BERMUDA GRASS. Scutch Grass, Cynodan dactylon. One of the most valuable of the grasses in the South. It is not recorded as having seeded in the United States, being an introduced exotic, a native of Africa, intro duced into the West Indies and thence to the United States. It is propagated by the root or creeping stems. Planted in squares of from two to three feet apart, it quickly covers the ground. The soil should be put in complete tilth by deep plowing and thorough harrowing, when the'best returns are to be expected. It ered one of the heaviest croppers, and as making hay fully equal to any grass cultivated south of Tennessee. As high as six tons have even been recorded as the product of hay per acre. In the middle States Of the South this grass is not of so much value as in the extreme southern States. In the true grass region, stock, other than sheep, prefer the regular pasture grasses to the Bermuda.
Its persistent hold on the soil, when it will sur vive the winter, makes it most valuable for hill sides liable to wash, and for other situations where a tough mass of roots are required to hold the soil together. Its strong, creeping rhizoma root-stalks, tenacity of life even in the hottest weather, and its dense, firm, tough sward, making i•almost impossible to be plowed up, has ren dered it obnoxious to cotton farmers of the South; yet its value in restoring fertility to worn-out sods should not be overlooked. It is in fact only by cotton farmers that this grass is really dreaded. It delights in a warm, sandy soil, does not like shade, and hence the roots are planted. The weeds should be mown off the first year. (See Grasses for cut.)