Rescue-grass (Bromus unioloidcs), Fig. 559, does best on a rich loam. It should be seeded in August or September, at the rate of thirty to forty pounds per acre. Farther north, where the summers are not so warm, it may be seeded in the spring and be used for summer and fall pasture. When fall sown in the South, it grows rapidly and may fur nish pasture in December or January. The seed will mature in March or April. if the conditions are right, two cuttings may be had in a season, the first one in the spring. If the seed is allowed to mature in the spring, it will fall to the ground and remain dormant until fall. In this way a perma nent stand may be secured, and the land may be plowed and used for a summer crop during the dormant period.
Sorghum (Fig. 674) is very largely used in the South, in late summer, as a green feed for all kinds of stock. It is not infrequently sown thick and cut for hay. It is planted like either corn or wheat. In the former case one-half a gallon to a gallon of seed is need; in the latter case, half a bushel to two bushels. [See Sorghum.] St. Augustine grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum), Fig. 530, is adapted to a wide range of soils, but seldom succeeds except near the coast. It is propa gated readily by root-cuttings or pieces of the sod. Roots are formed wherever the joints touch the ground.
Texas blue-grass (Poa araehnifera), Fig. 546, is a native of Texas, but it is now grown somewhat widely in the southern states. It makes a good sod, which remains green the year round. It makes its principal growth during the winter, beginning in October and furnishing pasture until April or May. The seed is matured in April. In the summer months it makes little growth.
This grass would undoubtedly be more generally grown if it were easier to propagate. It produces an abundance of seed but is difficult to start from seed. Cuttings of the rootstocks are used almost entirely. They should be set about twelve inches apart each way. The creeping rootstocks soon occupy the ground. It does best on a rich loam, This is one of the most distinct agricultural regions in the United States. No distinct cropping systems are developed, although agriculture is more diversified in that section than in any other part of the South. Cotton is relatively of small impor tance. Truck-growing perhaps stands first. Sugar cane is important. Some phases of fruit-growing,
especially in the southern part of the region, are prominent. More live-stock is found in the Gulf coast region than in any other southern territory. This is especially true of southern Texas and of central and southern Florida. In these sections, however, live-stock is not strictly farm animals but is run on ranges where the native grasses furnish more or less abundant feed.
The section has four more or less valuable hay and pasture plants of identical habits. Three of these are found mainly in the eastern gulf region, the fourth almost wholly in the western. The three in the east are crab-grass, beggarweed (Desmodium tortuosum, also given as illeikmeia tortuosa), and Mexican clover (1?ichardsonia scabra). These all come up volunteer on land that is cultivated in spring and left undisturbed in summer. Frequently two or three of them are found together. Colorado grass, which is found principally in south-central Texas, has the same habits. It is of no importance except on alluvial soils, where volunteer crops sometimes furnish two or three tons of hay per acre. The hay is hard to cure because of its rank growth, but is of excellent quality if cut before it is too ripe. Crab-grass has already been discussed (page 449). It is perhaps more important in the Gulf coast region than it is in the cotton-belt. One farmer in Florida makes a business of produc ing seed of this grass. Beggarweed (Figs. 305-307) is used mostly for pasture and as a cover-crop, though it is sometimes cut for hay and for silage. The silage is said to be of unusually fine quality for dairy cows. [See Beggaruted.] Mexican clover has gradually spread over the eastern half of the Gulf coast region. It is grown only as a volunteer crop. Horses relish it green, but cows do not. All kinds of stock, however, eat the hay readily. In some localities it is an important addition to the forage resources. [See Mexican clore7, page 309.] All of these crops produce feed that costs nothing but the harvesting, and in most cases the stock may do that.
Velvet bean (Mueuna utilis). This crop is not much grown outside of Florida, but it is important there. It occupies the whole season, and is a very rank grower, the vines sometimes reaching sixty feet in length. It is difficult to handle as hay, but a good deal of hay is made from it.