Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1894. PERMANENT PASTURE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4628, 24 January 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1894. PERMANENT PASTURE.

SECOND EDITION

The season for gL'asa sowing is approaching, and the question of lay" ing down land in permanent pasture should be one of special interestmore especiully to settlers vho are sowiug buEli land for the first time. To make a'mistake inlaying down arable land is oi comparatively little importance, but when bush land is dealt with it is a very different matter. Tbe land cannot be broken up again next season and re-sown. Once Bown the pasture must' remain for good or all. All that can be done afterwards is to re-sow bare patohes, and when the grass is established little can be done to improve'it except through tbe medium of .judicious Blocking. The importance therefore of sowing suitable seed in fitting proportion and at the best time can bardly be over estimated.' It would of course be altogether beyond the scope of a newspaper article to do more than briefly indicate some of the more | important considerations in connection with the subject. Onr object indeed is rather to draw attention to points which settlers would do well to investigate for themselves than to attempt to lay down any hard and fast rules.

With regard to the seed sown, tho plan usually followed is to sow from 151b to 301b per acre of mixed seeds. Often ryegrass, cocksfoot, and white clover are the only seeds sown, but many settlers inolude in various proportions,according to the nature of the land, meadow fescue, meadow foxtail, rated dogstail, poa trivialis, and occasionally Timothy, poa pratensis, and Fiorin, besides trefoil, alaike and cow grass. When land is broken up it is usual to sow 401b per acre, often more, and with surface Bowing, other things being equal, the best results are given when the larger quantity of seed is 'sown. When it is considered that a- large proportion of the seed sown does not germinate, or having germinated afterwards dieß, and that it is of the utmost importance in order to secure a good clean pasture that the ground be covered as rapidly and as closely as possible with useful, grasses, it must be admitted that it is false economy to be sparing with the seed. There is no danger of bad results following heavy sowing bb in the case of grain. When wheat for instance ip sown too thickly the individual plants suffer from overcrowding and the yield of grain is deteriorated in consequence. Grass however is not grown for grain, and the closer the turf from the beginning the better. Indeed in the caso of a coarse-grow-ing grass like cocksfoot thin sowing tends to encourage a rank tussocky growth. The proportion. of cocksfoot to be sown is a matter on which opinion is mnbh divided, Of late years the tendency has be<n toßowmuoh less than formerly, and it is probable fhat this tendency has boon pushed too far. Objection is taken (0 cocksfoot on the ground that if sown freely jt chokes other grasses of less robust habit. It is tip that such is the case when the'pasture remains unlocked or very muoh understocked, It is also true that understocking in early summer—the very tfrne when the graß3 wants to ob keptdpwn—is unavoidable on most sbeep farms in the Wairarapa. In a season Jike the present, for instance, it is practically i impossible to prevent, cocksfoot from ■ running to seed, The trup remedy, however, appsars to lie not in sowjng an unduly Braall quaptity of cocksfoot, but in sowing more of the other hardy perennials; At any rale care, Bhould be taken not 10 lose sight of the faot that on most soils cocksfoot ia the most valuable of all the grasses for permanent pasture, and that under ordinary circumstances there is no fear of its altogether superseding any of the true perennials, whether it be occasionally'' allowed to run; to seed or not. Bo far as rye grass is concerned, whatever the quantity sown, after the first or seoond year, ezcepi in very"rich land, it must take a secondary place. Rye grass is probably .'the.most: Valuable, grass in existence under a system of cultivation, Asa permanent pasture grass; Ijowßyer it does not rank among»the ficßt, One pi.itsgreat'iii.witßiß.its

| early maturity, and on that 'acqiunt | only, it should under ordinary conditions, be freely sown on nearly every sort ot country being laid down in permanent pasture. The trouble about it is. that it does Vol always last. The theory is ih t there is soine property iu ibe toil necessary to its existence which it seizes'aud quickly absorbs to the detriment of its aftergrowth. ■ As a rule ryegrass grown from whntiß known as 'ninideu' seed_is'Httl» belter than a biennial, but it ir also true that grass grown from the very .best seed does.not always list- even on good soil. As a - liiu t. to those interested, but without vouching in any way forita accuracy we give the estimate of an English authority of the relative value for permanent pasture of four grasses: Cocksfoot (18), meadow fescue (17), Foxtail (12), ryegrass (6).