GRASS CULTURE AND RANGE IMPROVEMENT 19 



Lyon and Hitchcock (44) in 1904 reported that buffalo grass could 

 be propagated satisfactorily by cutting the sods into small pieces and 

 pressing them into prepared soil. It was stated that if these pieces 

 were spaced 2 feet apart each way they would "thicken up fairly 

 fast in one season." 



Fred O. Case and H. E. Mather, of the Soil Conservation Service, 

 recently attempted resodding work on a large scale at Springfield, 

 Colo. During extremely dry seasons they found that the sods sur- 

 vived surprisingly well when all seedings of other grasses failed com- 

 pletely. Similar results were obtained often at Hays, Kans. Sods 

 spaced 3 feet apart in the fall of 1934 survived in excellent condition 

 when failure resulted from all grasses seeded at the same time. At 

 the end of 2 exceedingly dry years recovery on this resodded area 

 was greater than that accomplished by natural agencies on neighbor- 

 ing fields abandoned for 40 years and nearly equal to natural recovery 



Fjgure T. — Resodding buffalo grass at Woodward, Ukla.. by dropping the sods in 

 furrows made with, a spring-tooth harrow and pressing them into the soil with 

 a surface packer, leaving a seedbed suitable for drilling other grasses when 

 refurrowed at intervals to control soil blowing. 



at the end of 46 years. The many fine roots produced by this grass 

 are indicative of its aggressiveness and value as a soil binder (fig. 8). 

 Buffalo grass is adapted only to the heavier types of soil in the 

 region. On June 11 and 12, 1937, sods were set out on Pratt fine 

 sandy loam and Pratt loamy fine sand at Woodward, Okla. Desiccat- 

 ing winds of high velocity occurred at transplanting time and con- 

 tinued intermittently with excessive drought until late in August. 

 Practically all sods set out on the lighter soil failed to survive the 

 summer, but a large percentage on the heavier type renewed growth 

 in the fall. Neither of these soils is heavy enough for best results 

 with buffalo grass. 



