Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T18:09:56.321Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Introduction and Spread of Johnsongrass in the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

C. G. McWhorter
C. G. McWhorter*
Affiliation:
Plant Sci. Res. Div., Agr. Res. Serv., U. S. Dep. of Agr., Stoneville, Mississippi 38776
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An extensive search of the literature and records was conducted to determine when and how johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers.) was introduced into the United States. Previous authors surmised that johnsongrass was imported from the Mediterranean area, but my search revealed that no agriculturist from the United States had worked in the Mediterranean region before 1840. Although Dr. James B. Davis assisted the Turkish Empire in cotton culture in the 1840's, there is evidence that johnsongrass was grown throughout the Southeast by 1830 if not before. Documentation of the initial introduction and distribution was hampered by the use of more than 40 common names for this weed in the nineteenth century. At least eight different Latin names were used to identify johnsongrass in the 1800's. The use of johnsongrass as a common name on a national basis resulted from a letter written by Herbert Post of Selma, Alabama, in 1874 to George Vasey, an employee of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in Washington. In 1880, John Haralson of Selma, Alabama, wrote to D. L. Phares of Woodville, Mississippi, that johnsongrass was the common name used in his area. These letters were published in the Monthly Report of the U. S. Department of Agriculture and in Farmers Book of Grasses, respectively; the wide attention that these received resulted in the common name of johnsongrass. The name was derived from that of William Johnson, a farmer of Marion Junction, Alabama, who presumably introduced it into Alabama. By the late nineteenth century, the presence of johnsongrass was almost nationwide. Many reports testify to the severity of the problem caused by this weed in the late 1800's. Its pernicious nature led to the first Federal appropriation specifically for weed control in 1900, and to the first report on johnsongrass control, prepared by C. R. Ball in 1902.

Type
Research Article
Information
Weed Science , Volume 19 , Issue 5 , September 1971 , pp. 496 - 500
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

