Lesser Importations


lems of dry farming in the West have been pointed out by Dr.
Walter Prescott Webb in his book The Great Plains. The short-
age of suitable plants became obvious during the 1870's, but the
first special appropriation for this work was not made until 1880.
Congress set aside $5,000 for research on the agricultural needs
of the South and the West, and seven years later voted a like sum
to carry on the work. Field investigations were carried out to
discover and introduce suitable forage crops to increase the graz-
ing capacity of arid lands.
 The value of the grain sorghums to the West was recognized.
Native grasses were carefully studied and catalogued by botanists,
and the government planned the dissemination of many varieties.
Japanese lespedeza, a valuable fodder and grazing plant, grew
freely on different soils and was planted extensively in the South.
An Abyssinian grass was reported very good in Texas, and in
other places Russian forage plants, luxuriant in growth, were
considered promising.
 Guinea grass seed were procured through the American consul
at Kingston, Jamaica, and sent to the South in the fall of 1873.
This was the familiar Johnson grass, a valuable grass for hay but
a notorious pest in cultivated fields. The description of these two
grasses was the same: they seeded like millet, grew in bunches,
withstood drouth and heat, and reproduced from both seeds and
roots. Guinea grass had been introduced in Louisiana in 1874,
and two years later it was reported the best grass for Arkansas.
The grass was known as Johnson grass in Alabama in 1873 where
it had been growing for twenty-five years.
 Johnson grass has had many names. A correspondent of the
Southern Cultivator wrote, from Buckhead, South Carolina, in
April, 1848, of a grass called Means' grass which from the de-
scription seems identical with Johnson grass. He stated that "many
years ago" a few seeds were discovered among imported hemp
seed from the Mediterranean by "Means" who planted it in his
garden. After a few years it took possession to the exclusion of
everything else. Means had it dug up root and branch and thrown
into some gullies below his house from which place it became dis-
tributed throughout the entire section of South Carolina. The
grass also was known as Egyptian grass.
 The Silver Skin buckwheat from Germany proved superior in
several respects to the commonly grown varieties. It was well-
adapted to the Pacific Coast and gave superior yields. In 1890 a