Cultivation of Grass. 2 53 



Where this is so, cattle should be stalled, and grass 

 for fodder planted and cultivated in the immediate 

 vicinity. Let it not be supposed that land is 

 wasted when thus planted with grass. If the estate 

 is to be kept up permanently, manure is a necessity ; 

 and it is far better to have five acres of healthy 

 crop-bearing trees and five acres of "Guinea grass " 

 adjoining, than ten acres of " shuck " coffee, yield- 

 ing no crop worth mentioning, and, nevertheless, 

 gradually dying out. Moreover, grass can often be 

 grown in swamps and ravines, where coffee-trees 

 would not flourish. In such spots " Mauritius grass " 

 grows so luxuriantly that a sharp look-out has to 

 be kept to prevent its overrunning the bounds to 

 which it is desired to restrict it. This grass is too 

 succulent and sappy in its natural state to feed 

 cattle on entirely (it being apt to bring on purging), 

 but this difficulty can be, in great measure, obviated 

 by drying and chopping it up in the chaff-cutter ; 

 or, better still, let the cattle be fed on half Mauri- 

 tius and half Guinea grass. The latter is a most 

 useful and valuable food for both horses and cattle, 

 and can be grown without difficulty. It should be 

 planted in rows (the roots being put in some two 

 feet apart each way), and must be kept free of 

 weeds, and dug round occasionally, and thinned 

 out and manured every couple of years or so. 



In putting in manures the points to be considered 



