are feeding thereon, so that these cattle may in the shortest time be ready for the market. But the operations of these graziers and farmers will necessitate their growing upon their several lands very different species of grasses. To the grazier permanency will be a great recommendation in the grasses he selects, while to the farmer, although the grasses must be both fattening and nutritious, yet he will only require them to be annuals and biennials, so that they may not occupy his land more than one or two years after sowing.

But these are not all the conditions necessary in the selection and sowing of grasses, it is requisite to choose those that will best suit the kind of soil, its topographical situation, annual state of moisture, chemical constituents, and many other circumstances. A grass may be very valuable when planted on one piece of ground, and nearly worthless when planted upon another. The grazier or farmer is often surprised that a grass or clover he has seen extolled in books, etc., will not grow upon his land, or if it manages to keep itself alive will bear but little herbage, and that little will not fatten his live stock, or cause them to grow wool; or a grass may be very good of itself, but in the struggle for existence some more vigorous grass may overgrow and kill it, as for example, the Holcous lanatus will destroy the doob, or any weaker growing grass near it. Therefore it is necessary that before any grass or clover is sown, these various conditions and many others must be taken into account and attended to, that the best results may follow. For there is all the difference between keeping a sheep to the acre, or ten, or even more, or one head of large cattle to every five acres, or one or two bullocks to every acre, and to fatten them by the time they are twenty-four or thirty months old. It is no use purchasing valuable short-horn cattle, or Lincoln or Leicester sheep, if the pastures are not what they ought to be by the grass growing vigorously and with its chemical constituents properly combined, thus producing the largest amount of nutritious food, for, as Mr. Bakewell said, “It is the feeding more than the breeding that tells.”

The pastures may even look green, but the stock may not thrive, and upon the chemist testing the grasses his analysis may show that the minerals and organic elements are not normally proportioned. But, further, while one grass will fail to feed, or will not even grow, another species in the same place will thrive and bear abundant herbage, and both nourish and fatten stock.

We have lately seen wonder expressed at the rye and other grasses affected with the ergot fungus (Secale cornutum) and that stock fed thereon suffer. This is apparently a great mystery to some, but none to the

scientist, as he knows that whenever a plant is growing in an unhealthy condition, it is liable to the attacks of disease, and becomes the host and supporter of parasites.

In experimenting with grasses and fodder plants, it is therefore necessary not only to introduce them from distant countries where they are indigenous, and acclimatize them, but, after they are acclimatized, to grow them upon various kinds of soil, and under different conditions; the soil of the experimental beds must represent these soils and conditions, or the experiments are worthless. The soils must vary between a light sandy mould, sandy loam, stiff loam, friable clay, stiff clay, calcareous sands and marl, and must be drained and undrained. The experiments must be carried on during summer and winter, and the resulting herbage must be weighed, measured, and chemically analyzed during the first three years of the experiments, and then fed off by live stock pastured thereon for definite periods, according to the results desired to be tested, and this for not less than three years, as the first year's feeding power is often different from the subsequent second, and third years. The grasses have after this to be allowed to seed, and this seed then to be sown with twelve or more vigorous grasses and clovers, and if these do not smother them they are able to take their places among grasses for permanent pastures. If they do not stand this test their merits are known, and they can be placed in the position they ought to hold as fodder or temporary grasses.

For these and many other reasons I find it very difficult to predict what any grass will really be until actual experiment in growth and testing has revealed its qualities. Amongst the hundreds of grasses I have grown from many parts of the world, I am never able to say with certainty, until after years of continued experiment, what a grass will be worth in permanent or temporary pasture; some that are very poor for the first few years improve with each year after they have been planted out permanently among the mixed grasses and grazed over, whilst others cannot stand against more vigorous grasses, or the grazing and trampling of stock, or they are not able to send their roots far enough for them to obtain a fresh supply of elements, after they have been located some time in the pastures.

