virginicus. When cut young it makes a very good hay. It
is not worthy of cultivation but it answers a very useful purpose in the
highway pastures in every part of the State. Samuel M. Ramsey, of
Warren county, tried it for butter-making as against some of the domes-
ticated grasses and claimed that it made butter of better flavor and quality,
and more of it than herd’s grass or blue grass.

Andropogon argyraeus (silver beard grass.) This is a native grass,
found in East Tennessee among the mountains and on the borders of
woods. It is rarer than either of the other species mentioned and proba-
bly is of no importance as a grazing grass. It is easily recognized by its
dense silky and silvery white flowers in September.

Andropogon macrourus (cluster flowered beard grass). This grows
on wet or swampy lands and very much resembles the next to be men-

Setaria viridts.

2
~

tioned. It is found at intervals all over the State. It is not so valuable
for grazing as the broom sedge. though cattle will eat it in early spring.

Andropogon Virginicus (broom sedge). This grass is very palatable
to stock when young and tender but totally worthless when its culms be-
gin to shoot up. It is the best known grass in the State and grows in
almost every locality. It is a great enemy to meadows and will soon take
possession of them if not resisted vigorously. It is the grass that takes
possession of ail ‘old fields” in every part of the State. While furnishing
good grazing in early spring for all classes of stock, during the summer
after its stems shoot up the grass becomes so tough and indigestible that
no stock will touch it. After frost it turns brown and is an eyesore to
every landscape where it makes its appearance. Its only value consists
n its capacity to furnish early grazing and its agency in the stopping of

132

gullies. By many it is regarded as the flag of sterility, but this is not true
as it will grow more vigorously upon rich than on depleted soils. It is
one of the leading grasses in open woods and highway pastures.

Panicum latifolium (broad leaved panic grass). This grass is fre-
quent in the open woods of the Highland Rim. It grows to the height
of one to two feet but it grows intermixed with other plants and does not
seek companionship of its own kind. It is a good pasture grass, bears
close cropping and grows rapidly and constantly.

Panicum clandestinum (hidden panic grass). Much like the last but
coming in a month later. It grows in a solitary manner and is found
along the banks of the Cumberland river and in bottom lands in East
and West Tennessce.

Panicum crus-galli (barnyard grass). Stock will eat this as greedily
as any other species of grass whatever. It is a coarse grass and its favor-

Paspalum distichum.

ite habitat is in drained ponds and marshes. It will grow with great
vigor in ditches and low bottom lands and furnishes good grazing for
stock.

Setaria (foxtail grass). There are several wild species of this grass
that furnish some grazing when young and tender. Setaria viridis (green
foxtail) is common to all stubble lands and consorts with crab grass
(Panicum sanguinale.) Setaria verticillata, or bristly foxtail, is probably
the best wild species for grazing. The millet grasses belong to this
genus. They have been treated in Part I.

Paspalum. Among the wild indigenous grasses there are several
species of this genus that are held in high repute as grazing grasses.
Paspalum distichum. Paspalum digitaria and Paspalum angustifolium

133

are all numbered among the grasses found in cultivated fields and fre-
quently in the highway pastures of the “barrens” and indeed in nearly
every natural -livision of the state.

Elymus Virginicus (lyme grass) grows abundantly in Middle Ten-
nessee on strong, limy soils but it forms no turf. It is found near woods
and thickets, and stock is fond of it. There are three or four species be-
longing to the genus Elymus but only one other is eaten by stock and
that is Elymus Canadensis, or Terrell grass. This is usually found on the
banks of streams.

Danthonia compressa (mountain oat grass). This is one of the prin-
cipal grasses on the “baids”’ of the mountains in East Tennessee. They
will bear the closest grazing and aie highly esteemed in the mountain
region. .

Danthonia spicata is another species of this grass found growing on
the Harpeth hills of Middle Tennessee and over parts of West Tennes-
see. It is one of the grasses furnishing grazing on the highway pas-
tures of the Highland Rim.

Mountain Oat Grass—Danthonita compressa.

