258 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



307. Crab-grass (Digitaria sanguinalis] is a native of 

 the Old World, early introduced into the United States as 

 a weed. The older agricultural writers mostly speak of it 

 as " crop-grass/' of which the more modern term seems to 

 be a corruption. It is an annual weedy grass that appears 

 with the advent of hot weather and is promptly killed by 

 the first frost in fall. It makes an abundant growth in 

 cultivated ground from which winter crops have been 

 harvested, or even after early summer crops, such as oats 

 and potatoes. Perhaps more crab-grass is cut for hay in 

 the South than any other one grass. The hay is consid- 

 ered fair in quality if cut about the time the first heads 

 mature. 



Crab-grass is always a spontaneous crop and is never 

 sown, nor is the seed handled commercially. In lawns it 

 becomes a destructive weed, as it makes dense mats which 

 smother out other grasses. 



308. Natal-grass (Tricholcena rosea) is an annual, 

 native of Natal. South Africa, now grown commonly in 

 India, Australia, the Hawaiian Islands and other warm 

 regions. Sometimes it is called Australian redtop or 

 Hawaiian redtop, but it has no relation to true redtop. 

 It is a summer annual and in America is adapted only to 

 Florida and the Gulf Coast region. The dark rose-colored, 

 loose panicles are very attractive. It is similar to com- 

 mon crab-grass in its habit of growth, but is larger, more 

 leafy and bears moderate frosts with less injury. The 

 best growth is made on rather sandy soils, and in Florida 

 after the ground is once seeded it makes an abundant 

 volunteer growth after Irish potatoes, melons, oats and 

 other early crops have been gathered. It was introduced 

 into Florida about twenty years ago and is now very abun- 

 dant in scattered areas through that state. For fall 



