112 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



that it is often old and of poor vitality when sold. Sheep 

 fescue has much value for poor pastures unable to hold 

 bluegrass. Sheep fescue is really a very good grass on 

 pretty good clay soil. In making a mixture for poor 

 soils I should include sheep fescue and perhaps some 

 of the other species, while for good soils I should in- 

 clude meadow fescue. 



Bermuda Grass (Capriola dactylon). Bermuda grass 

 is a low, creeping grass, found in the South, usually no 

 more than i high, though on rich soils it may be as 

 much as 2'. It spreads rapidly by means of underground 

 stems and above ground will send out stolons or long 

 runners that strike root at each joint. In this manner 

 it rapidly covers the ground. It is propagated by plant- 

 ing chopped-up bits of sod, and from its rapid spread 

 when conditions are right it soon has possession of the 

 land. Bermuda grass is sometimes propagated by seed, 

 but as the seed is very costly and of uncertain germina- 

 tion, it is far more profitable to plant the roots. I have 

 sown a great deal of seed under what seemed favorable 

 conditions without getting more than 10 in a million 

 to make plants. To plant the roots fortunately is easy. 

 One need only plow shallow furrows through a Bermuda 

 sod, with a spade cut the sod into bits as large as bis- 

 cuits, throw them into a wagon or into barrels and take 

 them to the field where they may be planted as One would 

 plant potatoes, only covering not so deep. The better 

 the land the better the Bermuda grass. It will grow, 

 however, on rather thin soils, if it must. It is well in 

 planting it to make a good seedbed by plowing and 



