Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1902-07-09
GRASSES WHICH BIND SAND.
Varieties Growing In This Country
Which Are of Value for Hold
ing Together Embankments.

The wsrk of consolidate a clay soil
into turf is not an easy matter, but
olnolng up the sand of a windblown
sea beach is even less so. By finding
the right kind of grass, though, it csSl
be done. 1t is that way that Holland
has retained much of the land wrested
from the sea by pumping. There and
In other countries laws have been
passed especially protecting that class
OF vegetation. Of the true sand bind
ers there are two forms. One works
by tArusting deep roots downward,
while the other throws out runners
IKE strawberry plant, PROSTATE
stems that tie along the surface and
take firm root here and there The for
ner is of little value for forage, but
the latter will often afford a suffi.
GENTLY dense mat to render grazing
possible.
One of the best known grasses along
the North Atlantic coast is the mar
ram. South of Maryland one finds the
bitter panic, and down in Florida the
81. augustine and creeping panic.
Away from the salt water, especially
IN the southwest, the long-leafed sand
grass, Redfelds, the alkali grass,
tine top salt grass and grama are great
tavorites. The MARIAN is also found
on the Pacific coast.
summarizing a paper from the pen
of Prof. F. Lamson-Scribner, which
first appeared in 1895, Engineering
News mentions these other varieties
as useful: Switch grass, easily prop
agated by seed or cuttings; water oats,
or beach grass, which grows from Vir-
GINA to Florida, and is a first-class
sand binder for Southern and gulf
coasts. In California the beach grass,
or Uniola condensata, is similar in
habit and closely allied. The Uniola
tatifolia is common in the middle and
southern states away from the sea-
shore; and it is highly ornamental as
well as useful in binding the banks of
streams or entertainments not too dry.
For holding entertainments where
firm turf is required, couch, or witch
grass, does excellently in the northern
and middle states. It presents num-
Der OF forms, and all are good hay
grasses. but they ar objectionable in
fallow lands owing to the widely
spreading and very persistent iointed
rootstocks. Couch grass makes very
tough sod. and is particularly valuable
in binding railway entertainments,
banks Of canals, bitches, etc.
Hungarian bronze grass is a good
turf former, and may be used in much
the same way as couch grass, though
the creeping rhizomes are not so
strong as the latter. In the southern
states, where couch grass does not
succeed so well, Johnson or the finer
Bermuda grasses may be substituted
The johnson grass produces a great
mass of widely creeping, strong rhi-
zones; and when it once fills the
ground it is almost impossible to Grad
icate it. Bermuda grass grows more
upon the surface; and upon a light,
sandy soil it succeeds better than the
Johnson grass. Bermuda grass is of
great value in holding levees of sand
or loose soil; and it is at the same
time one Of the best pasture grasses
in the south. If the land is moist and
the soil is somewhat clayey, knot
grass may be substituted for Bermuda;
anu tiiS hhot : ass rs especially well
adapted to cover silt or bare slopes
on the banks of ponds or rivers. Mod
crate submersion does not injure it.
The propagation of sand bindihS
grass can be effected by seed-where
this seed can be procured; but the bet
ter way in most cases is to collect and
transplant cuttings of the creeping
rhizomes.