In December number of Gardeners' Monthly, a correspondent from Charleston inquires about the planting out of Bermuda grass. The usual mode is by chopping the root stems into small pieces, so that they have one or two buds to each piece. A feed chopper would answer the purpose very well, if pieces are not cut too small.

As a lawn grass Bermuda has the objection of being top-killed in winter. When well set, it forms a beautiful green carpet all summer, but at the time when it is most wanted to relieve the dreariness of the winter aspect, it is only a surface of dead, dry leaves. A good lawn grass has long been a desideratum to the Southern country; something that will stand our hot and dry summers, and retain its green foliage in winter. It is believed that the question has now been solved, at least for the sea-coast region, in the use of one of our native grasses, Stenotaphrum Americanum (Rottboellia dimidiata of the old botanists). This grass grows all along our coast region, forms running root stems like Bermuda and strikes root at every joint, with a broad flat-lying leaf, of a rich green color, and spreads rapidly on good soil. It has a more prostrate habit than Bermuda, and forms a really beautiful sward.

The large Marion square in Charleston, covering several acres, is set in the grass, and there are numerous other smaller lawns of it about the city. So far it seems to meet all the requirements of a superior lawn grass in that region. The question now is, how far in the interior will it flourish. Will it bear successful removal from the damp saline atmosphere of the sea-coast?

We are giving it a trial here in Aiken, 120 miles inland. The growth of our trial patches during the past summer, (with a very dry autumn) is all that could be desired. If it stands over our winter weather - a few degrees colder than the same latitude on the coast - we will be encouraged in the belief that we have, at last, a superior lawn grass for the South. Aiken, S. C.