218 FIELD CROP PRODUCTION 



3 inches long. The spikelets are one-flowered, and seldom 

 mature seed in the United States, excepting in the extreme 

 southern parts where favorable conditions exist. 



210. Distribution and adaptation. — Bermuda-grass is 

 a tropical or warm-country plant and may be found grow- 

 ing throughout the warm regions of the world. In the 

 United States its field of usefulness is confined to the cotton 

 growing states and those adjacent to them. It grows best 

 during the hot months in summer, and will stand extreme 

 periods of drought. It grows on almost all kinds of soil, 

 and has special adaptation to light, sandy soils. Bermuda- 

 grass does not love the shade, but grows well in the waste 

 lands, if kept free from shrubs and weeds. 



211. Uses. — While many grasses grow well in the 

 South, none can compare in importance and usefulness 

 in this section with Bermuda-grass. On good soils and 

 under favorable climatic conditions, Bermuda-grass grows 

 large enough to be cut for hay. Under such conditions 

 it can be cut three or four times during the season, and 

 while the yield of hay per cutting is not large, the amount 

 obtained from all of the cuttings together makes it a 

 profitable hay crop. The hay made from it is of excellent 

 quality, equal to, if not better than timothy in palata- 

 bility and feeding value. As a pasture grass it takes first 

 rank. Bermuda-grass is useful also as a lawn grass, but 

 since it does not grow well in the shade, it is not desirable 

 for shaded lawns or parks. 



212. Cultural methods. — Almost all of the seed used 

 in the United States is imported from Australia, and it is 

 very expensive and unreliable in quality. It is fortunate, 

 therefore, for the farmers of the South, that the grass can 

 be propagated by planting pieces of the sod containing a 

 piece of the underground root stalks. Several methods of 



