WHAT GRASS SEEDS TO SOW.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 597, 18 March 1876, Page 3

WHAT GRASS SEEDS TO SOW.

" Old Colonial " furnishes- the following advice te those laying down permanent pasture? ; —As to "the best mixture of grass seed " for different kinds of soil,' this is a question that can hardly be answered in a general way. For what purpose is the -grass seed wanted to be sovvr. — permanent pasture, rotation: cropping for seed producing purposes 1 for grazing cattle, or providing feed for sheep 1 ? For each of these a different mixture would be required, and it is often found that a jruixture suitable for one district will give very indifferent results in the adjoining district even 'when subjected to the same treatment. The best mizture for any one district can only be learned by Careful experiments made in that district. For permanent pasture on the majority of clay lands, a mixture of the following grasses and clovers might be worthy of a trial :-^Perennial rye-grass, cocksfoot grass, red and white clovers, foxtail grass (" Alopecurus pratense "), crested dogstail grass (" Bynosurus cristatus "), timothy grass ("Phleum pratense"), the buffalo grass (" Stenotaphrura glabrum "), the sweet vernal (" Anthoxanthum odoratum "), the meadow grass (" Pea /pratonsis "), and "-Eragrostis brownii." Cdmbined with these might be sown a few pounds to the acre of such herbs as yarrow, fenngreek, burnet, parsley, &c. Other selections of grass seeds might be given, and the names of other very likely grasses included in the above list, but too many names "would have a tendency to confuse rather than instruct. A few plants of the -grass to which I frequently referred last summer might be planted here and there on the field to watch their behaviour. I allude to Phillips' panic grass, " Panicum spCctabile." The lastnamed grass, as well as the buffalo grass, would probably have to be obtained by roots. 'Both are creepdrs, and would soon spread for some -distance all around the original root. Seeds and plants of the above could be procured and an acre of fairly prepared land should be sown down with the above, and the result carefully noted and reported on in due time. The total quantity of seed sown to the acre ueed not exceed, if the seed is fresh, from 6Olbs to 701bs.