WEEDY GRASSES l6l 



sod should be left uncut anywhere. Afterwards it is well 

 to disk the field both ways to pack the soil. The plowing 

 and disking greatly reduce the vitality of the grass but 

 do not entirely destroy it. The complete destruction 

 must be done by subsequent tillage through one or more 

 years. In order not to lose the use of the land during 

 this time it is best to plan a rotation of crops suited to 

 the locality. Plowing in August, allowing to lie fallow, 

 and plowing again in late fall, greatly facilitates the 

 destruction the following year. A smother-crop like 

 buckwheat or millet is often efficacious in killing out the 

 pest the next season, especially if there has been har- 

 rowing or other culture in the spring before these crops 

 are planted. If a cultivated crop, such as corn follows 

 the plowing, careful tillage with some hand work will 

 usually completely eradicate quack grass. 



Nut grass ( Cyperus rotundus) is a sedge and not a true 

 grass. It is a common weed of lawns and fields in the 

 Cotton Belt. Nut grass has 3-ranked leaves and propa- 

 gates by corms or tubers, the so-called nuts. These 

 corms are about 1/2 inch long, somewhat ovoid or oblong, 

 dark brown, and are connected with the main plants by 

 slender rootstocks. The corms may be buried a few 

 inches or even as much as a foot. The plant cannot be 

 eradicated by cutting off the tops. It is necessary to 

 plow up the ground and carefully remove all the corms, 

 or the infested portion can be planted to some shading 

 crop, such a cowpea, and the nut grass smothered 

 out 



