MANAGEMENT OF GRASS LAND.

Patea Mail, Volume 1, Issue 32, 31 July 1875, Page 3

MANAGEMENT OF GRASS LAND.

The improvement of grass land is a matter of such grave importance that we should be grateful for hints from any sources that may lead to real progress. In the report of the Victoria Department of Agriculture for 187-1, is a paper by Mr W. H. Bacchus, on Australian grasses, in which it is stated, on the authority of Dr. Schomburg, that when a certain district was first surveyed the explorers pitched their tents in an open valey or plain, where they found the grass so luxuriant that it could be tied over a horse’s back. At the present time little grass is to be seen, rushes and such like plants predominating. Again, it is stated that at Bacdrus Marsh, at the same period, the natural grass was long enough to conceal a flock of sheep a few minutes after they were turned out of the yard ; and, after giving other examples of the luxuriance of the natural grasses, the paper proceeds to state that, the practice of grazing the same land throughtout the year and overstocking, has had the effect of repressing and injuring the native herbage, whilst every encouragement has thereby been given to the growth of sedges, ferns, rushes, and other plants, which the stock will not eat unless pressed by downright hunger. The practice must be reversed before our grass lands become again anything like they once were.” The paper contains valuable information as to the character of Australian grasses. We have alluded to it to show that even in a climate so different from our own, similarity of treatment produces much the same result as here ; and the question arises, do our farmers sufficiently consider the effect of constantly stocking grass land, or satisfy themselves as to the comparative injury or benefit from different kinds of stock. Of the two extremes overstocking is far more injurious than understocking. Land that is continually at work, and is never allowed' to rest, is pretty sure to degenerate; at any rate, it might be made far more productive tinder a more enlightened management. We have before now compared herbage to foliage and we believe the cohiparison

is a reasonable one. What would be thi d jvelopm. Nt of roots, if, as fast as the leaves and buds appeared, they were to bo cut off, or if we kept the leaf growth within the narrowest possible limits ? Stunted growth would result. And how is it with grasses that are constantly gnawed down, and. where, as soon as a fresh shoot is made, it is eat m up ? Land under such treatment' cannot be expected to improve, and if it -remains “ in statu quo ’ we have evidence of its intrinsic fertility. Sheep, particularly ewes, wintered on grass land, do a great deal of injury to the herbage, especially if, as often the case, little or nothing else is supplied. We can readily believe that where trough food is given, the superior nature of the manure would counteract the close and constant cropping, and thus fertility might he maintained or even increased \ but the fact remains, that on most soils continued cropping' or eating is deleterious both to the quantity and quality of the grass. Let us hear Mr Bacchus on this point;— Any native pasture in which kangaroo grass is plentiful can be kept in the best condition for quantity and quality of grass only by excluding stock of every description from the time that grass commences to throw out leaves in spring until it is in flower, about four months. It will then stand eight months of fair grazing, and support more slock in proportion than if it had been grazing all the year. If land be fed off on alternate years by sheep and cattle, there will bo a greater variety of grasses. It is not desirable that sheep should bo kept every year on the same land. Under that system, except in favoured localities, the kangaroo grass and some other sorts gradually become scarce, and die out altogether.— ffhe “ Field.”