44 AUSTRALIAN GRASSES AND PASTURE PLANTS 



all descriptions are remarkably fond and on which they 

 thrive. Experienced dairymen speak highly of this grass 

 as feed for cattle. It cannot be recommended, however, 

 for making into hay, as it turns black in drying. Generally 

 it remains beautifully green throughout the summer, and 

 some persons have been tempted to plant it on lawns, 

 with rather serious consequences, however, for to keep it 

 in anything like order during the summer months it 

 requires to be mown two or three times a week, and it is as 

 hard to eradicate from cultivated land as ordinary couch 

 grass. Water Couch produces an abundance of seed which 

 ripens during January, February and March. Mueller and 

 Rummel give the following chemical analysis of this grass 

 made during spring of the year : Albumen, 2.20 ; gluten, 

 7.71 ; starch, 1.56 ; gum, 1.64 ; sugar, 5.00 per cent. 



Weeping Love Grass (Eragrostis pilosa) is of annual 

 duration and found in all the Australian States from the coast 

 to the far interior, but more abundantly in the latter than 

 the former. It generally grows from one foot to two feet 

 high, but occasionally I have seen it three feet. It usually 

 starts into growth about the end of September, and in an 

 ordinary season will continue growing till March or April. If 

 the season should be a very dry one this grass may temporarily 

 disappear by the end of December, but will spring up again 

 from the ripened seed if rain should fall in January or a little 

 later, and then yield a fair amount of herbage during the late 

 summer and autumn. It is not particular as to soil or situa- 

 tion, for it may frequently be seen growing both on stony 

 ridges and on rich meadow land. On good soils it is a most 

 prolific grass and during the warmer part of the year affords 

 a large amount of rich, leafy herbage, much sought after by 

 stock of all kinds. On poor soils it takes very little root hold, 

 and when being browsed on is easily pulled up by the roots. 



