286 Practical Farming 



Paspalum The genus Paspalum includes some grasses 



Dilatatum ^j value and one or two that are merely 

 pests. This variety, called the hairy Paspalum is a 

 native of this country from Virginia southward. It 

 grows from two to five feet high and promises to be a 

 valuable grass both for hay and pasture in the South. 

 Tramping by cattle seems to improve it and it makes a 

 tough and enduring sod and has become greatly valued in 

 Texas. It is best increased by the nmning stems as the 

 seed has a low germinating power. As a pasture grass 

 for the South I consider it far inferior to Bermuda, but it 

 will make a heavier hay crop on moist land, where it is 

 best suited. 



This has sometimes been called Louisiana grass, and is 



found in all the Gulf States, and has crept north as far as 



central North Carolina in small amount. 



aspa um j^ j^^^ ^j^^ heQn called carpet grass from its 



Platycaule . ^ ^ , 



close mattmg character. It grows best on 



low moist land, but is also said to stand droughty condi- 

 tions fully as well as Bermuda. It seems to be a valuable 

 pasture grass in the sandy soils of Florida and the Gulf 

 Coast, but northward the Bermuda will be a great deal 

 better. 



This is an annual grass commonly known as crab grass 



and fall grass, and in all the northern parts of the country 



is esteemed a pest, especially in its persistent 



amcum habit of getting on the lawns in the late 



Sanguihale i 



summer and crowding out the perennial 



grasses. But in the South it attains a great value as a 



hay crop. On the heavily fertilized land of the market 



gardens in the South Atlantic States, the crab grass comes 



