306 FIELD CROPS 



of herbage which is produced is large. The flowers are 

 borne in one-flowered spikelets in one-sided spikes, the cuhns 

 producing from three to five of these spikes. The seed sel- 

 dom matures in the United States, most of that which is 

 sown being imported from Austraha. Bermuda grass can 

 not be grown successfully north of Virginia, Tennessee, 

 Arkansas, and Oklahoma. 



398. Cultivation. Bermuda grass will grow on almost 

 any soil, though it makes a stronger and more vigorous 

 growth on fertile loam than on any other type. It requires 

 a liberal supply of water for its best growth and is not par- 

 ticularly resistant to long droughts. Unlike blue grass, how- 

 ever, it continues to grow during the hottest months of 

 summer, even though droughts occur. As the seed is scarce 

 and high in price, new fields are usually started from small 

 pieces of sod. The sod is plowed just beneath the surface, 

 not more than 2 or 3 inches deep, and the strips are then cut 

 or broken into small pieces. These soon take root when 

 planted and the running stems form a solid turf by the end 

 of the season. In making lawns, it is customary to set these 

 pieces of sod about a foot apart each way in well-prepared 

 soil. In field culture, the land need not be so carefulty pre- 

 pared and the sods may be placed at greater intervals. If 

 they are dropped in furrows 18 inches to 2 feet apart each 

 way and covered by plowing the furrows shut or by dragging, 

 they will soon start into growth and will completely cover 

 the ground in a year. The best time to do this planting is 

 in the spring after danger of frost is past. Hay meadows 

 are improved by plowing or disking eveiy few years and 

 then harrowing down level again, for they are Hkely to become 

 sodbound and unproductive if left undisturbed. 



399. Uses. Bermuda grass is to the South what Ken- 

 tucky blue grass is to the North, the most important pasture 

 grass. It is perhaps not quite so nutritious as blue grass, 

 but it produces an abundance of pasture throughout the 