ARUNDINARIA (cane). There are two species of this grass found
in Tennessee, viz: Arundinaria gigantea and Arundinaria tecta. It is pos-
sible that these two are really varieties of the same species. In the first
settlement of the State cane was the principal dependence for stock graz-
ing in the summer and in many sections the whole face of the country
was covered with it. The shoots of the young cane are both succulent
and nutritious. 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 net-work 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,

134 F

but once broken, the roots quickly rot and add to the fertility of the soil.
The roots run to a surprising length and depth, and serve as pumps to
raise dormant fertilizing material from below the reach of any plow.

The farmers living near the Mississippi bottoms find the immense
cane-brakes in that region exceedingly useful. They are in the habit
of driving their stock to them, and the most luxuriant pasturage is ob-
tained, both summer and winter. Cane will not grow in standing water,
as the presence of water destroys its roots. Therefore, it is only found on
land elevated above the swamps.

FESTUCA—The genus Festuca contains many species that are high-
ly valued for grazing purposes. Several of the fescue grasses have been
already treated in Part I. The sheep fescue is one of the principal grasses

fe

)

Cane—Arundinaria tecta.

found growing on the mountain soils of East Tennessee and in other por-
tions of the State where there are light, thin and siliceous soils. The
red fescue (Festuca rubra glaucescens) called also Tennessee fescue, is an
admirable native grass. It makes a good pasture where many other
grasses would fail. Nodding fescue (Festuca nutans) is most frequently
seen about thickets. Sheep will eat it but do not relish it so much as they
do the sheep fescue. Short’s fescue (Festuca Shortii) is probably a
variety of the same grass.

POA—Many species of this genus have already been treated in full in
Part I. Several of them grow with great luxuriance among the high
mountains of East Tennessee. The writer has seen the densest turfs of
low spear grass (Poa annua), leafy meadow grass (Poa alsodes) and
short meadow grass (Poa brevifolia) growing in the elevated valleys of
Johnson county and on the crests of Iron and Roane mountains. Ken-
tucky blue grass also grows well in the same situations and gives richness
to the mountain pastures.

AG

— .

135

Other species of this family are conmimon along the river banks of
. East, Middle and West Tennessee. The genus Poa is probably the most
valuable of all genera of grasses for grazing purposes. Scribner mentions

Tennessee Irescue—Festuca rubra glaucescens.

fourteen species as growing in Tennessee. Every species is more or less
valuable.

EATONIA—But a single species of this genus, Eatonia Pennsylvanica
is of any value for grazing purposes. This grass is found in abundance in

Noitding Fescue—Festuca nutans,

136

Middle Tennessee and in moist, open places on the borders of woods in

all parts of the state. It is a valuable addition to the native grasses and |

cattle seem to relish it more than-any other wild grass. A species known
as Eatonia filiformis grows on the dry hills of the cretaceous formation in
West Tennessee, but while cattle will eat it in the absence of other grasses
it is not of much agricultural value.

Diarrhena Americana (American Diarrhena) is found growing on
the rich soils among limestone rocks. Its feeding value is about equal to
that of cheat.

Eleusine Indica (yard grass: dog’s tail) is frequent in all places
where there are human habitations or have been. In many abandoned
places on the Highland Rim it grows very rank. It constitutes one of

Eatonia Pennsylvanica.

the wild pasture grasses that will make good and lasting pickings for all °

kinds of stock.

Bouteloua curtipendula (horse shoe grass) grows on dry soils and in
pine barrens in various parts of the State. It makes a dense turf which
will bear tramping well. It is one of the best native grasses for highway
pastures among cedar glades.

Muhlenbergia diffusa (nimble will) is an indigenous and perennial
grass. It forms a dense mat on limestone soils and in river bottoms.
The writer has seen it growing in the woods four and a half feet high.
There is a great difference of opinion as to its feeding value. Dr. F. H.
Gordon maintained that it was one of the most nutritious of the wild
grasses and said that this was demonstrated by the fact that much of the
beef and mutton sold in the Nashville and Memphis markets was fat-
tened on nimble will. On limestone lands thinly wooded and where blue
grass has not already obtained possession, nimble will furnishes good
pasturage for five or six months in the year. Dr. Gattinger, on the con-

ee

137

trary, thinks all species of the Muhlenbergia make very poor forage and

- are not eaten by stock unless they are compelled to do so by the absence

of more nutritious grasses. The writer is inclined to think that the qual-
ity of this grass is affected by the soil upon which it grows.

