BOMBAY GRASSES 229 



4< tion, of course, enables more cuttings to be obtained in the year, 

 " but it is never necessary for the maintenance of the crop. It is, 

 *' however, most necessary to manure land well for Guinea grass. 

 " It is general on the farm to plant this grass (the sets being 

 " obtained by dividing into several parts old tussacks from another 

 " field) on the ridge on a showery day, care being taken that they 

 " are planted uniformly at a distance of 2 feet apart in each direction, 

 " thus admitting the use of the plough between the lines of plants 

 " and across these lines at right angles ; for it is advisable to pass a 

 " plough or cultivator occasionally through and across the crop as 

 " the absorb tive powers of the soil can, in this way, be kept up. 

 *' This ploughing or cultivating should be repeated at any rate once 

 *' after the removal of each cutting, 



" Before the end of the second year the plants from frequent 

 " cutting will have formed large tussacks ; these would be reduced 

 " by simple chopping with a spade, hoe, or man-vitti. It has been 

 " found best to make two cuts across the tussacks at right angles 

 " to each other, thus dividing it into four parts. Of these, three may 

 " be removed and form excellent bedding for cattle stalls, the fourth 

 " remaining to perpetuate the crop. In this way there is no neces™ 

 " sity to remove the plants to other ground, but care must be exer- 

 " cised to see that the soil is properly manured, as a crop which 

 " yields such large returns necessarily makes large demands on the 

 " soil. The fodder can be used for all kinds of stock : at first it 

 " seems to disturb the digestive organs of some animals, but this is 

 " only temporary; cattle and sheep have been fed on it exclusively 

 " for months not only without any ill effects, but with the most satis- 

 " factory results. A Guinea grass field is a capital place in which to 

 " graze working cattle during the hot season, while for ewes with 

 " young lambs better pasture could scarcely be discovered. It pro- 

 " duces an abundant flow of milk in the ewes, without, what is 

 " common in such cases, disturbing the health of either mother or 

 " lambs ; care must, however, be always observed never to graze 

 " Guinea grass too closely." 



Equally successful experiments have been made in Ceylon. Here 

 is what Mr. Fergusson says in his Catalogue of Ceylon Grasses : — 



" It is the Rata (foreign) Tana of the Sinhalese, When and by 



