GRASSES 45 



I have had this grass under experimental cultivation, and it 

 gave a heavy yield in a short time, and on being cut, when the 

 flowers first appeared, it made very good hay. This Love 

 Grass produces an abundance of seed which ripens during the 

 summer and autumn. There are twenty-one species and 

 several varieties of Eragrostis recorded for Australia and 

 they are widely distributed ; quite a number occurring in 

 the centre of the continent. Most of these grasses are good 

 pasture feed, and very remarkable for their drought- 

 enduring properties. Several of the interior ones have large, 

 bulbous bases from which a quantity of leafy herbage 

 develops after rainfall, no matter how long the previous dry 

 weather has been. 



Wheat Grass (Agropymm scdbrum) occurs in all the States 

 of the Commonwealth, and is fairly common in many districts 

 from the coast to the far interior. It is a very variable 

 grass as regards its height, and the bulk of herbage it yields. 

 On poor soils it rarely exceeds one foot in height, and has 

 slender foliage; on rich land it grows from three to four feet 

 high or more, and has wider and longer leaves, generally having 

 a bluish tinge. In the more favoured parts it makes consider- 

 able growth during the winter and early spring, before many 

 of the other indigenous grasses begin to grow, and stock of 

 all kinds are fond of the herbage whilst it is young. When 

 old, however, the stems and leaves are rather harsh, and stock 

 seldom eat it in that state if other good feed is plentiful. If 

 cut when the flowers first appear it makes good hay. I have 

 had this grass under experimental cultivation, and the herbage 

 was superior to that ordinarily seen in the pastures both in 

 bulk and quantity. The seeds usually ripen during September, 

 October and November. There is a variety of this grass 

 with shorter seed awns, but with this exception its qualities 

 are much the same as the type. 



