BERMUDA ON POOR SOILS 115 



use in southern Kansas. It is not a grass for arid lands 

 nor for regions of frequent frost. It is essentially a 

 pasture grass, yet under favorable conditions, rich, moist 

 soils, it may be cut for hay several times during the sum- 

 mer. The yield is hard to estimate. Planters have re- 

 ported as much as 4 or more tons to the acre, taken in 

 four or more cuttings. It is a grass that soon gets woody 

 and wiry unless either mown off or grazed close. The 

 closer it is grazed on rich, moist land the better it is. 

 It is said that an acre of well-set Bermuda grass will 

 carry 10 sheep for 10 months. I fear the sheep thus 

 confined would sicken of parasites in less time than that, 

 but it would not be the fault of the grass if they did. 



It has been often said that attention to Bermuda grass 

 would revolutionize the South. This, unfortunately, is 

 not quite easy of accomplishment. It is not true that 

 very productive Bermuda grass would cover all the old 

 cotton fields and gullied hillsides. It might be made 

 to grow there in time, and no other grass would grow 

 there so well, yet there is no mysterious power in Ber- 

 muda grass that will find fertility where it has not been 

 put by Nature or man. On worn soils Bermuda grass 

 will need to be fed. 



Bermuda Grass on Poor Soils. If one has any sort 

 of manure he is indeed fortunate, and no other prepara- 

 tion will be needed than to manure the land, plow it, 

 and plant the sods. The difficulty with the South is, how- 

 ever, that there is usually not much manure available 

 and recourse must be had to other means. A good prepa- 

 ration would be to turn under a crop of cowpeas. The 



