10 Makch, 1919.J 



Nhill Farm Competitions. 



135 



i'till carrying tlie whole of the ewes, yet there was plenty of feed — and 

 that after six months' continuous feeding. It is estimated that a good 

 paddock of this grass will lamb down a sheep and a half to the acre in an 

 average year. A Mr. F. Franklin is stated to have planted some twenty 

 years ago the seed of this grass, but where it was obtained is not at pre- 

 sent known. Other seed was jilanted by Messrs. McDougall seventeen 

 years ago, and the grass has now spread over hundreds of acres in this 

 district alone, and has been rep''>rted in other districts, though in these 

 cases the occurrence may have no connexion with Minyip. At Minyip the 

 grass grows well on red and black soils, and instances are quoted 

 where it has thrived on sandy "soils at Jeparit. It re-seeds itself 

 annually, and the paddocks mentioned have never been re-seeded. The 

 samples of the grass, when shown to Professor Ewart, were provisionally 

 stated to be Lolium, suhulatum, a native of Southern Europe, not 

 liitherto identified in Victoria, and of which the habits are not knowm. 



Mr. Geo. Batson's Pigs Grazing on Psase. 



The grass was commented on by Mr. Temple A. J. Smith in his 

 Nhill report three years ago, but was not then known to be a distinct 

 variety. It is probable that one of the factors that has prevented a 

 more extensive sowing of the grass is that people in obtaining seed 

 from seed merchants merely asked for Italian rye. The occurrence of 

 the grass in isolated patches may he due to stock. 



With the methods of cultivation tried so far, it is stated that cereal 

 crops, planted after the grass-land has been fallowed, are liable to be 

 choked out by the grass, and therein lies the drawback; but so remarkable 

 is the bulk and sustaining character of the feed on most of the soils 

 in the localities mentioned that as a grazing proposition alone it is 

 worth the immediate, though cautious, attention of Avheat farmers desir- 

 ing to improve the stock-carrying capacity of their farms. 



Instances of Good Results fkom Pigs and Poultky. 



The returns under the head of Sundries .show that some farmers 

 are receiving as much as 5s. per acre over the whole farm, while their 

 neighbours do not receive 6d., and yet the labour available in the first 



