THE RURAL WORLD.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 451, 27 March 1912, Page 3

THE RURAL WORLD.

<€>♦«■<£> the grassing of secondclass BUSH LAND. This problem of clothing the forestdenuded hills of the Dominion with a sward of more or leas permanent grasses is a very tough one, and it will get harder as time goes on and the available areas of green bush for falling —as sources for the supply_oi roots for winter feed —get less. For a3 long as a sheep farmer on bush land can rely on putting down a fresh area of bush to help him through a hard time or fatten off his wethers, he is not likely to pay much attention to the older fallen and less profitable country. .. One of the grasses the good qualities of Which are not sufficiently recognised by owners of rough bush hills—that is, country which cannot be eventually ploughed-is poa pratensis, or Kentucky blue grass. is grass can only be regarded as a weed ■m p.oughable or flat country, for even wtfijere it is not intended to plough the ptrfdock up, poa pratensis on many clatses of flat land grows into a hard, dry mat, and from the very densenass of its growth almost kills ltse ou , and cesses to throw any feed, but springs into active life when disturbed by the plough. On a hillside, however, the constant washings of soil brought down, appear to renew its life and it continues to grow most luxuriantly. It is one ot the earliest grasses, has a good feeding va ue? and is keenly relished by all classes of a tock. Of our commercial .?rass seeas it is one of the smallest, as a pounu of it contains nearly two and a-hall million seeds, while cocksfoot has only half-a-million, and rye grass a bare quarter of a million seeds to .he pound. It ia a seed of rather poor germinating power, but even allowing I' for this, the above approximate com-, i : parisons will make it clear that one to; ;''<«sue and a-half pounds per acre is a; BESScient allowance in any mixture.: lA-ke all grasses of a permanent habit . of growth, it takes some time to come 1 to maturity, and quite eighteen \ montfcs or even more- will elapse bell fore irt makes much of a show. Consider inr the small quantity that requires t® he used, the seed is cheap, ! but care should be exercised to see i (that the (tea#* poa pratensis seed is obttadnea., and not that of poa compressa, which is Bonsetimes substituted for i . Aofflthear .good grass should re,'vg onone (attention it (J.oes is \ tfpaflM. Thi,s is a grass meadow . tf) ,^ ave mos t of which may r y e grass, with the good poih rfltf permanent the added adv . p^7 to include growth. It woulu <*#.stt» be sown on it in a mixture that "«£ itsyah land, the very poorest class and but in mixtures for ,«nd a fair soils it should certai v place. The seed is sumevvha. x' sive, coating form Is Gd to Is c. Svc;, lb., as compared with about > sj, which is about the price asked for be

iines of Poverty Bay rye grass this season. The seed of meadow fescue is very similar to that of rye grass, but an examination of the seed shows that in fescue the fragment of stalk at the. base is lo:>ger, slightly separated from the yale, circular in section, and somewhat thinner in the middle and thickened at the free end. In rye grass the stalk is shorter, closely pressed against the p-ale. elliptical in the transverse soctien and not narrow in the middle. Gr;ce an observant farmer has noted these differences, he can tell the two seeds at a glance. On poor bush land the assistance which some of th? smaller fescues give, such as chewings, hard, and red, towards forming a sward should not oe despised, and a pound or so of the two first-mentioned may be included. As the better grasses die out these smaller grassoa take their place, and tend to form a covering of grass in place of worthless and often injurious weeds. With the same object a couple of pounds of Danthonia semi-annularis may be included in mixtures for poor bush land. It is one of the best of our native grasses, and as it stands tire, is a valuable agent in the eradication of sreub. On country or. which sheep are to be the principal stock grazed, a small proportion of yarrow may be added.

Those who have had experience of this plant on our New Zealand bush country have found that an allowance of one pound to the hundred acres is sufficient, and that if more than this is sown, the plant speedily takes possession. It should not, of course, be sown on or near any land that it is possible to plough. Extremely divergent opinions have been expressed as to the advisability of sowing paspalum dilatatum. Some farmers in the North consider it has been their salvation in providing succulent and nutritious feed for their stoclc, while others condemn it wholesale Much of course will depend on the class of land on which it is sown. i.t is a grass that for some reasons docs uwh better in some districts than otHciL-, anc! y/ljich, therefore, each farmer must rest &j? himself. Broadly speaking, it requires warmth and moisture to give the best results. One of the Canary grasses phalaris [)|j!bosa, which bears a good name for ra&tiiifg ptrong growth in winter, has be»:i expetiijiintaliy grown by a number of farmers in the Auckland province, but so far has not been sufficiently widely distributed or grown in large enough areas for a definite pronouncement on its value as a commercial va«iely.