Football News.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 63, 8 September 1894, Page 2

Football News.

NEW SOUTH WALES v. WELLINGTON. (Per Press Association) Wellington. This Day. Tho weather changed this morning, and a light rain is now falling, with a fresh southerly wind, which ronders the ground greasy for the match with the New South Welshmen. The local men are the favorites.

A London eccentric envelope has puzzled the Post Oflice authorities. It had tbe following address : — " Sews N X Send down I lore white." It took a sharp office lad to solve that it was meant for •" Susan Mark, Sundown Isle of Wight."— Truth.

Laying Down Land to Grass.

.-■ „.**. * . (Adapted' \ f rom; |', Permanent and Temporary Pastures " by T. Watsok.) VyVtitiS. All the operations which concern tbe making of a pasture are important, but it is no exaggeration to say that a judicious combination of the varioua grasses and clovers which are to constitute the crop may be justly regarded as vital to success. Failure here means the waste of all other energies, for ltis worse than useless- to incur^th& labor and expense of establishing plants that are not wanted; However good they may be elsewhere, they will be no better than weeds, if ,I*o^o^ answer . the required ; purpoae. -The I choice of suitable seeds has provoked greater conflict of opinion, both among theorists and practical men; than aught lf else, and the main cause of the con- < . troversy, I believe, arises from the v attempt to deduce large inferences from small experience. It frequently _. _ happens that the man who has merely dabbled a little in laying down land *. will follow it up with a letter to the newspaper, or deliver a speech at the* local farmers' club, from *which : it*? -* might be inferred that bur agriculturists will find in a particular mixture of seeds the preventive of all the ills j that grasslands are heir to. A little knowledge on this sal j et is a veiy dangerous thing. JSTo" prescription; however excellent everyone of the varieties which compose it may ,s«£.;,;' can by any possibility be suitable for universal application; The attempt to put forward even a first-class mixture of grasses for all soils and all purposes savors essentially of empiricism. The dogmatism thatproclaimstiie universal . mixture of grasses is hear akin to the ~ pretensions of the quack- medioine vendor that his particular nostrum will infallibly cure all the complicated evils under which humanity suffers. Those who possess the widest experi* .' ence on this subject are the least inf clined to lay down rigid rules. They are careful to consider differences of of soil, subsoil, and ther purpose to whioh each individual pasture ii to be devoted ; and their suocess is chiefly attributable to the wise application of general knowledge to special cases. It is interesting to pursue- the various phases of the question as they are exemplified in the current public journals.. A fashion comes into vogue for a time, to be superseded and condemned ty the fashion which fob lows. Some pet theory is driVen, hard, and takes the pnblic fancy. It\ is declared to be infallible; that wis- T dom will die with its author; and t tbat all preceding writers were mere *\ presumptuous novices. The past fifty l years furnish many amusing instances 1 of this kind. Some time ago a «ry I was raised tbat Italian rye grass waa \ the saving clause in British agricuL \ ture. It was not only to be grown \ alone and in alternate leys, but no permanent pasture could possibly be successful which did not contain a large proportion of it. When this -< theory exploded there waa a rebound to the other extreme. Italian rye grass waa aaid to be entirely unfit for s a permanent pasture, an . opinion X'S most heartily ahare. At the present time ccckafoot ia the hero among grasses. Instead of being reserved^ for those soils and purpoaes fbr whioh it possesses an undoubted value, it is recommended as useful for the production of high-class hay and" for sowing on aome geological forma* tions for which it ia totally unsuited. Many pastures have been ruined by the ; introduction of cocksfoot. Thoae who are familiar with the art of forestry are well aware that it would be futile to attempt to grow elm timber on sandy land, and if an opinion were " promulgated that any single timber should be grown on every estate in :. New Zealand, it would excite the ridicule of experta in that profession. Had the laying down of grass received the careful attention wbich has beta * devoted to forestry, it would be considered just aa unreasonable to sow cocksfoot on all soils and for all purposes, as it would to recommend any one kind of tree to be planted every- - where. The sowing of poas has been condemned it : happened that "' some varieties of this grass were indigenous where the experiment was made. But a new English farmer will not hesitate to sow poa pratensis alone, and long experience has proved that he does not prize this grass too highly. On the other hand in certain distriots ■•> of New Zealand the offer of seed would only provoke an expression of scorn. Surely such a widely different i estimate of the value of a single variety may well suggest a doubt as to the universal adaptation of any one kind of grass to all soils and districts. Indeed, the whole question is one of experience, and those who possess the largest knowledge, drawn from the widest sources, will concur in the opinion that each individual case should be considered independently and upon its own merits.