THE FIELD AND FIRESIDE.
Vol. I.
Shr/irWand .fireside.
rr BMSIIED BY
J, Or. CAMPBELL&CO.
At Out* Dollar a Year.
OFFICE
IN THE OLD PRIXTIXO OEKH K
Building, Powil**!* Springs Struct, M:iii~
t*tfa Georgia.
lAVJI> IKWIN.
YV. A. P. .\rCLATCHKY. T. H. IKWIN.
Irwin, McClatchey &. Irwin,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW.
Mill practice in the Blue Ri<lge. Home,
A piiiiil < oweta circuits,
•arietta, March 13, 1X77. ly
Wit. T. WINN. W11.f.. .1. WINN.
W. T. & W. ,1. WINN,
a 1 La w ,
MARIETTA, GEOROI \
March 13,1877. ly
w. it. poh i:k,
Attorney at Law,
MARIETTA, GA.
WILT. practice in the < 'onrts of Cobli
ami adjacent counties. Collect
ing a specialty. Ottice with Judge A.
X. Simpson, northwest corner of Public
Square. ly
J. E. MOSELY,
% Hornet al Law.
\\T 11. TANARUS, attend to all hits i lies; eon tided
W to him in < “ohh and adjacent coun
ties. Ok kick— in Mot iafchey's Build
ing, up stairs.
Marietta, March 13, 1577. tint
E. M.ALLEN,
Ke*>i<l‘iil Di’lllM,
Of more than twenty years.
< II A ROES 11 E A SOX A II I. K .
OtnrK—Xorth side of Public Square.
Marietta, March 13, 1x77. ly
PH. G. TENNENT,
I’rucl icing Physician.
83P“ Ottice on Cassville street. —Ilesi-
deiice on Cherokee street.
Marietta, March 13,1877. ly
PR. E. J. vSETZE,
Piiy*icinn and Surgeon,
rrtKXDERs his professional services
1 in the practice of Medicine in all
its branches to the citizens of Marietta
and surrounding country. < Mice at the
Drug Store of Win. Root. inch 13—1 y
H. W. GABLsE,
BOOT AM) lr- SHOE MAkLIt
AND REPAIRER.
POWDER SPRIXO STREET,
MARIETTA, GEORGIA.
Work done at very low prices, and war
ranted. March 1, 1877.
Haley Brothers,
CHEROKEE STREET,
Dealers in
GROCERIES, PROVISIONS,
AN I,
fiEXERAT. MERCHAXDIZE.
Marietta, (ia., Mareli 13,1x77. ly
M. li. Lyon,
til Elio KE E sf REE T.
mut 11 V IS 04 ’ KILN.
Agricultural.
Bermuda Brass.
I ITS ORIGIN ANDV.UI K IN Til K SOI Til.
In your issue of the Weekly
\ Courier- bearing date of
the 6th inst., appeared my letter
in reply loan inquiry made thro'
i your coinmnsin regard to Berinu
da grass. Since its publication,
1 have received a number of let
ters from Kentucky, and other
i states, making further inquiries
relative to this peerless grass, its
growth, yield and advantages
over other grasses. 1 have chosen
to reply to many of these letters
the columns of the Courier Jour
uul) inasmuch as my attention is
so closely occupied at present as
to force me to forego the pleasure
of answering many of them thro'
the regular channel of epistolary
correspondence.
In the beginning of this letter,
1 desire to say 1 am not endeavor
ing to create a sensation ora de
maud for this grass that will ad
vanee my pecuniary interest, but,
on the contrary, to introduce a
grass into a stock country that
will eventually prove of para
mount value to those engaged in
such an enterprise.
In view, then, of these facts, 1
have chosen this medium to com
munieate my knowledge of Ber
muda grass to those who have al
ready intimated their desire to
trv it* etc.
Bermuda grass, when iirsi in
treduced into lids part of Missis
sippi, was brought by car loads lo
plant on railroad embankments to
prevent them from washing, and
has proven to lie an infallible
preventive.
It was imported from the island
of Bermuda in North America.—
A geographical examination will
show this island to he situated in
latitude 33 degrees, and Clinton,
Mississippi, is 32. In view of the
fact that il grew luxuriantly in a
more northern iatitude when ii
was scattered on these embank
ments, lam forced to believe it
will grow in other more northern
states.
Asa forage for stock, it is e
qual, if not superior, to red clo
ver, because it is of an everlast
ing growth, and not quite so
woody. Il furnishes tine grazing
for ealtle, sheep, hogs, Ac. during
the winter in this climate, and
with a favorable spring can be
mown as early as April. Il re
sembles blue grass in foliage, and
grows from six to fifteen inches in
height, and so dense that it is dif
ficult to cut it with a scythe. It
is so tenacious of life and of such
vigorous growth, that it is regard
ed among some classes of cotton
planters as a great pest. Il grows
luxuriantly in a lazy farmer's cot
ton fields, when the cotton is too
young, and under these circum
stances crowds it out.
