COCKSFOOT.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19180, 10 December 1927, Page 17

COCKSFOOT.

10 TEJE ZDI7O?, OP THE PRESS.

Sir, —I see in to-day's Press that the question of the prohibition of Danish cocksfoot seed was discussed by members of the Canterbury A. and P. Association. And, as the heading says, it was a political bargain. The Minister for Agriculture assumes the Association did not want the Danish seed prohibited, but that all that was wanted was to have that seed coloured, so as to distinguish it from New Zealand seed.

Having read the interesting reports of Professor R. G. Stapleton, M.A., of the Welsh plant-breeding station, Aberystwy hj, in the journal of the Ministry of Agriculture on cocksfoot and other grasses, also other authorities on the same subjects, and having a small knowledge of the above subject, I find it is urgently necessary that the Danish seed should be prohibited; otherwise the Canterbury pure seed, acknowledged to be equal to the best in the world, will be ruined by being crossed or hybridised. And our most valuable grass will be lost to the country. I have found by reading various reports that the number of root leaves on the Akaroa or Canterbury cocksfoot is much greater than on the Danish, and these leaves are the most nutritious part of the plant; and a ton of cocksfoot hay made from the New Zealand cocksfoot is of much more value than a ton made from Danish. The New Zealand grass is a perennial grass, while the other is an annual grass, and it is therefore the height of folly to allow the Danish cocksfoot into this Dominion.

There is another point of view. The growing of oats in the Dominion is becoming less every season, and as time goes oni only a comparatively small quantity will be required. Well, a large area of the land that has grown oats could be. sown in New Zealand cocksfoot, in towb, and cultivated, or broadcast. In either case it responds well to top-dressing, and this could be harvested like oats, and with the new small threshing machines now coming into use, it could be threshed from the stooks, and would, in my opinion, pay better than oats. The cost of handling the seed would be very light, compared with handling oats, and in freight also. Then, the grass and stalks after the seed was threshed out would make good, rough winter feed. There is still another point that farmers could interest themselves in. As Professor Stapleton says; often very superior plants of cocksfoot are found in the hedgerows and in orchards, and corners in paddocks. The seed from these should be carefully collected, and sown separately; when a superior class of cocksfoot than we have now would be in use, which mean's more profit to the people who go to ' the trouble of collecting the seed.—Tours, etc., GEORGE LEE. Tcmpleton, December 9th.