52 ORAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 



and other hoed crops. But it is the most valuable of southern 

 grasses for lawns, meadows, and pastures, and on the levees, road 

 embankments, and -stream sides it is the best thing possible to bind 

 and hold the soil in place. For such purpose it is usually started 

 by passing a quantity of the plants through 

 a feed cutter and sowing the pieces, every 

 joint of which will probably strike root 

 and make a new plant. (Fig. 23.) 



It is small and low, the stems four inches 

 to a foot tall, slender, slightly flattened, 

 very much branched, becoming stiff and 

 wiry as they mature. Leaves smooth, flat, 

 stiff, light green, only two to four inches 

 in length but very numerous. Sheaths 

 smooth, the ligule a ring of white hairs. 

 The sheaths overlap and are crowded at the 

 base of the stalks and along the stolons. 

 When the flowering stalks do appear, the 

 heads are divided into four or five "fingers" 

 which are shorter and thicker than those 

 of the real finger, or crab, grass (Dig it arid). 



Means of control 



The plant is a lover of heat and sun- 

 light and will not thrive in the shade. 

 Therefore, when a meadow or a pasture 

 is wanted for a different crop, it can be 

 smothered out by a thick growth of taller 

 plants, such as cow-peas, sorghum, or 

 millet, which will at the same time yield a 

 FIG. 23. Bermuda profitable crop of hav. In latitude where 

 hnT ^ nodon Dacty ~ a "cold snap" in winter is sufficiently 

 biting, the roots may be killed by expos- 

 ing them to freeze, using a good, sharp, turning plow and mak- 

 ing the furrow as shallow as possible, for the roots are very near the 

 surface. The hard, wiry, interlacing stems of this grass make 

 tilled crops infested with it very difficult of cultivation, requiring 

 much hand labor with the hoe. But in most localities it leaves no 



