FEEDING VALUE OF GRASSES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 335, 8 February 1911, Page 5

FEEDING VALUE OF GRASSES.

The Government Biologist writes as follows in the current Journal of the Department of Agriculture : Danthonia Semiannularis. —There is considerable divergence of opinion on the feeding-value of danthonia, but it can be ranked as a fairly nutritious grass, and highly suitable for sowing in localities where better herbage, such as cocksfoot and white clover, will not thrive. This grass varies to a remarkable degree, many of the forms being far more valuable for pastoral purposes than others. Chewing's Fescue. —This grass is a form of red fescue (Festuca rubra), and its origin is uncertain. Its name has been derived from a southern farmer who was amongst the first to sell seed of this grass in Southland. At the present time it is looked upon as a valuable grass for dry, poor soils, but should never be sown on land that will be broken up in a few years' time. Its. feeding value is slightly inferior to the better class forms of danthonia, but it gives a larger yield of herbage. A considerable amount of seed is exported annually to Europe, where it is marketed as Festuca ruhra.

Festuca angustifolia.—A form of fine-leaved sheep's fescue. This is useful bottom grass in mixed sheep pasturage, and is highly nutritious, being little inferior to cocksfoot. The yield, however, is small, except in favoured localities, and it will not endure prolonged drought. Agrostis vulgaris. -- A valuable grass for second-calss lands. It gives a large yield of herbage superior in feeding value to either danthonia or Chewing's fescue. Its chief objection is that it grows very scantily during the winter and spring months. Waipu brown top and Matakana red top are both local names for agrostis vulgaris. It succeeds well on poor land, but requires a considerable amount of moisture. 1 would not advise its use in localities where the rainfall is less than 40 inches per year. Seed is difficult to secure true to name, the majority of European samples containing several distinct forms of agrotsis mixed together. American seed is generally more reliable, there being a "large demand for this grass in the I'nited States,