130 FARM GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



early summer. On the experiment station farm at 

 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, thirty head of cattle of all ages 

 were kept on seventeen acres of Bermuda pasture, with 

 no other feed, from March 25 to November 1 . In addi- 

 tion to this, sixteen steers were kept on the same land 

 for a few weeks when the growth was most vigorous. 

 Professor Killebrew, of Tennessee, states that an acre of 

 good Bermuda pasture will keep ten sheep in good con- 

 dition for eight months in the year. This, of course, is 

 possible only on the best alluvial soils in the warmer 

 parts of the South. 



For best results it should be grazed systematically 

 — i.e. , the pasture subdivided, and the stock turned into 

 one inclosure and allowed to graze it closely, and then 

 removed to the next inclosure. They should then be 

 returned to the first lot before the grass becomes tough 

 and wiry. (Bermuda grass is called wire-grass in many 

 parts of the South because of the wiry nature of the 

 fully matured stems.) If the stock is turned into a 

 single large field, a good deal of the grass becomes so 

 wiry by midsummer that the}' will not eat it readily. 



On poor uplands Bermuda grass yields as little as 

 blue-grass does in similar situations. In moist cli- 

 mates it will grow on nearly pure sand, while it also 

 thrives on low moist lands, and is hardly injured by 

 prolonged overflow. It is decidedly the best sand- 

 binder and bank-holder in the South. It is the best 

 of all grasses for covering washed hillsides. It will 

 not thrive, however, on waste lands unless they are 

 kept free from briers, sedge, and all tall-growing 

 plants that would tend to shade it. On good alluvial 

 soils it grows large enough to cut for hay, and fur- 



