f GARDEN MANUAL FOR THE SOUTHERN STATES. 
71 
tober. The ground should be thoroughly 
plowed and prepared as for other grasses 
and clovers. The seed should be sown 
broadcast and covered to an average depth 
of about one inch. Sow at the rate of 1% 
to 2 bushels per acre. It is very spread- 
ing, and quite shortly after it comes up 
will form a permanent sod, capable of 
standing any amount of grazing. The first 
year after sown it will furnish consider- 
able grazing in the Winter and into the 
Spring, and if stock is taken off it by the 
first of April, it will grow rapidly, making 
a large yield of excellent and nutritious 
hay. For hay, it should be cut while in 
bloom. It is easily cured and possesses 
high feeding value, with all proper con- 
stituents. It is an excellent grass to sow 
on sandy land, hill-sides, ditches or em- 
bankments, as its roots spread out and 
hold the soil, preventing washing and 
gullies. The use of Rescue Grass is ex- 
tending very rapidly all through the South 
wherever it has been introduced. It is the 
standard grass in Texas for Winter pas- 
turage, and is found growing there on large 
areas of prairie ground, forming almost 
the sole grazing crop for cattle in Winter. 
EENTUCEY BLUE GRASS.—(Poa Pra- 
tensis.)—-This is also called smooth meadow 
grass, spear grass, and green grass, 
all three very appropriate, characteristic 
names, but Blue is a 
misnomer for this 
grass. It is not blue, 
but green as grass, 
and the greenest of 
grasses. Kentucky 
Blue Grass, with its 
underground stems 
and many roots, sus- 
tains the heat and 
drought of the 
Southern States. It 
may be .sown any 
time from September 
to April, preferably 
perhaps in the latter 
half of February or 
early in March. The 
surface of the land.- 
should be cleaned of 
trash of all kinds, 
smooth, even; and if. 
recently plowed and- 
harrowed, it should be 
rolled also. One year: 
here gives a finer 
growth and show than two in Kentucky, or 
any other State so far North. Sown alone, 
one bushel should be used; in mixture, 4 to 
6 pounds. ~ 
ORCHARD GRASS. — (Pactylis Glomer- 
ata.) This is one of the best grasses for 
pasture. It grows quickly. Can be sown 
either in fall or spring. Sow from 1 to1% 
bushels per acre. It may be mowed from 
two to four times a year, according’ to 
season and treatment; yielding from one 
to three tons of excellent hay per acre on 
poor to medium land. In grazing and as 
hay most animals select it in preference 
among mixtures in other grasses. After 
grazing, or mowing, few grasses grow so 
rapidly (three to six inches per week), and 
are soon ready again for tooth or blade. It 
is easily cured and handled. It is readily 
seeded and catches with certainty. Its 
long, deeply penetrating fibrous roots en- 
ables it to sustain itself and grow 
vigorously during droughts that dry up 
other grasses, which has similar roots and 
characteristics. It grows well in open 
lands and forests of large trees, the under- 
brush being all cleared off. 
Kentucky Blue 
Grass. 
ENGLISH, OR PERENNIAL BYE 
GRASS.—(Lolium Perenne.) This is the 
first grass cultivated in England over two 
centuries ago, and at a still more remote 
period in France. It was long more wide- 
ly known and cultivated than any otHer 
grass, became adapted to a great varféty 
of soils and conditions, and a vast number 
(seventy or more) of varieties produced, 
some of which were greatly improved 
while others were inferior and became an- 
nuals. Introduced into the United States 
in the first quarter of the past -century, 
English Rye is largely sown by our land- 
seape gardeners for winter lawns on Ber- 
muda sod. The Bermuda blades, being 
easily affected -by frost, become red and 
rusty looking, while English Rye during 
winter presents 
a most beauti- 
ful appearance, 
being of a vivid 
green, and as 
the Bermuda 
during April 
and May makes 
its appearance 
it overgrows 
the English 
Rye, causing 
the latter to 
decay and act 
as a fertilizer 
to the existing 
grass, It should 
be sown from 
September to 
March, at the E 
rate of 3 to 4 
bushels of seed 
per acre. 
BERMUDA GRASS.— (Cynodon Dacty- 
lon.) Almost everybody living in this 
section of the country knows this grass; 
it is planted as a Lawn Grass, and noth- 
ing will stand the sun better, or will make 
a prettier carpet, when kept short, than 
this grass. It is also very valuable as a 
pasture and hay grass...It_is only of late 
years that we have been able to obtain 
the seed of this grass, which heretofore 
had to be propagated by the roots; 6 
pounds will sow an acre. Should -be plant- 
ed in the spring, but can also be sown 
later. Under the most favorable circum- 
stances it takes from 60 to 90 days to 
and hot 
English Bye Grass. 
sprout; requires damp weather ) 
sun: but when once up it grows very 
rapidly. Used extensively by levee con- 
tractors for planting on new levees. 
MEADOW FESCUE. — (Festuca Praten- 
sis.) As a pasturage grass we _ consider 
this one of the most valuable. It is not 
affected by dry weather, as its. roots pene- 
trate the earth 12 to 15 inches; it is much 
relished by all kinds of stock on acount of 
its long and tender leaves. It yields a 
very superior hay when cured. It is de- 
serving of much more attention. Sow in 
spring or fall. Two bushels to the acre. 
In some sections it is called Randall 
Grass. This should not be confounded 
with the English Rye Grass, offered by 
some dealers as the same variety. 
PASPALUM PLATY-CAULE, OR CAR- 
PET GRASS.—This Grass grows tena- 
ciously in any sandy soil. Excellent for 
lawns or pasture purposes on the Gulf 
Coast and all sandy lands, and grows 
equally as well on clay uplands. Green all 
the year in lower Gulf States. It stools 
heavily and is one parent stalk; in nineteen 
Plant Steckler’s Grass Seed Mixture, See Page 75. 
