254 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



On account of its coarseness and rapid growth, para- 

 grass makes an enormous yield. In Florida it is often cut 

 three and four times during a season, and yields as high 

 as 4 tons may be harvested in a single cutting. There is 

 no particular time to cut para-grass, but it is usually done 

 when the grass is 2 to 3 feet high. The hay is coarse but 

 readily eaten by both horses and cattle. 



To secure the best yields, it is desirable to plow the field 

 each spring, which stimulates the growth of the grass. 

 Some planters sow the plowed land to cowpeas and then 

 get a mixed crop of cowpeas and grass at the first 

 cutting. 



Para-grass is coming into larger use in southern Texas 

 and some extensive fields are now grown under irrigation. 

 Where the climate is warm and moist no other grass 

 produces equally large yields on wet lands. 



This grass is easily propagated by cuttings of the long 

 prostrate runners. These are cut into lengths of 2 or 3 

 joints, and then merely pushed into the ground at intervals 

 of 5 to 10 feet or even more. This may be done on spe- 

 cially prepared land or in between the rows of cultivated 

 crops. During the first season para-grass usually pro- 

 duces only prostrate runners unless the cuttings are 

 planted thickly. After the ground has become well cov- 

 ered with the runners, upright branches are produced, 

 and when growing thickly all the shoots become ascending. 



The seed of para-grass is not very satisfactory, and, as 

 it shatters very readily, is seldom gathered. It is pro- 

 duced most abundantly during dry weather when the 

 growth becomes reduced. 



305. Guinea-grass (Panicum maximum}. Guinea- 

 grass is native to Africa and has been considered native in 

 Brazil, but first became known to botanists from the West 



