METHODS OF REESTABLISHING BUFFALO GRASS 9 



TRANSPLANTING PIECES OF SOD 



Lyon and Hitchcock 5 were the first to suggest propagating buffalo 

 grass by cutting the sods into small pieces and pressing them into 

 prepared soil. It was claimed that if these pieces were spaced 2 feet 

 apart each way they would " thicken up fairly well in one season. " 



J. T. Sarvis transplanted buffalo-grass sod on the experiment 

 stations at Highmore, S.Dak., in 1906; Ardmore, S.Dak., in 1913; 

 and Mandan, N.Dak., in 1918. 



Some sodding of lawns at the Fort Hays Branch Station was done 

 prior to 1910, but no satisfactory record of this work is available. In 

 1912 two cultivated lawns were set to pieces of buffalo-grass sod 

 spaced several feet apart in shallow furrows. Figure 6 shows one 

 of these lawns as it appeared in 1933, 21 years after it was established. 



Figure 6.— A buffalo-grass lawn set out with sods in 1912, as it appeared in 1933. 



These lawns, under trying conditions and dependent only on the 

 natural rainfall for soil moisture, have continued highly satisfactory 

 for many years. 



The object of the experiments herein described was to develop 

 effective and economical methods of reestablishing buffalo grass on 

 lawns and cultivated fields. The following discussion of results will 

 indicate the procedure found most satisfactory at the Fort Hays 

 Branch Station. 



SOURCE OF SODS 



The sods should be obtained from a virgin stand of nearly pure 

 buffalo grass. It is possible to find such areas in most localities 



5 Lyon, T. L., and Hitchcock. A. S. pasture, meadow, and forage crops in Nebraska. U.S. 

 Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. Bull. 59, 64 pp., illus. 1904. 



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