16 



Cultivation of the Grasses and 



his increase $1,000 which he refused. So 

 much for the grazing value of Bermuda grass. 



I cannot give you a better illustration of 

 the manurial value of this grass, than by re- 

 ference to the crops made on this same thirty 

 acres of land, after the man referred to had 

 left the place. 



First crop, cotton, half stand, owing to the 

 mass of undecomposed sod, eighteen hundred 

 pounds of seed cotton per acre. 



Second crop, cotton, two thousand eight 

 hundred pounds seed cotton per acre. 



Third crop, corn, sixty-five bushels per 

 acre corn manured with cotton seed. 



Fourth crop, wheat, forty-two bushels per 

 acre. 



The average product of this land without 

 the sod, would have been not more than one 

 hundred pounds of seed cotton, fifteen to 

 twenty bushels of corn, and eight to ten of 

 wheat. I know of no crop that will improve 

 land more, and certainly none that will, at 

 the same time, give so large an income with 

 so little labor. 



I have never made hay from it. A gentle- 

 man of this County informed me a few days 

 since, that he had just cut from one acre of 

 Bermuda grass, eight two-horse wagon loads 

 of excellent hay. 



Col. T. C. Howard gives an equally strong 

 opinion of the value of Bermuda grass, in the 

 following extract : 



'' The desideratum to the South is a grass 

 that is perennial, nutritious and adapted to 

 the climate. While we have grasses and 

 forage plants that do well when nursed, we 

 have few that live and thrive here as in their 

 native 'habitat.' The Bermuda and crab 

 grass are at home in the South. They not 

 only live, but live in spite of neglect, and 

 when petted and encouraged, they make such 

 grateful returns as astonish the benefactor. 

 I have known $114 worth of hay sold from 

 seven-eighths of an acre of Bermuda grass 

 in one season. I have known this ' pest,' so 

 called, extirpated, after twentv years. Sod that 

 had been undisturbed by any tool, and aston- 

 ishing crops, both of cotton and corn raised 

 in place of it the first year. Indeed I doubt 

 if even the far-famed blue grass sod is a better 

 fertilizer, and every one knows what the 

 Western Virginians think of that a 1 ? a re- 

 storer of impoverished land." 



"To destroy Bermuda grass, run a coulter 

 or narrow bull tongue through it, then set a 

 turning plough to run very shallow, and turn 

 the surface over, but not under. This exposes 

 the roots to cold and frost, which will as cer- 

 tainly kill it as ii will kill sugar-cane. But 

 my trouble is to raise it to the greatest per- 

 fection, not to destroy it. One acre of good 

 Bermuda grass, as good as my friend's, who 

 sold the $il4 worth of hay from less than an 

 acre will give a gross product of twenty per 

 cent, on $570. 



White Bermuda grass has seed vessels ; it 

 certainly has no seed. There are the effigies 

 of seeds, but not the seeds themselves. The 

 proof of this is, that while red and white 

 clover, the whole family of grasses and weeds, 

 can be propagated by the spread of annual 

 manure, no one ever saw a patch of Bermuda 

 so propagated. It must be grown by its roots 

 and joints. 



The proper plan of setting land in Bermuda 

 is, to run, in small checks, a sharp "sword 

 coulter" through the soil, then lift the turf, 

 remove it to running water, wash out the 

 dirt, and run the roots through a cutting- 

 knife so set as to chop fine. Then sow broad- 

 cast and plough under shallow, as you should 

 do in putting in wheat. 



If Bermuda grass be trampled or grazed 

 by stock, it will for an indefinite period hold 

 its place. While grazed, neither Lespedeza, 

 broom sedge, blue grass, or any other growth, 

 will oust it. But if enclosed and ungrazed, 

 broom sedge will certainly kill it out in three 

 or four years. No one need fear the intro- 

 duction of Bermuda grass on his farm, from 

 an apprehension that he cannot get rid of it 

 when he desires to do so. Either of the above 

 methods will certainly destroy it. 



Dr. St. Julien Ravenel, an accurate man 

 of science, makes the following remarkable 

 statement in regard to Bermuda grass. The 

 experiment was conducted near Charleston, 

 S. C.: 



"One-eighth of an acre of ordinary land 

 covered with Bermuda grass was ploughed in 

 March last f!874), harrowed, rolled smooth 

 enough for the mowing machine, and fifty 

 pounds of ammoniated super-phosphate of 

 lime applied. 



Four cuttings were obtained which yielded 

 two thousand eight hundred and eighty 

 pounds of hay. This was at the rate of ten 

 tons to the acre. 



The first cutting contained ten per cent, of 

 albumenoMs, the last cutting fourteen per cent, 

 albumenoids. Ash 6 or 1.456 of ash to the 

 acre. The hay was nicely cured, and was 

 preferred by horses and cattle to hay brought 

 from the North." 



The opinions of these gentlemen are very 

 decided as to the valuable qualities of Ber- 

 muda grass, as to grazing, for hay and ma- 

 nurial purposes. The continued and careful 

 observation of the writer corroborate the re- 

 sults of their practical experience. 



The exclusive cotton planter shrinks from 

 this grass. If he would shrink from so much 

 cotton it would be a more valuable shrinkage. 

 Yet the writer has seen fields, which were 

 covered with a dense Bermuda grass sod, 

 completely cleansed of it by two successive 

 crops of cotton, and those crops were inva- 

 riably fine. It is true that the inversion of a 

 Bermuda grass sod increases at first seriously 

 the cost of the cultivation of the cotton crop. 



