CIRCULAR No. 491 FEBRUARY 1939 



UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



GRASS CULTURE AND RANGE IMPROVEMENT IN THE 

 CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN GREAT PLAINS' 



By D. A. Savage, 2 agronomist, Division of Forage Crops and Disease, 



of Plant Industry 



Bureau 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction.. 1 



Reestablishing pasture grasses on cultivated 



land 2 



Natural revegetation 2 



Artificial reseeding 6 



Treatment after seeding 13 



Adapted grasses _"_ 13 



Blue grama . 15 



Buffalo grass 17 



Galleta grass 21 



Plains bristlegrass 22 



Hairy grama 24 



Bluestem (western wheatgrass) 24 



Black grama 26 



Side-oats grama 26 



Sand dropseed . 27 



Sand grasses 28 



Turkey foot (sand bluestem) 28 



Prairie beardgrass (little bluestem) 28 



Sand lovegrass 29 



Texas bluegrass 29 



Canada wild-rye 29 



Sand paspalum 31 



Sand grasses— Continued. 



Switchgrass 31 



Indian grass 32 



Giant reedgrass and blowout grass 32 



Vine-mesquite 33 



Other native grasses and introductions 33 



Crested wheatgrass and smooth brome (brome- 



grass) 34 



Italian and perennial ryegrass 35 



Supplementary information 36 



Grass mixtures... 36 



Effect of source of seed 36 



Rejuvenating depleted pastures 36 



Reseeding pastures or range 38 



Pasture furrowing 41 



Shrub eradication 41 



Control of pricklypear 43 



Broomweeds 44 



Grazing control 45 



Summary 47 



Literature cited 50 



Appendix 54 



INTRODUCTION 



The purpose of this circular is to present in condensed form for 

 handy reference the best available information on two important 

 questions pertaining to grass culture and range improvement in the 

 central and southern Great Plains: (1) How may pasture grasses 

 be reestablished on cultivated land, and (2) how may grasses be re- 

 stored and maintained on depleted pastures? The value of the cir- 

 cular lies in the suggestions it contains. It is not conclusive and, 

 because of a dearth of facts, it could not be made so. 



The information presented is taken from many different sources. 

 Publications issued during the last 50 years have been reviewed. Un- 

 published experimental data have been considered. But one of the 



1 Cooperative investigations of the Division of Forage Crops and Diseases and the 

 Division of Dry Land Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture. 



2 The writer gratefully acknowledges the helpful assistance of many State and Federal 

 officials who informally provided much valuable information incorporated in this report 

 and helpfully reviewed the manuscript. He is also indebted to L. F. Locke and E. W. 

 Johnson, Division of Dry Land Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, for providing most 

 of the illustrations. 



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