Mexican Muhlenbergia is another species that is highly commended
by some writers. Dr. C. E. Bessey, of Nebraska, says this grass has
been known in the West for many years as a valuable one. ‘Chemical
analyses,” he continues, “show that Muhlenberg grass is highly nutritious.
In the years 1878 and 1879, at my suggestion, Mr.W.K.Robinson, a grad-
uate of the Iowa Agricultural College, made analyses of this grass, with
results which showed that ia nutritiousness it ranked with red top and

Nimble Will—Muhlenbergia diffusa.

blue grass, and, in some instances, timothy. More recent analyses by
the government chemist at Washington make a still better showing.
Taking an average of the analyses I find the following results:

“Timothy contains 41-3 per cent. of albuminoids.

“Orchard grass contains 6 1-2 per cent. of albuminoids.

“Red top contains 62-3 per cent. of albuminoids.

“Blue grass contains 8 per cent. of albuminoids.

“Muhlenberg grass contains 17 2-5 per cent. of albuminoids.

“That is, Muhlenberg grass is more than twice as nutritious, weight
for weight, as blue grass. It is nearly three times as nutritious as red
top and orchard grass, and about four times as nutritious as timothy.
Now I would not for a moment be understood as considering these an-
alyses as settling the relative merits of these grasses. It is well known,
however, that the analysis of a grass is one of the important factors in
determining its value, and I bring it in here as simply corroborating what
the feeders of kay have been saying for a long time.”

There are four or five species of this grass found growing on wooded

~ lands in Tennessee. All of them remain green until winter. In their

138

general appearance they resemble small cane from the hardness and en-

amelled surface of the stalks and the stiff aspect of the leaves. They fur-- |

nish pickings to stock until December. Their creeping rootstocks are
very troublesome on cultivated grounds, especially on newly opened bot-
tom lands and much resemble those of Bermuda grass.

Sporobolus Indicus (drop seed grass) is said to be a good grass in

wild pastures. It is soft and succulent, springs up quickly after being -

grazed and will last from May until October. It usually grows in patches
and in low and sniali tufts. It is very palatable to cattle. In the West

several species of Sporobolus furnish good winter pastures. Sporobolus

asper is another species found in Tennessee and grows mainly on the
Cumberland table-land on sandy soils and in the oak barrens of the High-

Muhlenbergia Mexicana,

land Rim on siliceous soils. It forms one of the least nutritious wild
grasses in the highway pastures of these regions.

Zizania aquatica (water or Indian rice grass) is found in the
swampy regions of West Tennessee. It has flat leaves two to three feet
long and its culms grow to the height of three to nine feet. It is found
in swamps and on the borders of sluggish streams. In some pastures of
the west the seed is gathered by the Indians and made into a species of
mush or bread which they relish greatly. Cattle are fond of the herbage
and Dr. Gattinger states that in its feeding value an acre of it is equal to
an acre of wheat. The seed is eaten by red birds.

The foregoing, with the grasses described in Part I constitute the
principal economic true grasses in the State. A few of the domesticated
grasses have been found growing in the wild pastures. Among the most
valuable of these are the Randall grass (Festuca elatior); meadow oat
or evergreen grass (Arrhenatherum elatius); Tennessee fescue (Festuca
rubra glaucescens); various species of Paspalum and Panicum; blue grass
(Poa pratensis); annual spear grass (Poa annua); English blue grass

———

139

{Poa compressa) and other species of Poa. All these are found
intermingled with the wild indigenous grasses to a greater or less
extent in the highway pastures of the State. The beard grasses (Andro-
pogons) form by far the largest number of grasses that occur in the nat-
ural pastures on the Cumberland table-land and on the Highland Rim.

