DESCRIPTION OF IMPORTANT GRASS FORAGE PLANTS 



Seeding. Bermuda grass produces seed abundantly in southern 

 California, Arizona arid New Mexico where most of the commercial 

 seed is derived. It is propagated by seeds, or pieces of rootstocks. The 

 yield of hay varies greatly with 

 the locality in which it is 

 grown, and on favorable soils, 

 it may yield annually 6 to 8 

 tons of hay per acre. On 

 soils of ordinary fertility, it will 

 support about one steer per 

 acre for eight to nine months, 

 while on exceptionally favor- 

 able soils it may support four 

 or five steers for a longer tune. 

 Its feeding value is fully equal 

 to that of timothy, though its 

 market value is usually less. 

 Frequently, it becomes trouble- 

 some as a weed, when it can 

 be eradicated by freezing the 

 "roots," or by shading the 

 ground by the growth of other 

 crops. 



Johnson Grass (Sorghum 

 hakpense). This is another 

 grass which figures largely in 

 the agriculture of the southern 

 states. It is strongly stoloni- 

 ferous with culms four to seven 

 feet high with long flat leaves, 

 and an open panicle six to 

 eighteen inches long. It was 

 introduced as Aleppo grass from 

 Turkey in 1830 by Governor 

 Means into South Carolina, and in 1844 into Alabama by Col. William 

 Johnson for whom the plant is named. It is propagated by seeds, and 

 if it is desired to control the plant, which sometimes becomes trouble- 

 some, it should never be permitted to go to seed. It is distributed as 

 10 



PIG. 62. Bermuda grass (Cynodon Dactylori). 

 (After Ball, Carleton R.: Winter Forage Crops for 

 the South, Farmers' Bulletin 147, 1902, p. 15.) 



