INTRODUCTION. Xlll 



where the seeds were distributed that the plants raised from them have 

 proved a comparative failure, notwithstandiDg the soil being carefully prepared 

 previous to the sowing taking place. Do not let it be understood that I 

 decry all the plants that have been introduced for forage purposes, because 

 that would not be in accordance with facts. What I do mean to say is, that 

 hundreds of pounds have been sent out of this country to introduce seeds of 

 exotic forage plants and grasses which, after careful cultivation, have proved 

 a failure. To give even a synopsis of all the exotic forage plants and grasses 

 which I know have been introduced and, when cultivated, proved unsuitable 

 to the climate would occupy too much space. If the money and the labour 

 that have been expended upon such plants had been devoted to the systematic 

 conservation of the best of our native forage plants and grasses, many of our 

 pastures would be in a better condition than they are at present. 



I must confess that at one period I held the views of those persons who 

 thought to supplant the native herbage by a free introduction of exotics ; 

 but after an observation extending over twenty years, during which time I 

 have travelled over thousands of miles in this country and conversed with 

 many interested persons in New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria, I 

 hare outlived those erroneous ideas. My first observations were made some 

 years ago when Mr. W. Hill, late Colonial Botanist of Queensland, and 

 Director of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, gave me charge of a series of 

 experiments that were carried out with both native and exotic forage plants 

 and grasses, with a view of proving their true qualities by comparison. The 

 exotic forage plants and grasses experimented with were some of the best 

 that could be obtained in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. All of them 

 were sown or planted in spaces exactly 1 yard square, which gave an 

 accurate way of computing the yield of produce per acre of each species. 

 When they arrived at maturity they were cut and weighed whilst in a green 

 state, and also when they were dry. To enumerate all the species experi- 

 mented with nearly 100 together with a detailed description, would 

 occupy many pages ; but to sum up briefly, I may state that the native 

 ones yielded more at the rate per acre than did the exotics, with the 

 exception of such tall-growing grasses as Panicum maximum, Jacq., 

 " Guinea grass " ; Panicum spectabile, Nees, " Angola grass " ; JReana 

 luxurians, Dur., " Teosinte," ; Sorghum vulgare, Pers., " Guinea corn " ; 

 Zea mays, Linn., " Maize " ; and some of the larger kinds of millet. But 

 these were run very close by the following native ones : AntJiistiria 

 avenacea, F.V.M., "Tall oat grass"; Astrebla pectinata, F.V.M., "Mitchell 

 grass " ; Heteropogon insignis, Tim., " Giant spear-grass " ; Panicum crus- 

 galli, Linn., "Barn-yard "grass" ; Pollinia fulva, Benth. "Sugar grass"; 

 Jiottboellia ophiuroides, Benth. " Barroii River grass," Sorghum hale- 

 pense, Pers., "Aleppo grass;" and Sorghum plumosum, Beauv., "Wild 

 sorghum." It is a well-known fact, however, amongst agriculturists, that 

 tall growing grasses are not always, in fact, scarcely ever so useful in 

 pastures as the more dwarf ones, though they are of the greatest value for 

 ensilage, where bulk is a great consideration. Another fact to be related 

 with regard to these forage plants and grasses I experimented with is, that 

 horses picked out and ate the native ones in preference to the exotics after 

 they were mixed together and given to them, which I think proved con- 

 clusively that with cultivation, native grasses will become as succulent and 

 tempting to the appetite and as nutritious as the best of exotics. The 

 species experimented with that were indigenous to Northern Europe and 

 North America proved most unsuitable, with two exceptions, one an annual 

 growth in some situations, Ceratochloa unioloides, D'C. "Prairie grass," a 

 capital winter and spring species, and the other a perennial Poa pratensis, 



