BERMUDA GRASS. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. [ Page. 



Introduction 3 



Description of Bermuda grass 3 



History 4 



Climatic adaptations 5 



Adaptations to soil 5 



Distribution in the United States 6 



Varieties 7 



Seed production 8 



Propagation 8 



Pasture value 10 



Bermuda grass for hay 13 



Bermuda grass for turf 13 



Bermuda grass for soil binding 14 



Market value 14 



Feeding value 15 



Eradication 18 



Summary 18 



INTRODUCTION. 



Bermuda grass * is the most common and most valuable pasture 

 plant in all the Southern States, being of the same relative importance 

 in that region that Kentucky bluegrass is in more northern States. 

 In many sections of the South it is one of the best grasses for hayj 

 and it is the most common grass used for lawn purposes. 



It makes a vigorous and persistent growth in nearly all the warmer 

 parts of the world, and its value depends on the region in which it is 

 grown and the purpose for which it is to be used. In India it is 

 known as sacred grass and is there believed to have been the gift 

 of some benevolent deity for the support of the cows, which are also 

 held as sacred in that country. In sharp contrast with that, however, 

 in the southwestern part of the United States it is known as devil 

 grass on account of the trouble which it gives in irrigated fields and 

 on ditch banks. 



DESCRIPTION OF BERMUDA GRASS. 



Bermuda grass is a perennial, spreading by runners or by rootstocks, 

 or by both, and also by seeds. The runners are usually from a few 

 inches to 3 or 4 feet, though sometimes more than 20 feet in length, 

 creeping ^over the surface of the ground and often rooting at the 

 joints. The erect flower-bearing branches are usually 6 to 12 inches 

 in height, though reaching 2 feet or more in some varieties ; the leaf 

 blades are narrow, flat, 1 to 4 inches in length, each bearing a ring of 

 minute white hairs at the base; the flowers are in slender spikes, 

 three to six in a cluster, radiating like those of crab-grass, each spike 

 1 to 2 inches long. (Fig. 1.) 



1 Cynodon dactulon or Capriola dactylon. 