Thus the so-called perennial rye will bear feeding down for two, three, or four years, according to the seed or choice of soil and amount of stocking, and then will lose its normal chemical elements and get weaker and diseased until it will die out, and be replaced after a few years—more or less—according to circumstances, by Holcus lanatus, or by weeds, or if the ground is undrained when it dies out, rushes will take its place, or as it requires for its healthy growth lime and potash salts, sheep feeding it off constantly will gradually remove in their wool and bones these elements;

it gets diseased and attacked with ergot (Puccinia uredo), etc., and will be replaced by other plants in its struggle for existence.

One other condition that must be noticed, and a very important one, is the period of rest during which the plant ceases to grow above ground, and either remains with only small growth in any part, or nearly quiescent, or in other species commences vigorous root action and extends under ground, this being regulated by the decreasing or increasing temperature, height of ground water, by which we understand the mean summer and winter water, level or height of moisture in the soil. The above and below soil changes of growth taking place in different grasses depending upon their species, original habitat, etc., at various seasons of the year in this island, either in the spring, summer, autumn, or winter, and all other things being equal, this growth above ground will determine at which season a grass is most to be depended upon by the graziers and farmers in this colony.

The Panicum spectabile, which will be growing vigorously from October to April, will die down in the winter and only maintain a weak root-action until spring, while the Bromus unioloides will grow as fast above ground in the winter as in spring, and not so rapidly during the summer and autumn. The Anthoxanthum odoratum grows all the winter, spring, and autumn, and is a good feeding grass during those seasons.

The Elymus condensatus grows fastest during the spring and autumn, continuing to grow, though less vigorously, in winter and summer.

The Stenotaphrum glabrum, so-called buffalo grass, and Cynodon dactylon or doob grass, grow best during the hottest and driest weather here, and whilst the Californian alfalfa with irrigation will make enormous growth during the summer, the Chilian alfalfa grows on also in the autumn and winter.

The Trifolium repens makes its principal growth in the spring; the Lolium perenne gets weaker after the first three or four years; while the Alopecurus pratensis becomes a much better grass in permanent pastures after this period; and although here on swamps and peat bogs many of the English pasture grasses will not thrive, the Agrostis stolonifera there grows well and is very fattening to cattle. The Poa aquatica and Festuca aquatica will thrive best by the sides of rivers, streams, and damp places, making there the best feeding grass; while the Elymus arenarius, and Paspalum littorale, and Achillea millefolium, and some others will grow on nearly pure sand and be then relished by stock, so much that some of my sheep selected the Elymus arenarius from many other grasses in preference to anything else.

The Dactylis cœspitosa is said by some authorities (but of this I cannot speak from personal experience at present) to grow best in swamps by the

sea; and I know the Holcus lanatus will grow on most soils, however stiff or wet they may be, as well as the Plantago lanceolata.

The Cynosurus cristatus will make a permanent pasture for sheep on the driest and poorest gravelly downs, and be greatly assisted by the Pentzia virgata, or Cape-sheep bush; whilst the Onobrychis sativa will only grow profitably for feeding on soils containing a considerable proportion of lime; while upon lands shaded by wood or overgrown by trees several Poas will grow well, as will also the Panicum decompositum, Arundinella nepalensis, and other kinds. The white clover will grow and ripen its seed where bees and other insects can be found. In this colony, the red or Trifolium pratense finds very few insects capable of carrying pollen grain to fertilize it, as the humble bee that fertilizes it in England we have not here; yet sometimes I have had a patch of this clover with perfectly fertile seeds, and though I am not yet able to say positively what insects are the fertilizing agents, I am inclined at present to think it is the ant that does it—but I hope soon to learn more of this from test experiments now going on. And again, while many of the grasses and clovers will cease to fatten sheep and produce disease in them if they eat them when their young growth is first commencing in spring, Phleum pretense will stop the diarrhœa produced, and will continue to nourish and fatten them at a time when other grasses will not do as well; and this being a good autumnal grass, and very nourishing at other seasons, it should be more sown than it is at present. So well do the Canadian and North American farmers and graziers know its worth, that they sow it very largely, and often to the exclusion of the Loliums, for sheep and cattle pasture.