WILD LEGUMINOUS AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS FOUND
IN THE HIGHWAY PASTURES OF TENNESSEE.

There are many species of wild vetches, beans, peas and nuts, and
several grazing plants belonging to the leguminous family that are found
in the highway pastures and woods and in old fields, fence corners and
waste places that furnish forage, seeds and nuts highly nutritious for
stock. ‘The wild vetches are especially abundant. Among the most valu-
able are the small flowered vetch (Vicia micrantha), Carolina vetch

Drop Seed Grass—Sporobolus Indicus.

, (Vicia Caroliniana),-American vetch (Vicia Americana), Tennessee milk
vetch (Astragalus Tennessiensis), Canada milk vetch (Vicia Canadensis).
These vetches are found in most of the highway pastures of the State,
sometimes abundant, sometimes scarce, adapting themselves to the char-
acter of the soil, some preferring a limestone soil, others a sandy soil.
_Some of these make excellent food for cattle, sheep and hogs.

The pencil flower (Stylosanthes elatior) is found on the sandy soils
throughout the State. It is a lowly herb, growing in tufts and the stems
are downy on one side. It has an orange yellow flower. Cattle are
very fond of it.

Bush clover (Lespedeza). There are six or eight species of this
genus known to grow in Tennessee. The Lespedeza repens, Lespedeza

140

Stuvei, Lespedeza capitata, Lespedeza violacea, Lespedeza hirta and
Lespedeza striata or Japan clover, are all valuable grazing plants. The
last named is an introduced plant and has been treated at length in an-
other place. It is believed that the indigenous varieties found in America
are equally as valuable, though probably lacking in the diffusive qualities
of Japan clover. All the native species are found growing on dry soils
and in barrens, though they are not averse to good soils.

Tick trefoil, beggar’s ticks, beggar’s lice. There are sixteen species
of tick trefoil growing for the most part on uplands and siliceous and
sandy soils of the State, though a few cling to the limestone soils and to
rich woods. These furnish a large bulk of the pea vine forage found in
uncultivated regions. They enrich the herbage of all the natural pasture
lands of Tennessee.

The wild “clovers” are numerous and nutritious. Among the best
are several species of the Petalostemon and the Trifolium genera. Leafy
prairie clover (Petalostemon foliosus), Buffalo clover (Trifolium re-
flexum), white clover (Trifolium repens), and black medick (Medicago
lupulina) are all valuable forage plants. :

The Psoraleas supply good food for cattle. This genus prefers up-

,

lands and open piney woods. Psoraleas melilotoides, for instance, is

quite abundant in the open, sandy woods of the southern counties of West
Tennessee. It is a vigorous perennial with stout, deeply growing roots.

Ground nut or wild bean (Apios tuberosa) grows wild in the woods
in various parts of the State, generally in low grounds. It has subterra-
nean shoots bearing tubers which are greatly sought after by swine. It
grows with a climbing vine and its flowers are a brownish purple with a
faint odor of the violet. It bears legumes from three to five inches long
which contain from eight to ten seeds. Dr. Gattinger thinks this is one
of the wild leguminous plants that ought to be introduced into cultivation.

The wild kidney bean (Phaseolus perennis) is a very common plant
in every part of Tennessee. It grows in woody places. It has slender
climbing stems and scimitar-shaped drooping pods with four or five seed
each. It forms one of the valuable wild beans of the wooded pastures.
Another species of this same family is the long stalk kidney bean (Pha-
seolus helvolus) which grows on sandy soils. The stalks are several
times larger than the leaves. One single plant makes a large quantity of
herbage for stock.

Still another member of this family is the creeping kidney bean (Pha-
seolus diversifolius) which grows in the cedar glades with a prostrate
spreading stem and supplies valuable forage for hogs, sheep and cattle.

There are several wild peas that are held in high esteem by those
who depend during the summer and fall months upon the woodland pas-
tures for carrying their stock. The best are: The Virginia butterfly pea

(Centrosema Virginianum), the milk pea (Galactia mollis), the smooth

milk pea (Galactia glabella), and the butterfly pea (Clitoria Mariana).
All these produce foliage and fruit that are eaten by cattle.

