REPORT ON GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 165 
CYNODON DACTYLON—Bermuda grass, Wire grass. 
Description —A low, creeping perennial grass, with abundant short 
leaves at the base, sparingly sending up slender, nearly leafless flower 
stalks, with 3 to5 slender, diverging spikes at the summit. The flowers 
are arranged in a close row along one side of these spikes. The spike- 
lets are one-flowered, with a short pedicelledrudiment of a second flower. 
The glumes are pointed, but without awns; the lower palet  boat- 
shaped. 
Habit and uses.—This grass is a native of Europe, and is abundantly 
naturalized in many other countries. It is said to bea common pasture 
grass in the West Indies. In the Southern States it has long been the 
chief reliance for pasture, and has been extravagantly praised by some, 
and cursed by others who find it difficult to eradicate it when once es- 
tablished. Its properties have been very fully discussed in southern 
journals, particularly in the “ Manual of Grasses,” by Mr. C. W. Howard, 
and in the ‘Grasses of Tennessee,” by Prof. Killebrew. Mr. C. Mohr 
Says: 
It thrives in the arid, barren drift sands of the sea-shore, covering them by its long, 
creeping stems, whose deeply penetrating roots impart firmness to a soil which else 
would remain devoid of vegetation. It is esteemed one of the most valuable of our 
grasses, cither in the pasture or cured as hay. 
Col. T. C. Howard, of Georgia, says: 
The desideratum to the South is a grass that is perennial, nutritious, and adapted 
to the climate. While we have grasses and forage plants that do well when nursed, 
we have few that live and thrive here as in their native habitat. The Bermuda and 
Crab grasses are-at home inthe South. They not only live, but live in spite of neglect, 
and when petted and encouraged they make such grateful returns as astonish the 
benefactor. 
It seems that it rarely ripens any seed, and the usual method of repro- 
ducing it is to chop up the roots with a cutting-knife, sow them broad- 
cast, and plow under shallow. Colonel Lane says: 
Upon our ordinary upland I have found no difficulty in destroying it by close culti- 
vation in cotton for two years. It requires a few extra plowings to get the sod 
thoroughly broken to pieces. 
Professor KGllebrew writes: 
‘In Louisiana, Texas, and the South generally it is, and has been, the chief reliance 
for pasture for a long time, and the immense herds of cattle on the southern prairies 
subsist principally on this food. It revels on sandy soils, and has been grown exten- 
sively on the sandy hills of Virginia and North and South Carolina. It is used ex- 
tensively on the southern rivers to hold the levees and the embankments of the roads. 
It will throw its runners over a rock six feet across, and soon hide it from view, or it 
will run down the sides of the deepest gully and stop its washing. Hogs thrive upon 
its succulent roots, and horses and cattle upon its foliage. It has the capacity to with- 
stand any amount of heat and drought, and months that are so dry as to check the 
a os Blue grass will only make the Bermuda greener and more thrifty. (See 
ate 5, 
. Proximate analyses of Cynodon dactylon (Bermuda grass, Wire grass, Scutch grass). 
No. 1 from Georgia, No. 2 from Alabama. 
Nori No. 2. 
Per cent. Per cent 
CORN). bey eR ye Cn SEL HATE re OL Ulan ORE ES ARE Dn oe 1. 86 1.23 
VRYINES 5 SS a RS ES SO ORE A EC Be SE ONS NEB OC ite . 36 . 36 
SSE TS 2 Sap a SEES Ane AU le PE oe Sa Se ICO OR Ye A 6. 56 8.17 
CCAM RATT NOSE RIL 25: 3 2 PN er ie pc eS NW ge 9, 29 B59 
Pe MORE rei 355 lei TUN Se DER LE tee oe ho ih a 94,55 2a BY 
AmtlaceousmCelhmloseuaay ee. ark element ones a oe a 27.43 29, 30 
ANISM PIERS GRE CF SERIO SO SNE oa Yh 2 a 12, 64 12.23 
IA DUMINOIGSi ose eelee ee os SpA tet ARIE RG A NU ke) aM a yao Tah, 1h 13. 59 
BREST =< ee pane rere ar ten Minty ER A A yee aN ee ene aah 6.16 7.96 
