/ CIRCULAR No. 328 



UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Issued August 1934 



Slightly revised December 1935 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



METHODS OF REESTABLISHING BUFFALO GRASS ON 

 CULTIVATED LAND IN THE GREAT PLAINS 



By D. A. Savage, 1 



Assistant agronomist, Division of Forage Crops and Diseases, Bureau of 



Plant Industry 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction 1 



Description of buffalo grass 2 



Botanical characteristics 2 



Spreading habit 4 



Seasonal development 4 



Adaptation 4 



Distribution 4 



Climate 5 



Soil requirements 5 



Outline of experiments 7 



Artificial seeding 7 



Transplanting runners 8 



Solid spacing of sods-__: 8 



Transplanting pieces of sod 9 



Source of sods 9 



Cutting the sods 10 



Rate of transplanting 10 



Optimum transplanting season 11 



Different sizes of sods 12 



Transplanting pieces of sod— Continued. 



Width of spacing 12 



Precautions in transplanting 12 



Resodding large areas 12 



Broadcasting small pieces of turf 15 



Treatment after transplanting or broad- 

 casting 16 



Packing the land > 16 



Irrigation ' 16 



Cultivation harmful 16 



Clipping or pasturing 16 



Sweetclover as a companion crop 17 



Grading and top dressing 17 



Utilization 17 



Lawns of buffalo grass 18 



Pastures 18 



Erosion prevention 18 



Roadside improvement 19 



Summary 19 



INTRODUCTION 



The value of native buffalo grass for lawns, pastures, athletic fields, 

 golf courses, and general landscaping purposes has long been recog- 

 nized and largely substantiated by practical and scientific experience. 

 For these purposes no other domestic or imported grass has been found 

 fully adapted to the climatic conditions of the Great Plains area. 



Comprehensive resodding experiments with buffalo grass were 

 started at the Fort Hays (Kans.) Branch Station 2 in 1929. Since 

 1910 lawns have been successfully established by methods similar to 

 those here described. These investigations have not been carried on 

 long enough to warrant the formulation of definite conclusions regarding 

 all of the details involved. However, a progress report of the results 

 obtained to date is considered worth while, in view of the widespread 

 demand for information on the subject of renewing native grasses on 



' The writer wishes to acknowledge the valuable assistance of H. N. Vinall, Division of Forage Crops 

 and Diseases, and A. L. Hallsted, Division of Dry Land Agriculture, in outlining the experiments reported 

 herein, and of L. C. Aicher, superintendent, Fort Hays (Kans.) Branch Experiment Station, in providing 

 facilities for conducting these investigations. 



2 These experiments were conducted cooperatively by the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station and 

 the Division of Forage Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry, at the Fort Hays Branch Station, 

 Hays, Kans. 



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