Another genus of grasses very valuable for permanent pasture are the fescues—Festuca gigantea, F. elatior, F. pratensis, F. rubra, F. duriuscula—and many others of these valuable grasses are in this climate growing vigorously, and yielding herbage in the winter when the so-called perennial rye is nearly dormant. These fescues, sending their roots deeply down, find elements to assist their healthy growth when other grasses are attacked by fungus and other diseases; and the instincts of sheep and cattle will cause them to crop these grasses in certain seasons instead of any others.

Among the red clovers for permanent pastures in this colony, none are better than the Trifolium pratense perenne, or cow-grass, as it not only continues to grow year after year when it has been sown, and produces a large amount of herbage, but it very frequently has its seeds fertile, and sows itself down if not too closely cropped in the autumn. In a small paddock in which I had it sown some years since with many other kinds of grasses, plants of it are to be found far distant from the place in which it was originally sown, and each year I observe an increasing quantity of plants.

The Californian variety of lucerne or Californian alfalfa, which has during the past two years been much written upon in the various agricultural journals, is a very useful plant, as it will grow a very large and abundant crop of herbage either for fodder or making into hay, or for grazing upon with periods of rest between the grazings. It forms much larger roots than the other lucernes, and is in several other respects different; it is well worthy of culture by the graziers and farmers. The plan that I have pursued with it is to allow my cows or bullocks to feed upon it for two weeks, then take them out and place sheep on it for two weeks to eat it close to the ground; then remove them, and leave the alfalfa to grow for a month, and then follow this course again; and for the two weeks I allow five large cattle or twenty sheep to the acre. It requires to be grown in different enclosures to pursue this system, so that while the stock are feeding in one enclosure the other is at rest and able to grow again.

Another plant, called the prickly comfrey, has recently been recommended as a fodder or soiling plant. It was introduced into notice in 1811, and at that time recommended for fattening stock, but passed out of notice, and has since been revived. Of the several comfreys, Symphytum asperrimum is the one now most in favour. As soon as I noticed the renewal of interest in it, I ordered plants from France and elsewhere, and, having obtained them, have now placed them under test culture; but the time is too short to be able to give any details as to their worth or capabilities in this colony.

Agrostis argentea.—A perennial grass of great merit, grows vigorously through the spring, summer, and autumn, and part of the winter, yielding a fair proportion of nutritive herbage, seeding freely if allowed to do so. It is readily eaten by stock, holds its own amongst other grasses, and is a valuable grass with mixed permanent grasses on runs or pastures.

Anthistiria australis.—The seed of this widely-spread Australian grass I obtained from Tasmania, the seed came up late in the spring; it sent up seed-heads which were three-and-a-half feet in height. It was cut for seed about the latter end of December; it continued to grow during the summer and autumn, until the frosts of winter became severe, when it remained with only small growth during the remaining months, till spring weather started it into fresh growth, when it grew well, yielding much herbage to the stock grazing upon it. It possesses elements well fitted for the growth and development of sheep and cattle, and is a good grass for permanent pasture, but is better for not being too heavily stocked.

Avena argentea.—A permanent pasture grass growing an abundance of foliage during the autumn, winter, and spring, but somewhat less during the dry summer weather; it contains a large amount of nutritive and

fattening material. It does not readily ripen fertile seeds but forms plenty of empty glumes. It is a good grass for permanent pasture.

Arundinella nepalensis.—This excellent summer grass commences its growth in the first warm spring weather, and continues to increase during the whole summer, forming in this climate a dense mat of foliage, which grows as fast as it is cut or eaten down, continuing its growth until the coldness of winter stops it. It is especially in this latitude a summer grass, but valuable for its rapid growth at that season, and thrives on high dry land.