The hog peanut (Amphicarpaea monoica) grows on rich soils and is
a common plant in the wooded lands around Nashville. The herbage is
good for cattle and the subterranean nuts for hogs.

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141

Several sensitive plants grow in the woods on dry or siliceous soils
in every part of the State, and are eaten by all kinds of herbivorous ani-
mals. The best of these are the Desmanthus brachylobus, the Schrankia
uncinata and the Schrankia angustata, the two latter being creeping

_briars.

Besides the leguminous plants herein mentioned as furnishing, in
highway pastures, sustaining food for domestic animals, beggar’s lice
(Cynoglossum Morisoni) may be added. This belongs to the borage and
not to the leguminous family. It grows in fields and woods and the
ripened fruit, which consists of convexed-barbed, flat nutlets slightly
joined together, is greedily eaten by cattle. These nuts ripen about the
time of the first autumnal frosts and are highly nutritious. Cattle often
fatten upon them during the latter months of the year.

For the raising of swine the pasture lands of the mountain districts

_ offer unusual advantages, for, besides the nutritious grasses and legumi-

nous plants there are succulent and aromatic roots in which these animals
delight. There is also an abundance of mast, which supplies food for cat-
tle as well as hogs from early fall through the winter until the grasses
and forage plants spring up with the warmth of the season. The mast is
both bitter and sweet. The bitter mast is composed of the acorns of the
oak trees; the sweet mast is composed of the nuts of the beech, hickory,
chestnut and walnut trees and hazel bushes. Persimmon, haw, pawpaw,
huckleberry, blackberry, dewberry, mulberry, service berry, wild grapes
and other fruits and berries are greedily devoured by hogs. Thousands
of head of these animals are kept fat throughout the entire year by the
food which they get from natural pastures.

fi 33S.

Alfalfa, or Lucern—JVedicago sativa..............-
Ore RaSmine ye pus point tere: ety Sm abe A
ELEY. ieneysic octet eats S schoo, an tresteter ie
Solsitce CNS 1 La aa ium Riches aAehaeseet

Alsike Clover—7yvifolium hybridum 6 DR ee A Be

Arundinaria—(Cane)...... UE Acie deed tes Naar oe

Australian Oats—ABromus untoloides ...........004.

Bermuda Grass—Cynodon dactylon....... EER ay EE
Bernmeda:Grass'and Sheep... 2... 5... 6 me wes
How’ ptopapated:s. 2 oti cc 2 sheet Clete ea ec ah iats

Blue Grass—/oa pratensis ....... Carers ae OP ROM Sa Cer
Atter treatment. ie ssi! eee A PROSE ALE |
CSanibttld WA soe e ke aets seek Sb soen dad oar x §
English ..... eA RE tee Ret AN oe alencean, aaeee
How and when to sow..... a hiante Mate pacts ce aeete
SOUSs ea. once hte Riite sss eG ea Fe
Texas rate te bea eens eusietehedtiey beaten os Fa Both.

Broom Corn “Miliet-= Pansat TRLMEACEUIBY. i oni
Bur Clover—Spotted Medick, Medicago maculata..
Bush Clover—See Japan Clover ............ ee eerie

Canada Blue Grass—/0a compressa ..... 6.6 eee ee ee er

Cane—See Arundinaria............... ROMY to ott.

Cat Tail Millet—See Pearl Millet ..... he OP nee

Ce le Dee RRR er Pe states pune emits

Coffee Bean——-See Soy bean .. acters b Hira eae

Cowpess—Vignd ‘cayjany 73... i ieee ceases >:
AS Soll Lestoreten P14 Ts Ve. Saas pt es aoe ee

SOUsmoinc nk, TAL NE hn We otis ROME eet ee ratte.
Crab Grass—Panicum sanguinale. mie cate loge aiet koe eae
Crimson or Scarlet Clover— 7yifolium incarnatum

Domesticated Leguminous Plants....... silos eee
Domesticated Grasses .3.. cs. si cca Ge AY
PUGLOMN Ese Via v5 aie Vnlncet «sternite Welt aaha SNe
English Blue Grass—Poa compressa wa heck ht a ee

Evergreen or Meadow Oat Grass...............--
Evergreen Grass—See Tall Meadow Fescue......

