10 Oct., 1918.] The Carrying Capacity. 629 



THE CARRYING CAPACITY. 



GRASS ON THE WESTERN PLAINS. 



By E. W. Murphy, Dairy Supervisor. 



The development of primary production, at all times a national 

 necessity with us, should now be stimulated more than ever. Therefore, 

 any suggestion to increase the carrying capacity of our pastures deserves 

 attention. There is undoubtedly room for improvement in this respect, 

 especially in those districts where complaints of the stock being very 

 unthrifty are commonly heard, and in which considerable losses have 

 occurred. " All flesh is grass," but all grass does not produce good flesh 

 nor all soils yield good grass. 



Varied experiences in different parts of Victoria developed in myself 

 a strong interest in the relation between soils and grasses, and almost 

 everywhere I believe that grass, as a crop, is very much neglected. 



It was strange, indeed, to hear Western plainsmen complain bitterly 

 of " too much grass." Strong store sheep put on paddocks waving with 

 grass, instead of growing fat, become poor and weak. Yet on pastures 

 in the Gippsland hills and gullies, which at a glance appeared somewhat 

 similar, the flock thrived splendidly. In the first case, however, an 

 examination showed that the feed consisted of harsh native grasses, while 

 in the Gippsland districts it was cocksfoot, cow-grass, and red and white 

 clovers, thus showing that the trouble was due to the quality of the feed. 



To double the number of blades of grass was said to be a work deserv- 

 ing high praise. On many thousands of acres in the Western Districts 

 the number is ample, but the quality unsatisfactory. Our native grasses 

 are, of course, very adaptable to soil defects, i.e., lack of phosphoric acid 

 and of lime, but where both these requirements are absent, the pastures 

 are certain to be poor in quality. If a farmer has by any means 

 encouraged the spread of a deep-rooting plant, yielding an adequate 

 amount of essential digestible nutrients, fertility will then be brought 

 from the subsoil and spread on the surface by the stock, and a new lease 

 of life given to the farm. 



False hopes have been raised by extolling a new grass " which will 

 grow anywhere." If the worth of the plant is based on its depth of 

 rooting or its power to assimilate plant foods from more or less refrac- 

 tory compounds, it is worthy of attention, but if it will grow equally 

 •veil with or without certain elements, it will surely lead to disappoint- 

 ment. Paspalum dilatatimi is adaptable, and grows well in many parts, 

 hence the divergence of opinion among graziers regarding its feeding 

 value. If allowed, it grows upright like oats, but if cropped closely 

 the stems will grow along the ground, so that, notwithstanding adverse 

 circumstances, the seeds may still be matured. 



Where the complaint of " too much grass " is heard, there has 

 generally been long-continued stocking, causing the predominance of 

 shallow feeding grasses of inferior composition. In all stock farniine;, 

 unless foodstuffs are brought in or mineral fertilizers employed, the 

 fertility of the soil must decrease. Overstocking, in the first place, kills 

 out the most nutritious herbage, and long-continued stocking renders the 

 surface soils suitable only for comparatively worthless grasses. J^eces- 

 sarily, the time required to deplete the soil will vary according to its 

 original endoAvment. 