It was brought here twenty five
years ago. and for reasons stated
above it soon became unpopular
with 1 lie more indolent classes of
cotton planters, while the indus
trious and successful planters
claim that it is very valuable, be
nutritious food
MARIETTA. GEORGIA. NOVEMBER 27, 187 J
may be planted in a field of sedge,
other grasses or weeds, and it w ill
eventually crowd them out ; and
no other implement of a less ra
pacity than a tw’o-horse plow can
turn over the grass-soil. It flour
ishes here when planted in any
season of the year, but in Ken
tucky, North Alabama, and more
northern States, I do not think it
would grow only when planted in
spring or summer.
As to the advantages il has o
ver other grasses, 1 am unprepar
ed to set forth in full ; however,
I will venture to submit a few of
its claims, etc.:
First—The roots are as large as
wheat straw, measuring from two
to five feet in length, running in
every conceivable direction, and
in the spring, when the root joints
sends out a sprite or shoot, that
portion of the root between the
joints decays and enriches vour
land.
Second—Because it can he cut
three or four times per annum and
will yield from <hreo to five tons
of hay.
Third—it will enrich land, and
flourish under constant pasturing
of cattle and sheep.
Fourth—Because it will grow
(unlike all other grasses) when
once planted until you kill it by
constant plowing in mid winter or
summer.
Prior to the introduction of the
Bermuda grass into this country,
the fearful malady of murrain,
dry murrain,bloody murrain, stag
gers. etc. prevailed among cattle,
but now such a disease is scarcely
known to cattle raisers. The dis
appearance of these ealtle dis
eases is imputed to the fact that
Bermuda grass grows luxuriantly
during the entire summer and fall
seasons, so that there is eompari
lively no dry or decayed grass for
them to eat to produce these dis
eases. lam of the opinion that
it will act as a preventive in sec
lions where cattle are alHicted
with the above maladies. This
conclusion is based upon the fact
that when other grasses are per
isliing from excessive drouth, this
grass will be found to retain its
green color, and a dose investiga
tion will show the earth moist
w here it grows. This grass grows
so dense as to protect the roots
from heat, and the roots are so
compact as to retain the moisture
in the earth. Upon Ibis hypoth
esis, and in view of its willing
ness to grow, spread and crowd
out weeds, etc. and flourish when
under ordinary pasturing. 1 am
prompted to recommend it to
others who need such a grass in
their enterprises. It can not be
made a commodity in this com
niunity, because it grows so spoil
taneously,and covers an unknown
number of acres of land.
Again permit me to say that I
will send to any person wishing
to propagate this grass, a small
package of the sod without com
pensation. When 1 say compen
sation, I do not intend to be un
derstood to say I will pay express
charges for transportation, but
simply that 1 will put it in a box
and start it forward. The express
agent holds me responsible for
the amount of charges incurred
■■Mursiiortatiou. nndJ^BHKHfi
rarely deficient, are tor that rea
son less prominent among the
factors of a crop. If any single
substance, be it phosphoric acid,
or sulphuric acid, or potash, or
magnesia, is lacking in a given
soil at a certain time, that sub
stance is then and for that soil the
most important ingredient. From
the point of view of natural abun
dance, we may safely state that,
on the whole, available nitrogen
and phosphoric acid are the most
important ingredients of the soil,
and potash, perhaps, takes the
next rank. These are, most com
monly, the substances whose ab
sence or deficiency impairs fertili
ty, and are those w hich, when ad
ded as ferti liters, produce the
most frequent and remarkable in
crease of productiveness. In a
multitude of special cases, how
ever, sulphuric aeid, or lime, or
magnesia, assumes the chief pro
minenec, w hile in many instances
it is scarcely possible to make out
a crop producing value for one of
these substances over several oth
ers. Again, those ingredients of
the soil which could be spared for
all that they immediately contri
bute to the nourishment of crops,
are often the chief factors of fer
tility on account of their indirect i
action, or because they supply
some necessary physical condi
tions. This humus is not in any
way essential to the growth of
agricultural plants, for plants
have been raised to full perfec
tion without it; yet in the soil it
has immense value practically,
since among other reasons it
stores and supplies w ater and ad
missible nitrogen. Again, gravel
may not be in any sense nufriti
tious, vet because it acts as a re
servoir of heat and promotes
drainage, it may be one of the
most important components of a j
soil.
I'otush as an Ingredient
OK MAN IRKS.
Interest is being rapidly excit
ed on this side of tin* Atlantic
with regard to the action of pot
ash to mixed manures, as is alrea
dy practiced in Europe on a great
scale, and with excellent results,
advantage being taken of the vast
deposits of mineral potash dis
covered a few years ago to the
smith of .Magdeburg, in Prussia
Saxony.
That benefit is to he expected
from the application of potash as
a fertilizer, is fully show'll by a
glance at any good list of analyses
of the mineral matter removed
from the soil by our commonly
cultivated plants—thus we find,
in round numbers, in the ash of
I'Kit CIKNT.
