26 BULLETIN 981, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



HAY PRODUCTION. 



PREPARATION OF THE SEED BED. 



On account of its small seed and slow early growth, Sudan grass 

 requires a seed bed that is well prepared, warm, moist, and free from 

 weeds. For surface planting either in rows or with a grain drill, soil 

 prepared as for wheat or oats is usually satisfactory. It is best to 

 plow the ground in the spring, about two or three weeks before it is 

 intended to sow the Sudan grass. Plowing at this time warms and 

 aerates the soil and turns under the early crop of weeds. After 

 plowing, the field should be harrowed to pulverize the clods and settle 

 the soil. After two or three weeks the second crop of weeds will 

 have started, and these can be killed with the disk or drag harrow. 



In the dry regions row plantings are sometimes made with a 

 lister. Where this method of seeding is practiced, it usually pays 

 to blank list the ground in the fall or early spring and follow this with 

 sufficient spring tillage to destroy the weeds at seeding time. Disk- 

 ing or some other form of cultivation should precede listing whenever 

 it is planned to list and plant in the same operation. 



USE OF FERTILIZERS. 



In the Central and Western States fertilizers for Sudan grass are 

 not necessary, but in the Southeastern States, on the poorer soils, 

 moderate applications of some fertilizer, chiefly combinations of phos- 

 phorus and nitrogen, will be found profitable. Sudan grass is not 

 adapted to infertile soils, and profitable crops of hay should not be 

 expected unless a reasonably good soil is chosen for growing it. A 

 legume of some kind, such as vetch, cowpea, or clover, should be 

 used on worn-out soils which need building up. 



Tests of acid phosphate applied at the rate of 200 pounds to the 

 acre were made in Kentucky, and in only two cases out of ten did it 

 fail to give profitable increases in the hay yields. The average 

 increase attributable to the fertilizer was 68 per cent. In experi- 

 ments on gray sandy soil at Calhoun, La., in 1915 Sudan grass 

 yielded 0.75 ton of dry hay per acre on unfertilized plats. With an 

 application of 315 pounds of cottonseed meal per acre the yield was 

 1.66 tons per acre, an increase of 121 per cent due to the fertilizer. 

 An application of cottonseed meal and acid phosphate in equal parts 

 at the rate of 315 pounds per acre resulted in a yield of 2.13 tons per 

 acre, an increase. of 184 per cent over the check plats. These plats 

 were planted in rows 3 feet apart. In broadcasted plats on the same 

 soil the yield was considerably larger. These experiments, though 

 limited in number, indicate the wisdom of using fertilizers in the 

 Southeastern States. 



Barnyard manure nearly always increases the yields of Sudan 

 grass. It is generally more profitable, however, to apply the manure 