1. Affleck, Thomas. 1850. Hay–Essay on grasses for the South. p. 156. In The Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the Year 1849, Part II. Agriculture (Washington, D.C.).Google Scholar
2. Anonymous. 1889. Alabama Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 6 (New Series). 7 p.Google Scholar
3. Ball, Carleton R. 1902. Johnson Grass: Report of investigations made during the season of 1901. U. S. Dep. of Agr., Bur. of Plant Ind. Bull. 11. 24 p.Google Scholar
4. Bor, N. L. The grasses of Burma, Ceylon, India, and Pakistan, excluding Bambuseae. Pergamon Press, New York. 767 p.Google Scholar
5. Briggs, Glenn. 1922. Sorghums in Guam. Guam Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 3. Washington. 144 p.Google Scholar
6. Buffum, B. C. 1893. Grasses and forage plants. Wyoming Exp. Sta. Bull. 16. 28 p.Google Scholar
7. Catton, Bruce. 1965. Never Call Retreat. (Centennial History of the Civil War, Vol. 3). Doubleday, Garden City, N. Y. 433 p.Google Scholar
8. Clark, W. A., Hinson, W. G., and Duncan, D. P. 1916. James Bolton Davis, p. 223–229. In History of the State Agricultural and Mechanical Society of South Carolina (1839–1845). R. L. Bryan Co., Columbia, S.C. Google Scholar
9. Coville, Frederick V. 1896. Weed investigations, p. 96–97. In Ann. Rep. of the Secretary of Agr. (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington).Google Scholar
10. Cozier, A. A. 1894. Millet. Michigan Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 117. 64 p.Google Scholar
11. Dowdey, Clifford, 1960. The land they fought for: The South as the Confederacy. Doubleday, Garden City, N.Y. 385 p.Google Scholar
12. Galloway, B. T. 1901. Extermination of johnson and other noxious grasses, p. 73. In Ann. Rep. of the U.S. Dep. of Agr. (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington).Google Scholar
13. Galloway, B. T. 1904. Johnson grass, p. 128–129. In Ann. Rep. of the U.S. Dep. of Agr. (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington). 560 p.Google Scholar
14. Hamilton, K. C. 1969. Repeated, foliar applications of herbicides on johnsongrass. Weed Sci. 17:245–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15. Holm, L. 1969. Weed problems in developing countries. Weed Sci. 17:113–118.Google Scholar
16. Howard, C. W. 1875. A manual of the cultivation of the grasses and forage plants at the South. Walker, Evans, and Cogswell, Charleston, S.C. 30 p.Google Scholar
17. Lamson-Scribner, F. 1900. New lines of work, p. 89–90. In Ann. Rep. of the U.S. Dep. of Agr. (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington).Google Scholar
18. LeDuc, William G. 1897. Distribution of seeds, p. 32–38. In Ann. Rep. of the Comm. of Agr. for 1878. (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington).Google Scholar
19. Loudon, J. C. 1844. An Encyclopedia of Agriculture, 5th ed. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, London. 1375 p.Google Scholar
20. McWhorter, C. G. 1971. Growth and development of johnsongrass ecotypes. Weed Sci. 19:141–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21. McWhorter, C. G. 1971. Control of johnsongrass ecotypes. Weed Sci. 19:229–233.Google Scholar
22. Phares, D. L. 1881. Farmers Book of Grasses. J. C. Hill Printing Co., Starkville, Miss. 148 p.Google Scholar
23. Piper, Charles V. 1928. Cultivated grasses of secondary importance. U.S. Dep. of Agr. Farmers Bull. 1433. 42 p.Google Scholar
24. Shepherd, J. S. and Williams, T. A. 1895. Native and introduced forage plants in South Dakota. South Dakota Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 40. 208 p.Google Scholar
25. Smith, N. D. 1850. Hay, p. 293. In the Agricultural Report for 1849, Report of the Commissioner of Patents (Washington, D.C.).Google Scholar
26. Snowden, J. D. 1936. The Cultivated Races of Sorghum. Adlard and Som, Ltd., London. 240 p.Google Scholar
27. True, A. C. 1910. Report of the Director of the Office of Experiment Stations (Guam Station), p. 756. In The Ann. Rep. of the U.S. Dep. of Agr. for the year ending June 30, 1910. (Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.).Google Scholar
28. Vasey, George. 1875. Johnson grass, p. 379–380. In Monthly Report of the U.S. Dep. of Agr. for August and September, 1874 (Botanical Notes). (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington).Google Scholar
29. Vasey, George. 1875. Johnson grass, p. 158. In the Report of the Botanist, Monthly Reports of the U.S. Dep. of Agr. for the Year 1874. (Washington, D.C.).Google Scholar
30. Vasey, George. 1882. Johnson Grass, p. 239–240. In the Report of the Botanist Ann. Rep. of the Comm. of Agr. for 1881–1882. (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington).Google Scholar
31. Vasey, George, 1884. The agricultural grasses of the United States. U.S. Dep. of Agr. Rep. 32. Washington. 144 p.Google Scholar
32. Vasey, George, 1885. Johnson Grass in Montana, p. 74–75. In the Report of the Botanist, U.S. Agr. Rep. for 1885. (Washington, D.C.).Google Scholar
33. Vasey, George. 1887. Special grasses and forage plants for the South and Southwest–Johnson Grass, Sorghum Halepense, p. 15–18 of Bull. 3. In Special Reports, Misc., and Statistical (Vol. 14) of the U.S. Dep. of Agr. (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington).Google Scholar
34. Vasey, George and Collier, Peter. 1879. Report of the Botanist and Chemist on grasses and forage plants, p. 168–169. In the Ann. Rep. of the U.S. Comm. of Agr. for 1878. (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington).Google Scholar
35. Watts, Fredrick. 1873. Grasses-tests of the Department on Seeds, p. 237–240. In the Rep. of the U.S. Comm. of Agr. for the year 1873 (Washington, D.C.).Google Scholar