ITALIAN-RYE GRASSES.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 736, 6 March 1877, Page 3

ITALIAN-RYE GRASSES.

Loliurn Italicum, though not cultivated to a large.extent m England, is not an indigenous grass. It is a native of the south of Europe. It >appears, th aJM Lawson and Son, of Edinburgh, were the firgt to introduce this valuable grass into , Great Britain. This was m 1831, the seeds ,being; brought from Ham--burgh, and costing 42s a bushel. Since, that .time Italian grass has .yearly :>increased m favour, and has now* -reached, a most extensive and h nd 'wide-spread citltivation, both m Britain .arid the.colonies. Early maturity; rapidity of growth, and 1 its i capability of withstanding differences 'm- temperatura •■ are; some of , the jcljar^ctensiics of "this grass. . Stock areiyery partial toat, either as grass 1 or hay,and will pick it out of other . Its effects upon dairy pro(JiiJce i are well known, both m Xt^ly/and .'England. Xawsons, m one of : their. .'.'l Manuals,'' state that m respect of duration, the Italian may be termed a subperennial. "In most instances/ two seasons are all that can,, with any. degree of certainty, b ( e depended upon j and^invery ,wet, cold, spongy soils, iib will often ,ihih ' stock the < second season.' ' Instance's have, however^ occurre : d^ itr iyhibh^as^inany as five, , 'and ... even six; successive *y ears' iproduce have been reaped from the same field j but this has arisen more from i .the ground f having been resown m course of reaping the seed than fromitheactual duration of the original tplants j the; seeds: being remarkably^ easily separated from the hay, even although not perfectly . ripe, which' will always render the harvesting of them an operation attended with considerable care md diffiQulty.^ h ;, -„! - t , ; Growers of seeds well know that rye grass, when very .rank, is apt to fall, do\vn' ; from the effects of; wind and' 'rain, thus destroying a good deal of. seed,\and, making the hay inferior m quality. The Italian is .altogether ;differentj and will remain us upright as wneat and cocksfoot, the seed being so liable to fall out, it^hould.b,e f c ( ut rather .green. On good soil it seeds very 'well, and giv.es excellent returns to the acre. There is probably no grass that 1 will produces heavier crops by the ap. i plication of -liquid manure. , Experiments , w ere specially made, som c 'years ago, '.p^n^.'mo4elf^rm' m England.^ T?he fo^oWjing is a return of the'severalcuttingsduringone season and the weight' i of each per acre. UltLch caftloadj as it was cut, wae iaccui'atel^ weighed, so that the very obj^cjbibnitble and \ inaccnrate mode •whicK ■is psualiy adopted to ascertain tog 1 Wmoixnt p,f produce by; ;' measarine- a sP*^ P° r ,^s? n . °f^^$ r run 49 un 4 where thf > drop is;^W^ :'s. M .\ f fir* ir average of the wii^' d wel S h^ the crop raised upon it, av01 " ded : — - , V"

r MECHI ON ITALIAN GRASSES. Mechi, whose books on farming have had an immense circulation, and. who is a great authority : ; m matters agricultural, goes m very strong for Italian rye grass. In one plac.e he says, "I am now cutting for hay Italian rye four feet high, from which I calculate 3| tons of hay per acre. Last year we cut it on the 28th of May, and on the 31st carted fifteen tons off five acres. Sewaged Italian rye grassj|surpasses m nutrition the very best grass or clover hay." Elsewhere he remarks, Vln the warm season youcannot give it ' too much moisture. .It requires a good irrigation of liquefied ' manure. >■ = ; Without this, after the first cutting there will be no crop. Its value as an early spring feed is too well known to require comment; • JLand can never be to highly farmed for Italian rye grass. The longer he farmed the more was Mechi convinced of the vast importance to the farmer and the country at large of the value of this grass, when watered either with, sewage, or guano and other manures washed into the soil. His working i horses, fora time, got no other food than what they could eat of this grass. They had 1681bs per day, cut op by steam power into short lengths or chaff.. One of his ; ploughmen said to him on one occasion, " There ia no food, sir, that will keep our horses m such condition as; this." Mechi said that was quite true, judging by their vigour and appearance. Given to his cows, it produced .the most excellent butter, free from all rankness; and one season ho had 77 head of calves, yearlings,, and fat bullocks fed with it, and it was so satisfying that they preferred it to other food. There seems to be a peculiarity about

Italian rye grass— -it does not scour animals, however green or wet it niay.be. It has also excellent fattening properties. Meohi says, " See how small a space will supply a farm-horse daily. lOOlbs of green Italian rye grass will contain 251bs of dry matter ; he, probably, will not be able to consume more than I 1121bs m the 24 hours. Mine have no corn, and are m first-rate condition.— < JN. Z. Herald. 1

A. rv-.-AL •■.AAA .* A 9 , $:■."■■ -»rS-S . -Tim^of ;y,7|.§ ■ S&IJ. OUTTING. „ . 7*g h ... |a yg "j.;'/''-', r ''.'-. .#&, « "S S 8 y tns owt gallons. ; Ist -cutting. April 14 6 15 ... 9,561 2nd „ June 4 9 13 ... 9,030 ?rd „ July 19 7 14 ... 11,221 Ith - ,* Sept.l 7 10 ... 14,276 sth „ Nov. 22 6 15 ... 6,308 ■