736 



Journal of A^ncultnre. 



[lo Dec, 1908. 



The advantages of having a quantity of green fodder chaffed and stored 

 ■i?. silage for winter use are many and obvious. To have to go to the field 

 for a load of fodder and get it into the mangers on a wet dav is a task 

 under any circumstances ; and Avhen the ground is soft or when the horses- 

 are required for other work it is very satisfactory to know that the cows 

 can be well supplied with little labour from a store of succulent fodder 

 close at hand. The possession of an ample supplv of ensilage unquestion- 

 ably makes towards improved dairy returns, while also allowing of the 

 general work of the farm being more systematically and expeditiously 

 carried out. Succulent fodder practically insures a good milk yield; and 

 only in very exceptional cases can thig be obtained- throughout the autumn 

 and winter months without the use of the silo. 



A SILO I.\ 



Hi: -MAI LEE. 



THE PROCLAIMED PLANTS OF VICTORIA. 



{Co)ifiiii(Cd from page 672.) 



Alfred J. Ewart, D. Sc, Ph. D., F.L.S., Government Botanist; and 

 J. A'. Tovcy, Herbarium Assistant. 



The Guildford or Onion Grass. 



Romnlea {TricJi07ieina) cruciata, Ker.-Gawl. {Iridec^). 



This South African plant was called R. Bidbocodium (a native of the 

 Mediterranean regions and Scillv Islands) by Baron Mueller, and has been 

 known as R. rosea (a native of South Africa), in New South Wales and 

 Tasmania, but is easily distinguished from these species by its short style 

 not projecting bevond the stamens, a character constant in several hun- 

 dred flowers examined. R. longifolia, of Baker, is a synonym, and the 

 Australian R. cruciata seems to have diverged sufficiently from the type 

 form of R. rosea to be recognised as a distinct species. Each shoot usually 

 bears one or two flowers, but sometimes a single corm develops a cluster 

 of shoots, and the plant then appears to be manv flowered. The plant 

 was abundant in the neighbourhood of the Botanical Gardens 40 or 50 

 years ago, but it has now taken possession of entire paddocks, roadsides 

 and waste places, and like manv' bulbous plants it is difficult to eradicate. 



Its pinkish purple flowers look verv pretty among its green grass-like 

 leaves in spring, as they open when the sun shines on them and close at 

 night or in cold weather. The leaves appear in April or May, the 



