PASTURAGE. 263 



roots and leaf-blades much faster than can be done by- 

 turning under cow-peas or other green stuff, and at the 

 same time yield abundance of forage or pasture for stock. 



"It is just impossible to get rid of it," say^ some of the 

 never-to-be-satisfied individuals, of whom the world is full. 

 Well, who wants to get rid of it ? Certainly not he who 

 owns a cow or horse, or who desires a beautiful green lawn 

 before his house. 



It is difficult to kill out once it has a fair start ; no doubt 

 of that ; and therein lies one of its greatest claims to ex- 

 cellence rather than the opposite. Its very persistence is 

 so much the more in its favor, since it is to this quality 

 that its exceeding value as a meadow-grass is due. Year 

 after year it may be cropped by cattle and yet not suffer, 

 while the majority of pastures are ruined by successive 

 croppings. 



All that a Bermuda-grass hay-field asks for is an occa- 

 sional top-dressing of stable manure, land-plaster, or com- 

 mercial fertilizer ; and these it must have, since a grass of 

 such vigorous growth, constantly cut and removed, will 

 necessarily use up all the available plant-food within reach, 

 and then, if more is not supplied, it can but suffer from 

 starvation, just as a human being would do in like circum- 

 stances. This, as w^e have said, is where the grass is cut as 

 hay and taken off the field. But where cattle are turned 

 upon it the case is different. A considerable amount of 

 fertilizing material is deposited, and a great deal of the 

 grass is left to die down and rot. All the attention that a 

 Bermuda-grass pasture needs (unless set on very poor land, 

 and then it will require a top-dressing every two or three 

 years) is to plow it once in about four y^ears, to loosen up 

 the mass of roots and prevent it from becoming sod-bound. 

 Tall-growing weeds should be carefully cut down for the 

 first year or two before going to seed in fields of Bermuda 