PESCHEGIGAGeR. iui net cece le ee ciedes ake Cece
BESMULECUPIUSCUNG 325 Pla STM ee one
Festuca myurus...... snips e's:d owns ON EA See

Festuca Deer eRe eens eeressoneanessserasweserages

Gama Grass—7ripsacum dactyloides ..... teh pee
Grasses—How to tell......... eater de wi ata ieee ae

Grasses—Introduction....... moh OPEL SEE BLIOL ACE OEE Ine 6
Domesticated ....... 5 RACERS ay CEE Aea rab tine oRee BOR coer 9
TT RAS RS ab Sg Se is a a, Ror 124

SIREIIIGE! 110 OL PNUCESEE 2.) 2s Oek icc ec ecco eie nee e nae wala aceeles « vislanee = 122

Herd’s Grass—Agrostis alba or agrostis Vulgaris .... 0.66. ce ee 14
RS oi ER ala. . ce Aes oe BAe Nate con eae Lhe tale Veta» 15
IE INR rata Sava dS a9 aie hare REDS Rites Aoele Maeve rae eee ots owe 15
SIT SS ES eer Rae PR NNR Ra' 0inl Mi e Per ia ke a 16

muemmosorastures of Tennessee... 2 0) 0. ete cee ee Ge Le 127
EE EOE TEN, RPE RIM Re LS no CS ee a ae 129

Hungarian Millet—Sefaria [talica var. Germanica.........6.6 00 ee 37

re OLLI fo ate 5 Sd aiare Siatieeke Wa nie cies, Oa wlate ala are wv oes 51

SMPTE CSIR TICS UG Se siete TIES Seti ts iano akties ah ote erate alerleie eaten apie 3

meatam meve Grass—/ 0121698 L1Alicuttt.. cn cewccncccccccsueed vcncssivs 29
Rees ime ire at rel wi. s ciw/diaye ao a <'ain og Soares Mole eer one 29

Japan Clover—Bush Clover—King Grass—Lespedeza striata........... 104

Memeo GTASS—AlOPECUTUS PYALENSIS’ 00. c cece we ewan enn e eee cncecees 22
RT Pos a be fe aa iah ddinly chtleiiste aa hake Ue sialon cnn oT ee cle 48

Sumatera see Japan Clover. 222.20. sis. cs eee cen cae wiectnwverece 104

Semaminous Plants, domesticated... .. 6.0... cic ccesccccnccccceccdacce 73

EIDE PG eel cialis bite bie g'acr sl naeldhcrafears wedingalote, cla,d ems. o:ahe la-arele Sie 91

SIG, CHCIT MANACETHENL. . we Poe ule cee new dees ews acincs 113
EEE Fog to8s 1c EG 4F-% o's is a vod. Wate desma daa hislmea eaalel ane eBeele e008 120
IER GE Sour 2 eiare Riale nes crarctele wea maim tale arn e aebbteieisias on/elea'e« 117
PEENESER NSUSRTIC SR. 2 fee sk, Cimtalavalale ine alain’ eon) be ey cima Sinie'e bot ojo 0'e 119

Meadow Foxtail— Alopecurtts pratensis... cccccccccnecccccccceccvccs 22
MT SiG a dks ‘ect jeicin al hia min ee totetnitta lel oqo ates ara wooo 22

Meadow Oat Grass or Evergreen—Arrhenatherum elatius............. 33
I orf Nica al cia b's a'nre uvolh cighan io tatotuie ita «larainie wieleielciateranie’e 33

