32 A TEXT-BOOK OF GRASSES 



latter regions it is of little importance from a commercial 

 standpoint, since the climate is too dry for its develop- 

 ment without irrigation. Under irrigation, other forage 

 crops give better results. Although Bermuda-grass is 

 found under a variety of conditions, it is not a shade- 

 loving plant and thrives best in open ground. On the 

 uplands of the South it leads all other pasture grasses but 

 in the moist lowland along streams and along the coast 

 it has a few competitors, especially carpet-grass (Par. 

 215) and St. Augustine-grass (Par. 223). It withstands 

 heat and drought, is aggressive, forming a permanent 

 pasture, and is nutritious. Sometimes legumes (espe- 

 cially bur clover {Medicago arabica) and Japan clover 

 (Lespedeza striata) are combined with Bermuda. 



29. Establishing a Bermuda pasture. — There are two 

 methods of starting Bermuda: by sowing the seed and by 

 planting cuttings. The seed is sown at the rate of six to 

 eight pounds to the acre and pressed in with a roller. 

 The more usual method is to plant cuttings of the stem or 

 pieces of the sod. These are dropped at intervals in shallow 

 furrows and covered with a plow or dropped upon a pre- 

 pared surface and pressed in with the foot. 



Bermuda-grass is very aggressive, for which reason 

 it becomes a bad weed when it invades cultivated fields. 

 In cultivated soil it produces hard, vigorous rootstocks 

 that give it the name of wire-grass. It can be eradicated 

 by plowing in the hot weather of midsummer, or by 

 smothering out by means of rank-growing shade crops, 

 such as cowpeas. Bermuda-grass does not usually pro- 

 duce seed in the United States except in Florida, Arizona 

 and California; hence it invades fields slowly and with 

 care can be kept out without much difficulty. The com- 

 mercial seed is imported. 



