Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1885-10-31
Bermuda Grass.
Nashville American.

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bad qualities of Bermuda grass are
discussed through our agricultural
journals and its enemies are about as
numerous as its friends. ItS good
qualities seem to be strong tenacity
of life, growing most luxuriantly
where the sun blazes with its fiercest
power. 1t is therefore the very best
grass for our Southern States. twill
bear the heaviest of grazing and con-
tinue to send out its vigorous shoots
throughout the growing season. 1t
also makes good hay when grown
upon land of good fertility. A cor
respondent in the Country Gentleman
writing from Gordon county, Geor-
gia, encloses a stalk to that paper 6
feet high. Under favorable condi-
tons it will yield more hay per acre
than timothy, millet or clover. Re-
ports well authenticated have been
made showing a yield of $4,000
pounds of dried hay per acre.
1t rejoices in a soil in which there
is a large percentage of silica, but
there should be with this a considera-
BILE admixture of decayed vegetable
mold. Owing to the extreme vitality
of its long line of roots which are
thrown out from many of its joints,
giving the grass creeping habit, it
is difficult to eradicate when once it
gets firm hold. 1t is therefore eX-
ceedingly troublesome to the cotton
planters in the Southern States, and
one may often see large patches Of it
growing in the cotton fields, and COM
pletelyoverpOWering the cotton plant.
For this reason it is not q favCrite
with the cotton planter and he breads
its appearance quite as much as the
Louisiana sugar grower does the coco
grass.
The correspondent Of the Country
Gentleman referred to states that ii
may be easily killed by blowing it in
early winter by short scooters and
then let the winter freezes come on it,
and afterWard cross pillow it two OF
three times during the cold of winter
The roots will thus be frozen out.
But in order to do this successfully,
the grass must remain on the ground
two or three years without blowing,
50 that the roots will be thrown neal
the surface. If the attempt is made
to destroy it upon land that was cult
waited the previous year it will bt
found that the roots have penetrated
the soil and become so intermiXed
with it as to battle all attempts al
their destruction. We have known
small patches in cotton field toshoW
renewed vitality after every blowing
and continue to widen out until they
would cover large portion of the
field. When any one therefore wishe:
to destry the grass it is best to give
up the field to it entirely for two o.
three years, and proceed as indicated
above.
But, though troublesome grass, i
is q most valuable and nutritious one
1t is one of natures allies to patch VI
and heal the wounds inflicted upor
mother earth by injurious cultivation
1t is the best of allagents for stopping
gullies. The creeping rhizomas viii
descend on one side of a gully anC
clothe its slopes with a green mantle
1t will fasten its roots upon the bot
tom and catch the burden of soil car
ried down by a rain. AS the guile;
fill in, the grass rises to the top
building up little by little, as the cora
insect in mid ocean, until the surface
is reached. Planters may rail agains
it for its tenacity of life, but it is ;
great soil preserver and renovater. /
is said to rival clover in its power t.
preserve the soil, and, unlike clover
the soil does not become sick of it.
Bermuda grass will grow as higl
as IS parallel with comparative i'm
munity against winter freezes. 1t i
a child of the sun, and cannot with
stand the intense cold of the Northern
States. We have seen it growing il
Western Tennessee with great luxuri
ance, but it is rare in Middle ant
East Tennessee. Upon the land il
Southeastern Virginia it forms a goo,
sod, but not in the Southwestern par
of the State. A small plat at tn
State Capitol in Nashville is plante,
in this grass, but it withstands tn
winter badly, the spring often show
ing large patches of it killed out.
TO sum up its good and bad quail
ties: 1t is hard to kill, but is all tn
better for grazing purposes on this &C