The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-11-02
Dawson, Mich.
BERMUDA GRASS.

Bermuda grass should never be
allowed to get hold" upon q farm.
When once it does, then is the tug of
war. In a recent issue Of the Country
Gentleman, James Voorhees,, of Indi-
ana, writes:
Bermuda grass is my victorious
enemy. l first moved on the enemy's
works at Fresno, Cal, where I have q
tract of 30 acres adjoining the town.
This was II years ago, and I-have been
crowded back, inch by inch, ever since,
anxiously looking for "Blucher" to
come up and save the day.
The grass was brought on the place
by my predecessor for q lawn in front
OF the house, and at that time it's per-
niclous qualities were unknown. It id
simply a humbug as a, lawn grass, for
it is Of dirty brown color from No
vember to May, and we have no snow
| to cover it at Fresno. It is also impos-
siOle to make hay out Of it, for it is only
mass Of roots, SO intertwind and i'm
terlaced as to make thick, solid mat
over the ground. In time this mat be.
comes so firm and hard as to defy the
pIoW, unless four or more horses are
attached thereto, and even then the
work is slow and exhausting.
chopped out enough Of the mating
with an ak to make me q very nice,
cool cellar, with walls feet in thick
ness ell around. The blocks of mating
we're oblong, about by 19 inches, and
about inches thick, and were laid in
the walls of the cellar without plaster
or cement Of any kind. This was in
1888, and the cellar is still as good as
new. At this time [ was verdant enough
to suppose such drastic measures would
eXterminate the grass on the portion
from which the blocks were removed,
but it only temporarily retarded it's
growth.
It is not only practically indestructi-
BILE, but it's spreads every where, max
ing it perhaps the greatest pest ever
introduced into the United States. A
public highway borders on the lawn, in
front Of my place, and ploWs and road
scrapers carry along roots of the grass,
80 that the road is bordered with the
stuff, in spots, for long distances each
way These spots, in their turn, send
out their shoots and tendrils into the
farms adjoining the highway, and thus
the mischief is ever on the increase.
From my experience, am satisfied
that where air can be excluded from
it, it will die, but the tug of war is to
exclude the air. Constant application
of manure will exclude the air, but il
takes an immense quantity Of manure,
for the first applications make the
grass grow more luxuriantly. Some
Of the Fresno farmers say il can be
killed Off by constant plowing, day
after day and week after week, during
our long, dry summers, and perhaps ft
can, If the children and the children's
children will keep up the work. In
this climate, with it's summer rains, I
am satisfied that plowing would cult.
vate rather than destroy it.
AS feed or pasture also, the grass
is delusiOn. Live stock will eat it
sooner than starve, but where they are
at liberty to seek other food they only
gr6z9 on it for an hour or two for
change. 1t is not to be mentioned in
the same breath with alfalfa, that
prince Of grasses, yet it will kill of
alfalfa and sweep the soil clean Of all
vegetation except itself II it did not
spread with such facility, the pest
would really be useful in schooiyard,
for no amount of tramping affects it,
and it also grows well on alkRli land
where no other vegetation will thrive.
As il cannot be confined, however, TO
where it is wanted, it is q very mixed
blessing anyway.
You will conclude am not very
much in love with this grass, and
hoDe the Country Gentleman win fight
against it's invasion from the West. =
JA1EEs VOORHEES,.
Gteuben Co. Ind.