TWO PROMINENT SOUTHERN GRASSES 131 



nishes two or more cuttings, frequently amounting to 

 four tons of hay a year. Its hay is of excellent quality, 

 fully equal to timothy, though the amount of Bermuda 

 hay on the markets is so small that it is not a factor 

 in the hay markets of the South except in a few 

 localities. 



Like most dense, sod - forming grasses, Bermuda 

 grass does best if broken up and harrowed down smooth 

 every few years. This is particularly the case when 

 hay is wanted. The hay, being light, is easily arid 

 quickly cured. In fair weather it may be cut, teddered 



• an hour or two later, raked into windrows, and cocked 

 up in one day. The hay should be allowed to dry 

 out well before baling or stacking. If it is to be baled, 

 it is a good practice in the South, where rain is liable 

 to come at any season, to let the cocks stand a day or 

 two in the field, then haul them to a shed, where the 

 hay may remain a couple of weeks to cure completely 



1 before baling. The hay should always be cut before 

 the stems become hard. Some advocate cutting three 

 or four times a year, or every time it gets large enough. 



It is not surprising that a grass so tenacious of life 

 as Bermuda grass should be regarded in many places 

 as a bad weed. In sections where a single crop system 

 prevails, as is the case over most of the cotton-growing 

 region and in the sugar-cane region of southeastern 

 Louisiana, it is a much-dreaded pest. In recent years 

 it has spread to the irrigated sections of the Southwest, 

 where it has become a serious nuisance. It covers the 

 banks of irrigating ditches, and from them invades 

 fields of alfalfa and other crops. It is the one grass of 

 the South that alfalfa cannot endure. Crab-grass can 



