38 AUSTRALIAN GRASSES AND PASTURE PLANTS 



enabling the plant to withstand a phenomenal amount of dry 

 weather without its growth being seriously interfered with. 

 This grass mostly grows in tussocks and at the base produces 

 a quantity of rich, leafy herbage which, when young, cattle 

 are remarkably fond of and fatten on. If cut while the flower- 

 ing stems and leaves are green and tender it makes capital 

 hay. The Tall Oat Grass is well worth systematic conserva- 

 tion and even cultivation in those districts where it may have 

 become scarce from over stocking. When allowed to grow 

 undisturbed for a time it produces an abundance of seeds, 

 which resemble oats in appearance and size, and as they 

 separate easily from the chaff, I have felt justified hi classing 

 it amongst those Australian grasses which I have already 

 suggested might be cutlivated for the grain they yield. In the 

 interior the seeds usually ripen in summer, and on the coast 

 early in autumn. 



Tall Plain-Grass (Stipa aristiglumis) is generally found 

 on rich soils in the eastern portion of the continent, from the 

 coast to the far interior, but is much more plentiful in the latter 

 than in the former. Inland it generally grows on the plains, 

 and attains a height of from two to three feet, but occasionally 

 it is much taller. After the spring and summer rains it grows 

 very rapidly, and its rich, young, leafy herbage is much liked 

 by cattle, horses and sheep, which thrive on it. Many ex- 

 perienced pastoralists regard the Tall Plain-Grass, especially 

 when young as very fattening feed for stock. When this grass 

 becomes old, however, it is often coarse and rather harsh, 

 and then, unless other pasture herbage is scarce, stock seldom 

 eat it. Some years ago the Honourable G. H. Cox, M.L.C., 

 brought me a specimen of this grass found on his station on 

 the Liverpool Plains. It was nine feet six inches tall, and it 

 was so abundant that the cattle grazing amongst it were 

 completely hidden from view. This grass, when allowed to 