Alkali grass of British Columbia.—A most valuable perennial hardy grass, grows well during the winter, spring, and autumn in this island, and is a very useful grass, well worth introduction into the permanent pastures here.

Agrostis rubra.—Procured from the United States, an excellent permanent grass, grows from early spring to a late period of the winter, sending up delicate, short, thick herbage, filling up spaces amongst other mixed grasses; spreads more by seeding than by its creeping stolons; in this differing from many others of its genus.

Andropogon annulatus.—This is here both a summer and autumn grass; it does not grow fast here during the winter, but at the period of its greatest growth sends up an abundance of herbage; it is an excellent pasture grass.

Chloris truncata.—A perennial grass of good quality for summer pasture, growing freely during the spring, summer, and autumn months; it does little during the winter here, so must be relied upon for its herbage during the hot, dry summer season, when the stock like it much. It fattens them, and if not too closely cropped down, it seeds and spreads freely.

Chloris divaricata.—This is here principally a summer grass, but grows very late into the autumn; it is useful at all seasons of the year, ripens its seed well and sows itself down, thus spreading and filling up vacant places.

Chloris ventricosa.—This like the preceding grass grows in the dry and hot weather, producing a fair quantity of feed which the stock are fond of, as they leave many others for them.

Dactylis glaucescens.—In appearance this grass much resembles the common cocksfoot or orchard grass except in its bluer colour. It also grows much later into the winter than the cocksfoot, and is a better grass for supplying winter feed; it also contains more starch and sugar elements in its foliage than the other species of that genus. It is a very useful grass for permanent pasture.

Eragrostis elegans.—Although an annual, is a useful grass for those who only want a grass of this character, as it sends up an abundant nutritious herbage through the spring, summer, and autumn.

Helopus annulatus.—This is a very excellent and fattening grass; grows

all summer during the driest weather, much relished by the stock, and a very desirable grass for permanent pasture, bears a great quantity of seed, and as it lays many of its stems along the ground that escape the grazing of the stock, it thus increases and spreads. It is very nutritious and fattening, and well worthy of a place in pastures.

Panicum decompositum.—A fast-growing abundant grass, grows well under trees, forms a thick sole, and during summer is a rapidly increasing plant, able to ripen seed in large quantities through all the autumn: grows from spring to late autumn.

Panicum orizynum.—A quick-growing grass, much to be recommended if quite closely kept fed down, but it must not be allowed to form seed-heads, as the long awns upon its seed might injure the cattle; if closely cropped would be very useful, as its abundant leaves contain a large amount of nutritive elements.

Pennisetum italicum.—This, although an annual, will be found very useful by the farmer for one of the grasses for a rotation crop; it bears an abundance of very fattening foliage, which is three feet high; it forms large bunches of leaves and tall seed-stems, and is greedily eaten by cattle and other stock, quickly making them fat.

Pennisetum glaucum.—Is also an annual, and distinguished from the preceding by its glaucous colour, taller herbage, and later growth; in the season of its greatest vigour it is a very fattening grass, and should be sown by farmers and others who only require an annual grass; it may be fed down very closely, quickly growing up again.

Paspalum distichum.—A useful grass to sow in damp places or along the banks of water-courses. It yields an abundance of nutritious herbage during the warm weather that stock much approve of. It is a very superior grass, and should be widely sown in permanent pasture, more especially on damp lands or swampy meadows.

Paspalum littorale.—A very good grass for sandy lands along the sea coast, and is there one of the best feeding grasses.

Paspalum dilatatum.—A valuable perennial pasture grass, as it yields an abundance of herbage, it fattens stock quickly as they are fond of it; it holds its place so well amongst mixed grasses that it ought to be generally sown in permanent pasture.

The preceding are a few grasses and fodder plants selected from my notes upon many hundreds of such plants as I have introduced, acclimatized, and experimented with during the past eighteen years, and although there is a great temptation to add largely to the number above described, yet a fear of wearying the members of the Philosophical Society, by adding many others to the list upon this occasion, causes me to limit the number to those above