39 



GAMA GRASS SESAME GRASS (Tripsacum dactyloides)CFor 

 Hay and Soiling.) 



Gama grass merits more attention from Tennessee farmers than it 

 has ever received. It is one of the largest and most beautiful perennial 

 grasses grown in the South, reaching oftentimes a height of seven feet. 

 When young and succulent it is eaten with avidity by stock and makes 

 from its rapid growth a good soiling or forage crop or material for the 



silo. Its leaves are very large, 

 equal in size to the leaves of 

 Indian corn. It has very 

 strong creeping root stocks, 

 which are as large as those of 

 cane roots, but close grazing 

 will destroy the grass in a few 

 years. 



Gama grass may be cut 

 three or four times a year and 

 though in its native state it 

 grows in swamps, it . will 

 thrive almost equally well on 

 dry or sandy ridges. It will 

 grow where timothy or or- 

 chard grass will not, and con- 

 sequently it is well suited to a 

 large section of our State. The 

 quantity of hay taken from 

 one acre is simply enormous, 



GamaorSesameGrass-Tripsacumdactyloid.es. resembling very much COrn- 



fodder. As a hay it is fully 

 equal to corn-fodder, and it 

 can be saved at one-tenth the 

 labor required to save fodder. 

 It is very nutritious and succulent when cut green. The great mass 

 of roots will serve to open, loosen and improve the land upon which it 

 grows. It should never be allowed to shoot up the seed stem when de- 

 sired for hay. 



It is with difficulty the seed can be made to vegetate and therefore it 

 must be propagated by slips from the roots. Prepare the land well, lay 

 off the furrows with a bull-tongue plow two feet apart, and drop small 

 pieces of root about one foot apart in the furrow, covering with a board. 

 The creeping roots will soon meet, and the ground is quickly turfed with 

 the grass. It should be planted early in September. Of course, the 

 richer the land, whether upland or bottom, the greater the yield. Poor 

 land rarely makes better crops of anything than fertile land. I have seen 

 this grass growing with great luxuriance in Montgomery county, Tenn. 



2. Inflorescence. 3. Base of the female inflor- 

 escence. 4. Upper leaf. 5. Male or stam- 

 inate spikelet. 6. Female spikelet 

 in section. 7. Female spike- 

 let expanded. 