OK KOTABII.
Wheat, grain. 31
Bariev. •• 22
Oats,' •• 10
Buckwheat, u 23
Indian Corn. 27
Rice. 18
Peas, seed, 40
Beans, “ 40
Swedish turnips, roots. 51
Garden turnips. “ 39
Beets, “ 53 „
Potatoes.
i -“iii
ill.! i! , - ! ;
no oi iii. I iii
a \cn I;ir-1 niiml
Peruvian gives bVHHOT
nia. phosphoric acid and lime;
raw hone and lish substances af
ford tin* same substances in other
proportions ; the host of •• plms
pliatie guanos" (Nevass, Redon
da, Sombrero, and the like,) give
us phosphoric acid and lime; iand
plaster consists of sulphuric acid
| and lime; the manufactured ‘♦su
perphosphates'' yield phosnhm'jc
acid, lime and sulphuric
lime is ;i 111111 <I; 1111 ly :
iis as burnt lime,
calcareous marl, I ula, etjji Mag
nesia, also a constant
of plants, has been, a
good deal neglected, com
ing in incidentally with lime in
several of its forms.
I'.xi V |>| a- wood ashes, .i 11< I in
this condition but sparingly, pot
asli can hardly lie said, until laic
l.v, to have been included in the
list of fertilizing materials,though
it occurs, and in relatively good
proportion, in the article of that
most valuable of all fertilizers,
properly-saved stable manure.
Tlu* obvious reason has been
that the commercial price of pot
ash was too high—il was practi
cally unattainable upon a scnlfl
commensurate with the dcmarJH
of the world.
d’lie discovery of very large bedfij
of mineral salts of potash overj
lying.rock salt, at Stassfurt,*(
Prussia, has greatly changed
state of ail'airs, and now', after buU
a few years of working these
posits, potash, though still a
liable substance, has become ac- 1
eessible to the farmer as well as j
the manufacturer on a much lar 1
ger scale, and at much reduced
prices.
The leading idea to be borne in
mind is t hat t hose pot ash It s aro j
not of themselves all sufficient
and independent manures—are
not rivals of bone dust, plaster,
lime, nr fertilizers yielding ammo ,
nia—but are simply most valua
ble additions to these, supplying;
that which they do not contain,
and cannot be made to yield.
Spin your Own Cotton.
Forty years ago. it would have
been deemed absurd if any one
had predicted that almost every
planter would have to day his own
gin power and packing screw to
gin and pack his crop. In those
days of wagoning, crops were
hauled to Kivvn and sold in the
seed. Now, except in those cases
where amendment clad fellow
citizens confuse the rights of pro
pertv and sell seed cotton which
never belonged to them, no scad
cotton is sold. It is all ginned.
The saving in transportation and
the increased facilities of trans
portation, are among the strong
est evidence of the mechanical
progress of our time.
Why may we not go a step fur
ther, attach spinning machinery
to our gin power, and send our
cotton to market in the shape of
thread? Il would • r ' ’
to shipal^^^^^^^^^*
■ T' 5 ' V- '• -r, tt r T
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SB||WHm Mn 11 it■ K
mil -nli ®g|ifl
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mil' .i" iin i :i II I.i Imr
■'ln i•< ■i > . ami In' .'..nl.'ijmi
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i'i rl.lni, ', irin
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prolu Mi' l li;il iin , Hggg§
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Slock liaising SoulflH
i i"hi ami-- i>r s "'iHi | I'lyflH^S
I'.im' 11"111 "1
m III" way "I mil urn! i'4HH
limy tail t<> utilize.
who live •' ; r || fVß|
v !"> li.i \ " I -iiinnmi I’.mJHH
' •' 1 1 I'' nail Imr r . \\ Im In
w.ii'i i r.Him- for hog-, vet®, ii
limn -1 - | >'' 11 < I ,i lino Ii ■ 111 i
I'ollon ,iml ri' c lor ;i ip.
io. | i|i.'. ,' - KQM
"Ii Inn mo i' ii"lill , ri'iii^t ; ;‘s+'" I 'J|
1 11'"■ Mii'v i"-o ,i ii-w ii (|,^HHH|
i'llo|oi':i. ,11"! Imr o- .mil iSHH
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Iff lin f \ ori' went Imr Tli^nßH
III',- I Im .-lock I 111- i III'O'. TlmvHU
clan*, I hen, it won't pay to
stock. Now, if these farmem
would provide themselves with
lew acres of meadow, and have
plenty of hay to feed their stock
regularly in the winter, they
would come home every night,
miss tin* high water, not he stun
ted in their growth, nor die for
want of a little attention in se
vere weather. Stock should hdl
salted regularly, too. SumnlH
pasturage for hogs should also IkP
*rvvbVA,r I’yj'Jtajiß white clover
MARIETTA, CJEO. ‘ ’ A
okai.kk in
lam iI > U roerries!
