170 Feeds and Feeding. 



die Mall spread until they form a dense, permanent sod. Sueli 

 double seeding gives the earliest possible summer pasture of rye, 

 wheat, barley, or oats, followed by the more permanent one of mixed 

 grasses and clovers. 



231. The cereals for hay. — Barley is the common hay grass of the 

 Pacific slope, and there is no reason why this plant, as well as the 

 oat and wheat, should not be used for hay production in other parts 

 of the country. When intended for hay, the cereal grasses should 

 be cut while the grains are in the early milk stage, at which time 

 the stems and leaves may be cured into bright, dust-free hay of 

 good quality. In many cases a field of wheat or other cereal grains 

 which has lodged badly because of overrich soil or excessive rain- 

 fall may be advantageously converted into hay. (430) 



232. Bermuda grass, Cynodon Dactylon. — This grass is to the 

 cotton belt what Kentucky blue-grass and timothy combined are to 

 the northeastern United States. Bermuda grass furnishes a dense 

 sod covering the southern fields with a carpet of summer green as 

 pleasing to the eye of the stockman as it is to the animals grazing 

 thereon. Spillman^ reports that the best Bermuda pastures will sup- 

 port 2 head of cattle per acre from April until late October, The 

 Louisiana Station- grazed 30 head of cattle of all ages on 17 acres 

 of Bermuda grass pasture mixed with other grasses and some Les- 

 pedeza, with no other feed from March to November. According 

 to Spillman,^ Killebrew states that on the best alluvial soils 1 acre 

 of Bermuda pasture wdll graze 10 sheep for 8 months. Bermuda 

 pastures are best utilized by subdividing them and turning the 

 stock from one lot to the other. On rich soil Bermuda grass 

 yields as much as 4 tons of hay in 2 cuttings, fully equal in quality 

 to timothy. At the Oklahoma Station* hardy Bermuda grass yielded 

 4 tons of hay per acre in 3 cuttings. (432, 669) 



233. Johnson grass, Andropogon Halepensis. — Johnson grass, the 

 worst weed of the South, is capable of yielding from 3 to 5 tons of 

 excellent hay in 3 or more cuttings. It spreads from seeds as well 

 as by its vigorous creeping rootstocks. This 'hoarse grass is not 

 suitable for pasture, but for soilage it may be cut once each month 

 during the summer season. (668) 



234. Miscellaneous southern grasses. — For winter pasture and soil- 

 age as well as for hay, a long list of grasses is available for the 

 southern states, only a few of which can be here mentioned. The 



^ Farm Grasses of the United States. ' Loe. cit. 



* Bui. 72. «Ept. 1906. 