I ENEETILS 2PM oo Sone. ana 0 a's Sista tis'eip sv wb oo 2 aM weal cheese 90

Millet, Italian, German or Golden—Selaria [talica.... 0... cece eee cee 34
ER, 008.4, 2 onc: 2 Vous siren otto eta Sitaram e 6 okie wala wielea aie’ 38
EMER Si s255 3b Aa Ita» Gitis niateshj wh sim ak lale ate eee ae oid sino ace. Soin in wae 37
CIE REPE CS. a SA): Cioran vk bse dines Cae ween so fac eee cya. 34

Oats—Arena sativa, Botanical description..................eeee ee cece 70.

rmraeOeGrrasS—L)GCLY11S SIOMLEVQLA oo. oes cc cnc ces cess ccenceeccs 17
REIT fo ike oc dics martyr ciataRcaha ats recat lence c aie. vf otk ie hie,e arace!'s 20
EMEOR YS C27 CR Looks tink Lan ck saeaieee eA eaine es © vienlas o'waele ewe 17
MIRREIER SILC Go 5 22 at Ese cane ne Devin eeae tale it ekiee © a cae baie Leela 19

Suerermesticated Grasses. 20... ccc cee Dae elect cect ewan eeeees 9-72

Part II—Domesticated Leguminous Plants.................2 00s eee 73-111

Part 11I—Meadows and their management..................0..065 112-141

Paspalum, hairy flowered—/aspalum oratum or dilatatum ..........-. 71

Ieee a Mar 3 ("Gin {a,0.0 ai soon es = ee sits, lene) Caen’, viet ele SA rg SE ena 8

IGE ES et ia one Ce 123

EO TG, SE eee ae 99
E's Lino 2 21 Kaeo; oss tng kos s eeeanee bait ve weer ek see 101
le Saf a a ti tae, hs Shia Er Sh iene em a a's caine eee 101
ITM nN Sa A rie chet tone elgr ti ete ch attr eid Cievs nde Gk wd ee oe 102

