32 A TEXT-BOOK OF GRASSES 
latter regions it is of little importance from a commercial 
standpoint, since the climate is too dry for its develop- 
ment without irrigation. Under irrigation, other forage 
crops give better results. Although Bermuda-grass is 
found under a variety of conditions, it is not a shade- 
loving plant and thrives best in open ground. On the 
uplands of the South it leads all other pasture grasses but 
in the moist lowland along streams and along the coast 
it has a few competitors, especially carpet-grass (Par. 
215) and St. Augustine-grass (Par. 223). It withstands 
heat and drought, is aggressive, forming a permanent 
pasture, and is nutritious. Sometimes legumes (espe- 
cially bur clover (Medicago arabica) and Japan clover 
(Lespedeza striata) are combined with Bermuda. 
29. Establishing a Bermuda pasture——There are two 
methods of starting Bermuda: by sowing the seed and by 
planting cuttings. The seed is sown at the rate of six to 
eight pounds to the acre and pressed in with a roller. 
The more usual method is to plant cuttings of the stem or 
pieces of the sod. These are dropped at intervals in shallow 
furrows and covered with a plow or dropped upon a pre- 
pared surface and pressed in with the foot. 
Bermuda-grass is very aggressive, for which reason 
it becomes a bad weed when it invades cultivated fields. 
In cultivated soil it produces hard, vigorous rootstocks 
that give it the name of wire-grass. It can be eradicated 
by plowing in the hot weather of midsummer, or by 
smothering out by means of rank-growing shade crops, 
such as cowpeas. Bermuda-grass does not usually pro- 
duce seed in the United States except in Florida, Arizona 
and California; hence it invades fields slowly and with 
care can be kept out without much difficulty. The com- 
mercial seed is imported. 
