TWO PROMINENT SOUTHERN GRASSES I31r 
nishes two or more cuttings, frequently amounting to 
four tons of hay ayear. Its hay is of excellent quality, 
fully equal to timothy, though the amount of Bermuda 
hay on the markets is so small that it is not a factor 
in the hay markets of the South except in a few 
localities. 
Like most dense, sod- forming grasses, Bermuda 
grass does best if broken up and harrowed down smooth 
every few years. This is particularly the case when 
hay is wanted. The hay, being light, is easily and 
quickly cured. In fair weather it may be cut, teddered 
an hour or two later, raked into windrows, and cocked 
up in one day. ‘The hay should be allowed to dry 
out well before baling or stacking. If it is to be baled, 
it is a good practice in the South, where rain is liable 
to come at any season, to let the cocks stand a day or 
two in the field, then haul them to a shed, where the 
hay may remain a couple of weeks to cure completely 
before baling. The hay should always be cut before 
the stems become hard. Some advocate cutting three 
or four times a year, or every time it gets large enough. 
It is not surprising that a grass so tenacious of life 
as Bermuda grass should be regarded in many places 
as a bad weed. In sections where a single crop system 
prevails, as is the case over most of the cotton-growing 
region and in the sugar-cane region of southeastern 
Louisiana, it is a much-dreaded pest. In recent years 
it has spread to the irrigated sections of the Southwest, 
where it has become a serious nuisance. It covers the 
banks of irrigating ditches, and from them invades 
fields of alfalfa and other crops. It is the one grass of 
the South that alfalfa cannot endure. Crab-grass can 
