THE CULTIVATION OF PASPA LUM GRASS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81856, 3 October 1906, Page 4

THE CULTIVATION OF PASPA LUM GRASS.

I ♦ 1 (To the Editor.) Sir.—Would you kindly permit me to give your readers some information on this highly imp<irt:mi sub-j ject, as 1 fi-i-| (-main it «i 1 pn.w ~f great benefit, and inleiestinj, t• 1 many | of ilieni. All -!"ck-»Hners are aware | »f the Kl ,. a t value of good fodder plan s, and after many years' experience and observation of this marvelI, ms grass, which appears to thrive well and yield abundantly in all soils and situations, I do nit think 1 can make a mistake in saying, that to your graziers and dairy farmers it would prove one of the greatest boons with which they cou'd possibly be come acquainted. After about 12 years' experience, Paspalum Dilatatum has become the favorite grass with the farmers on the North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, and to the dairymen especially it has proved a veritable mine of wealth; and can be convened, if necessary, into hay, ensilage or chaff. It produces an immense amount of succulent herbage, which is eagerly relished by all stock; grows from sft to 1 oft high; bears a large quantity of seed, which can readily be disposed of at a good price; and thrives well almost anywhere. No other grass can equal it for rapid growth, quantity and quality of herbage, and is adaptable 10 almost any soil or climate; and the person who introduces this grass into his district will prove a benefactor not only to the locality in which he resides, but the country generally. Any land on which paspalum is established is worth from £lO to per acre. Once esrablished, this grass remains permanent for all time, and .6aves the farmer from the great annual expense entailed in the purchase and cultivation of other grass seeds. In the Tweed distret (N.S.W.) the seed is sown after the scrub or other growth has been felled and fired, at ihe rate of about io'bs to islbs of seed per acre. Where there is much moisture the grass will, within a few months, ho several feet high, and laden with seed. In the dry districts the seed should be sown in the autumn, when the weather is cooler, and when theio is a probability of getting rain.

This grass has proved very effectual in preventing and subduing noxious weeds of all kinds and to those landowners who are troubled with the persistent and expensive growth of ferns or thistles, etc.. it would prove a great blessing; and it shou'd not be sown on land intended for the cultivation of other crops, as it is a very prolific seeder, and when once established is very difficult, if not impossible, to eradicate. There are good paddocks of this grass on the Tweed that have been in existence for .he past jo or 12 years. It has been known to yie'.d, at the Wollongbar Experimental Farm, on cul:ivated ground, when four months o:d, 22 tons of green fodder, and several sue cessive cuttings of over 13 tons pei acre, within the year. On fairly rich soil where there is good rainfall this grass should easily sustain one bullock, or ten sheep per acre, and from 50. to 100 pigs eould be kept in good condition on a few acres with the addition of seme s kim milk or other feed All persons who have used it for thipurposc speak very highly of it. It is almost impossible to calculate the extent to which it has been enhanced the value of all property, and a large area of land which a few years

ago was considered absolutely worthless, has, through its cultivation, become of great value, and is now producing large profits, and i( has given a great stimulus to settlennnt and enterprise. h has done mote for th-pro-perity of the North Coast than

any other variety of fodder could possibly have done, and it has also been the principal factor in making our dairying industry—which has now assumed immense proportions—highly profitable, and the lands on the Xorth Coast famous throughout the world. Land which a few years back could have been purchased for a few pounds per acre, is now wotth from ,£lO tu ,625 per acre, and the reserve price in some instances has bee n fixed a' £3O per acre. This famous plant resists the evil effects of frost, drought or Hood more effectually than the other varieties, and will preserve it, verdure when all other grasses would be scorched or dried up with the summer heat and the frosts of winter. Mr Brandon, the well-known manager of the North Coast Co-operative Butter Factory, says of paspalum : "1 dj not know what this district would have done without it, especially during the very dry weather we experienced some time back. With regard to the quality of the butter manufac tuied from it, it is all that could be desired.''

This factory, which was established about 10 years ago, and is owned and controlled by our farmers, for the month of January last, paid awav o its suppliers for cream and pork,' the immense s U m of ,£44.500, or at tho rate of half-a-million per annum. Nearly all the cows from which 1 hemilk is obtained for this factory are grazed on paspalum, and very few of them are cither hand fed or hou-ed during the winter months. Mr Jas. King, President of Tweed River Dairymen's Union, says that '•To write of the merits of paspalum would require a newspaper." In conclusion, Mr Editor, and apologising for tresspassing at such length on your space, I trust this nformation will prove of much value to your readers, and will enable them l'> sliare in a portion, at least, of the prosperity which \ve on the" North Coast of N.S.W. have experienced some years past, and if ant- of your readers require any information upon this subject they should forward postage for reply to, your-, trulv,

11. HARRISON. Burnngbar, Tweed River, N.S.W Australia;: