264 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



designed for hay-making. After that the grass will rocft 

 out all weeds for itself. In pastures there are few weeds 

 that the cattle may not be left to take care of. 



Bermuda grass will grow six to thirty inches high, ac- 

 cording to the quality of the soil ; a well-filled tract, about 

 twelve inches high, will yield over one ton of cured hay at 

 each cutting per acre, and it can be cut two or three times 

 a year. Which it may be — twice or three times a year — 

 depends not only on the amount of food this vigorous grass 

 can obtain, but also on the humidity or dryness of the 

 season, for Bermuda is, as we have said, a great lover of 

 water and can not long resist drouth ; here in truthr is its 

 one fault ; but happily, so remarkable is the facility of our 

 Florida soil for retaining moisture during the dryest sea- 

 sons, that her pastures rarely indeed suffer from the effects 

 of drouth ; but when they do, it is the Bermuda that shows 

 its effects most quickly, though it recuperates as soon as 

 the rains begin again. 



Bermuda grass, intended for hay, should be cut at the 

 very first indication of the stems turning yellow^ and dead- 

 looking at the base. If not cured at this period the next 

 cutting will be injured, and, moreover, so far delayed that 

 it may be lost entirely ; and, besides this, if the grass is 

 allowed to become too old it becomes very tough, and is 

 not only hard to cut but is less nutritious. It is very easily 

 cured, and this is a great point in its favor. A few hours 

 after cutting it may be raked up into windrows and then, 

 a few hours later, placed in small cocks to complete the 

 curing. The latter is not, of course, imperative ; the grass 

 may be left in the windrows as one chooses, but if a rain 

 comes on during the day and a half of curing, it will be 

 less injured in the cock than in the windrows. 



We have often heard the inquiry, "How can we kill out 

 coco or nut-grass from our fields ? " 



