Guthrie-Smith. — Grasses of Tutira. 513 



it is not only a good turf grass, but also the least injured by 

 fire. Fog is also a species we could ill spare : it seeds profusely, 

 and appears everywhere after a fern or bush fire, and, if not 

 allowed to get too rank, sheep will thrive admirably on it. 

 Hundreds of bags of this seed have been scattered over Tutira, 

 and, though temporarily dying out in many places, it always 

 reappears. 



Bromus mollis, B. racemosus, and Poa anna all throw a certain 

 amount of feed, but latterly have become much less evident in 

 the turf, and only nourish nowadays in gardens and worked 

 soils. 



Festuca myuros, F. bromoides, Aira caryophylla, and Briza 

 minor are almost useless. The last, however, is a handsome 

 little stranger ; it has always kept to the warmer part of the 

 run, and, although not now so common as formerly, still appears 

 after fern or manuka fires. 



Agrostis alba and Cynosurus cristatus are grasses that have 

 appeared during the last few seasons in many parts of the run. 

 I do not doubt that shortly they will be very important factors 

 in the pasture. 



Festuca ovina and F. rubra are species of which stock are 

 fond, judging from their cropped conditions ; if they spread 

 at all, it is very slowly. 



The other alien grasses on the run have appeared in the 

 following order : Cynodon dactylon, Anihoxanthum odoratum, 

 Sporobolus indicus, Festuca elatior, Lolium italicum, Phleum 

 pratense, Alopecurus pratensis, Bromus unioloides, " Johnson's 

 grass," Setaria viridis, Panicum crus-galli, Phalaris canariensis, 

 Hordeum murinum, Polypogon monspeliensis, Paspalum dila- 

 tatum, Agropyrum repens. 



Cynodon dactylon appeared in 1884 on the edge of the old 

 pack-track, where it strikes the southern end of the lake. In 

 the twenty-three years that have passed it has never become 

 accustomed to the hills, but still is to be found on the road- 

 sides. It makes some attempt to take possession of gardens 

 and dry soils, and has also established itself on the sandy edges 

 of the lake. 



Anthoxanthum odoratum appeared in 1885 on a low clay 

 hillock in the home paddock, near the lake. Since then this 

 grass has slowly been spreading up-hill ; but after all these years, 

 and although now fully 50 acres are overrun, there is compara- 

 tively little in other parts of the run. It seems to have stuck 

 to one spur of fairish clay, taking no hold of the pumiceous 

 ground in the north and west, and but little of the better limp- 

 stone soil to the south and east. 



A handful of the seed of Sporobolus indicus was gathered 

 by my overseer whilst on a holiday in Auckland, and dropped 

 17 — Trans 



