The BuLLETix 



19 



Crab Grass. DIgitaria sanguinalis ( L.) Scop. 



Known also as Finger Grass or Crowfoot Gross. A ratlier coarse 

 annual grass, with stems about three feet high when erect, hut usuall.v 

 sprawling on the ground and rooting at the joints. Spikes slender, about 

 five inches long, borne four or tive together at the summit of the stem. 

 Seeds small, oval, yellowish-green, wooly. Found throughout the State. 

 July and August. 



CONTROL 



Crab Grass is the one implacable enemy of all lawns, alfalfa fields, 

 and cultivated cro]is in North raioliua. and about the only sure method 

 of control is to prevent seed- 

 ing by thorough cultivation. 

 It seeds profusely and comes 

 from the seed each year. 

 Mowing lawns to ]irevent 

 seeding is not entirely suc- 

 cessful as some of the stems 

 will lie almost flat on the 

 ground and make seed in 

 spite of close clipping witii 

 the lawn mower. Land in 

 tended for alfalfa and laA\ms 

 should be fallowed during 

 the summer jireceding the 

 spring jilanting. The land 

 should be gone over by a 

 weeder or a harrow as often 

 as the small crab grass 

 plants show themselves 

 above ground. Persistence 

 in this practice will kill 

 most, or all, of the crab 

 grass seeds in the soil before 

 the cro]) is pitched. 



Crab grass would always 

 be welcome in hay fields but 

 for the fact that seeds may 

 be scattered through the 

 manure from animals fed 

 with the hay. This grass'in 

 the pastures is, however, not 

 only harmless, but makes a 

 most palatable and nutri- 

 tious feed for cattle. 



No. 16. 



Cbab Grass oe Dioitaria saxouinalis 

 (L) Scop. 



