tacccssfut plan was to suffer a small patch to remain
uncut and run to seed, these, being very caducous,
fell to the ground n3 fast as they ripened. The
earth was, in autumn, covered" with straw to pre
Krrc the sec J.ifhu frost. Oa Icing removed and
the L round raked over ia fprin- theitfcda vegetated
and the little plants were set out in rorrs. When,
however,, the Egyptian Millet was introduced, the
seeds of which .were easily preserved, I substituted
it for the Guinea Gras3. The true. Guinea Gras3 i3
a tropical plant has delicate fibrous root like the
wheat and rice, and not tuberous, like the variety
which now, very improperly, goes under the same
name. The latter bai ulso. a light stripe running
longitudinally along the midrib of the leaves, by
w hlcb it may easily be distinguished. There are
many other characters which it Is scarcely nccessa
ry to notlco hero, that draw a broad line of cepara.
tion between these two very distinct specie. : the
grass recently cultivated under the name of Guhica
Grass is a different species, it is' right and proper
that our present cultivated grass should not usurp a
.j.arjje to which it is not, legitimately entitled. All
honest men prefer to bo called by their pioper names
nud an atiat always awukens suspicion. Our South
ern planters would be laughed at, were they to send
fpecimens of tbl variety to Kuropc as the Guinea
Grass. I will, hitotf I close this letter, give further
reasons why this, erroneous name should no longer
be retained
2. What is it;? in an address 1 delivered at Co
lumbia, S. C., daring the meeting of the Legislature
in. 1853, 1 added a note oa the Grasses, in which I
Jaeidently referred to this variety, named Guinea
ras3, which I hadtben not ien, in these words :
MjiU? .inclined to think thai the productive grass
under. the above jinme, fcpoken of by gentlemen in
the inler:orf a3. producing up seed and is not injured
by frost, can scarcely be Guinea Grafts, and .must be
t jme other fpuc'ic-i." The opportunity has now been
adordel U me of proving that my ccijjecUircs were
V eil founded.
To save our Cotton planters from fulling iut&liys-
tcics, on having the ghost of an old enemy conjur
ed up before their affrighted imaginations, 1 will pre
mise by saying that it is one of the most productive
gmuei' that ha3, as yet, been cultivated in ourSouth
ven country, and that there id uo danger of its spread
in in the Cotton field.
. yho gro4i is a distinct and, evidently, a permanent
variety of; the panicled Millet (So rh uni halupcme)
and a native or Nubia, Syria and Gruce, and is, in
-
t$l, a variety which bus sprung out of the old uud
uicjt tyatcd and mis-natued .Mc.au (irass.
)'jjcn tbij grass was oriiaalJy hidnccd, 1 pur
nzA ih fjJ adot aydcr iipfe" cum-
stanccs. I f.r:t endeavored to findcut it: :.;d
the country in vhich it had originated. AfUr : .
trouble, I found it described in a "single line in I.in
mctis' 12th Edition (Ildcxis haluj'cnse, in Tc;:i. 3,
page CCD.) I next submitted it to the test of an ex
periment. I planted it in a square in my town Har
den. The soil wa3 rich and the product v, . is im
mense equal to that ot the best Guinea Grass or
Egyptian JiiHct. It possessed," however, two proper
ties that prevented me from recommending it. The
seeds came up wherever they were droppe d, r.r.d tho
tubers threw out runners, like the Nut Gra:, and
extended in one instance, by my' own measurement,
to the distance of thirty feet. In deference to th
very reasonable fears of my neighbor: who v. cro
threatened, as they erroneously st ?o:cd, by an en
emy more annoying than the Nut Grass cr Canada
Tbistle, I bad the whole bed rooted up, which was
no difficult taafc. My neighbors wrcas thanhful for
the riddance, as my pig was for an abundant supply .
of hh choice food. One other slight digging up of j
stragglers exterminated the last root ; so, having only
kept it for an experiment, as a man keeps a rattle
snake or a pet bear lor his twa:umii?cmcnt, I could
look the terror-stricken gardeners and planters in"
the face, and say with Macbeth to the rh: A of
Basquo:
" Thou canst not say I old it
" Never shake thy gory locks at me."
The notes of execration that were re-echoed from
the seaboard to the mountains, against this pest, had
scarcely subsided when a new discoverywas an
nounced. U vras a grass possessing all the abund
ant growth of the Means Grass, haying neither seed
or runners, which was restricted to the bed where it
was planted. Thi3 was a desideratum. Now for
the name. A3 it bore some resemblance to tho
Guinea Gras3, that name was improply applied to
it. It was stated that the true Guinea Grass had
been planted by the side of it, and that J in time, all
Nvere alike. The same results were produced in my
own garden with the Means Grass by the side of the
Guinea Grass. The secret was that the latter was
killed in winter and the former lived. There was no
blending, but a supplanting of species. '
When the specimens of this peculiar grass were
sent to me by my friend, Col. Sumner, I was absent
from home ; the labeb had been misplaced aiid I had
no opportunity of examining it until yesterday, when
I saw it in a lot ut Atlanta, cultivated by Mr. Peters,
from which I was supplied with specimens of tllo
roots, stulk3, and the infertile florets. '
My fint examinations were directed to the inquiry
whether it might not prove to be a hybrid between
the HusYOhug and the Guinc Grass, or gomsolh