26 





by no means so well adapted to sheep farming as that of Europe, 

 and, therefore, the progress of the flocks will be slow." This 

 opinion, however, was soon controverted, for Captain Waterhonse, 

 in writing to Captain Macarthur in the early part of the last 

 century, mentioned that he had kept sheep, and found them do 

 well on the natural pasturage, and he believed that good pasturage 

 would be found for any number of sheep that might be raised. 

 He therefore ridiculed the idea of artificial grasses being neces- 

 sary. The opinions entertained by Captain Waterhoase one 

 hundred years ago have been amply verified by subsequent 

 experience. Australian explorers always took much interest in 

 the indigenous grasses which, when abundant, relieved them of 

 much anxiety in providing ample feed for their horses and the 

 stock that travelled with them. Sir Thomas Mitchell, exploring 

 in the interior, collected specimens of grasses, and afterwards 



wrote an interesting account of the manner 



turn) 



the seeds of which formed for them an important article of food. 

 He writes, inter alia :— " The grass had been pulled up to a very 

 great extent and piled in hay-ricks, so that the aspect of the desert 

 was softened into the agreeable semblance of a hay field. The 

 grass was beautifully green beneath the heaps, and full of eeeds, 

 and our cattle were very fond of this hay." This n itive millet is 

 found in greater or less abundance over the whole of Australia. 

 On the margins of rivers and creeks it attains sometimes a height 

 of four feet, but on the plains in the interior it rarely exceeds two 

 feet. It yields a most nutritious herbage, of which stock of all 

 kinds are remarkably fond, and on which they fatten. When 

 brought under cultivation, the Australian millet is a most produc- 

 tive grass, and has yielded three tons of excellent hay per acre, 

 lhere are 56 known indigenous species of the genus Panicum 

 widely distributed, and most of them form a good percentage of 

 the pasture-herbage, and are most valuable forage plants. Many 

 of these grasses withstand a phenomenal amount of dry weather, 

 and are amongst the first to develop new growth after rain. 



™!!?f e & ra l 8 ' 7 Pa8toralist8 call several species " blue grass," and 

 ?1° f o the be8t *** ™ 8t nutritious is Androjw/on seriLs, Which 



*»^ a + * ii i JM-uwieii grabses, this species is perhans the 



353? SsSrW fer&fe 



a very fme,robusJ varLTv EL ? ?*°i exc \ elIent ^- There is 

 only on rich 3iJT P \JZ f^H of thi * 8 l*cies found 

 it o'ften growfuv^ tZTl^T <l the **?■* -here 



ve feet high or more. 



There 

 many 



are 15 indigenous Ze^TVT f ° r h ° rSe8 and cattle ' 

 . districts from th^ c^Tto l^^W '*. ^ich occur in 



them are excellent pJtuT ££ ^e ^X^eT 1 