ITED VE ray a Pcie ent streets) Seemed 4 SA We Se eae wtele wei 100

Page
Peanuts—Time and manner of planting ............s.0+-00++veceeuee 100
TWSES Seis ne Daly nels «ple Kelme StH pun/sihie « oterarh coetes piste a Gi etre canner 103
Vine as forage Crop... cic essere newly oe bu ee meue «5 5 50 oe 104
Wield er Cre sions wie ate «VG -xclemin were i Se le emg eee 103
Pearl Millet—Fennisetum typhotdeum.......00ceccennccccccceeccenses 31
00) | Ae er Oe ts Se re eli 31
Perennial Rye Grass—Lolium perenne .. 000. veus onsceccssseds sane 27
Si) ioe etre oMrte breath (cmrisaiadi yar
SO ee eer ere seer Peet hg TON te i34
Preface ees oiisiisccass vests the Sys dss nec cme arpie eee mann oa 5
Randall Grass—See Tall Meadow Fescue..............-0eeceee eee cess 23
Red Clover—7rt/olium Pra1ensé. .0ocnsc view eounviewaneent oo 500s an 74
Effects of ‘clover upon ‘soils. ....0\......6.. 2. sis olte sites a> wees ne
Growth: and manure’ <2 Uschi. btiens oie otee es a eee 76
Saving seed’. o.F 5 S582 s SHES 2600 5 .c.0ls a ie ernne bins eee 83
Soils. 2004 bat le SUahs See et Riy tae arte ye wee cieiencienne e e 75
SOWIMB 5 2202S eee eee ACL LcT oe 5:0 ce cole ele ada 75
When to cut and how to cure ................ ‘sas does sh 80
Red Top—See Herd’s\Graas 5 i.s:</s.s.0ie'n «fe ons joan ne en py ele ona 14
Rescue Grass—Bromus untoloides . . «saa son vn'ew enn os emeatenis a ene 71
Rough Meadow Grass—foa Urvivialis ...ccccccessssrevessdaee ta ee een 60
Rye Grass—See Perennial Rye Grass. o0..0:0 000000 «vey 5008 een 27
TEANGA ities s'es Spo menaee alee Malice ae o poeSie ao selene os ena 29
Sainfoin or Esparcet—Omobrychis SAttvd.....ccveccees coos vvecsssesaun 89
Scarlet or Crimson Clover—77ifolium incarnatum ......ccecceceevcess 84
Sesame ‘Grass—See-Gamma Grass: 255356622 si0ccc ces oe a aclen eee 39
Sheep Fescue—Fe@stucad OVI... ocy ocee ccc ve'sase as + eae 26
Smooth Brome Grass—BromMmus 1M€vMtS...cce cece cccccccccecennaneees 69
Soja Bean—See Soy Bean .2 2... oe cee leew quince aes 4s sane 108
Sorghum—So7Phum SACChAvAtum oo... 00 se ce ca ncce cece ce eee 41
Forage and soiling crop ....2 6c. sne.ceudeu ces emens san 44
For the Silo. .o0seeee8 cee 9 i2'9 sb cho sisietele's is 9/aiaie seein 47
For Pastusle 25 oe wivcsye Siele ss Wevele & ap asie's 6 Bhs y wale 6 erearennnn an 47
Harvesting soo 6s e'aeeje se sihejehe, Siaiwiolo'sls Wye (e:eht «sip kare, «ts ein et .. 44
GUS: 2. evn faetesieeiiaity oe Beak MrT 42
Warteties. 02... 5 ais sles sco ole nie it iniere es eeloneisy apes Uacpiyce eet alent tes an 42
Soy Bean, Coffee Bean, Soja Bean—Gijcine hispida.........++.+00+++: 108
Spotted Medick—See Bur Clover..........ceteceeeesssseee ss sn 87
Sweet Clover—Melttotus Qloa . 0... .52 eens ce seunecessces eo see 90
Sweet Vernal Grass—Anthroxanthum adoratum ....... 2000 cece cceees 63
Tall Meadow Fescue—Festuca elatior, var. pratensiS.... 000.000 scene 23
Tennessee Fescue—Festuca rubra, SIAUCESCENS . 6c cece cece ce ee ceenees 25
Teosinte—Euchlena Mexicana, FE. lUuxurians..... 2... ccccesveecscee 40
Texas Blue Grass—/0a@ QxACRNIUfC1E 00 60 oo0ecsensscece snes «due sane 61
Timothy—Pileum pratense . oo o.o06j0 00 6c oees ness eve cnn nn 50 5st 9
Cutting. and Ciring’ 2). cs ds! disiee s vatein's o's mame 6 mip nul ap apt ll
SOIS occ dieccis oid\e vice ela b oisiavabeye ts opp ei-aivtelelala eto ip s/eTee (ely Lataibia tere titt nn 10
Stacking’ s sig cc5.3 Fa hss docs ses deae bie eae ele bes oleate ann 18
PrecautiOns, 6.46.5 05 0c cleacsvav eee sions vei » saga u's 5'ee iin 18
Wheat—7riticum satirum, Botanical description............+eeeeeeee 68
White Clover—77t/oliteon réeQens occ ccccvnccusscuneeyn sis einen 89
Wild Leguminous and other forage plants found in highway pastures
Of Temnessee. oo. cciccccvescvicy sein db bcc #4 68 mnie nit aan ann
Yellow Oat Grass— 77tsetuim flAveSCOmS ...ccccccecccevccescceccecseecs 63

A SHORT COURSE IN AGRICULTURE

FOR

FARMERS, DAIRYMEN, STOCKMEN, AND FRUIT GROWERS,

Will be offered by the Agricultural Department of the University
of Tennessee each year, January to April.
A twelve weeks’ course. No. entrance examination is
required. Tuition is free.
Besides the short course, a regular four-years’ course in agri-
culture, horticulture, and related subjects is offered, on the
* completion of wlich the degree of B.S. is conferred.

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AGRICULTURAL, BUILDING.

A LAW DEPARTMENT
With courses of study covering two years, leading to the decree
of Bachelor of Laws. Tuition, $60.00 per year,
¥ EXPENSES
Very Moderate in all Departinents.
In Academic, Scientific, and Kngineering Departments,
$150,00 to $200.00 per year.

*

In Law Department, $200.00. to $250.00 per year.

CHAS: W.) DABNEY, President.

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