28 AUSTRALIAN GRASSES AND PASTURE PLANTS 



strong loams it is a most productive grass. The young growth 

 is of a bluish colour, and when in that condition is often a 

 distinct feature in the pastures. In the warmer and more 

 humid parts of the continent it grows more or less all the year 

 round, but in the interior it is essentially a summer grass. 

 During ordinary seasons it produces a quantity of rich, 

 succulent, leafy herbage of which all herbivora are remarkably 

 fond and on which they fatten. When cut at the right time 

 it makes capital hay. Under ordinary conditions it freely 

 produces seed which usually ripens during November and 

 December in the interior, and a month or two later in the 

 coast areas. 



Hooker's Fescue (Schedonorus hookerianus) is a stout, 

 smooth-leaved grass growing from two to four feet high or 

 more, and found in the southern portion of the continent, 

 and in Tasmania, but nowhere very plentifully. It is a fine 

 pasture grass, and worth systematic cultivation in the colder 

 districts, including the tablelands, as feed for dairy cattle 

 and the larger herbivora, which are very fond of its leafy 

 herbage, und thrive on it. This grass produces a fair amount 

 of seed which usually ripens in autumn. Since I wrote my 

 first account of the economic value of Hooker's Fescue, under 

 instructions from the Government of New South Wales, there 

 has been a great amount of interest taken in this grass, and it 

 has been experimented with in a small way in several districts 

 with satisfactory results. 



Kangaroo Grass (Anthistiria ciliata] is one of the grasses 

 most widely distributed on the Australian continent, and in 

 Tasmania, but is more abundant in the coast areas than in 

 the interior. On country that is not heavily stocked it some- 

 times grows six feet high in good seasons, but generally it 

 does not exceed four feet. In the warmer and more humid 

 parts it grows more or less all the year round, whereas south 



