Australian Grasses. 63 



Opinions of the Press on A Census of the Grasses 

 of New South Wales, together with a popular 

 description of each Species." 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



" THIS very useful work, published by the Government under the auspices of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, may be regarded as a valuable instalment towards the botany of 

 New South Wales. . . . The author is not a novice in these matters, for many years 

 ago he compiled a list of Australian grasses, and acquired some reputation in Queensland 

 by his experiments in cultivating useful species. . . . Mr. Turner informs us there 

 are 197 species of grass found in New South Wales. Of these he gives a popular account 

 arranged alphabetically. To settlers and pastoralists the descriptions of our grasses are 

 likely to prove serviceable for the determination and preservation of such species as are 

 most nutritious for sheep and cattle. Hitherto little attention has been paid to this 

 subject, and so great has been the destruction of forage-plants, owing sometimes to the 

 prevalence of droughts and sometimes to the overstocking of runs, that Mr. Turner justly 

 remarks : ' It is generally admitted by all observant persons that something in the way of 

 cultivation or conservation must be undertaken ere long to save some of our most valuable 

 grasses from extinction.' . . . Mr. Turner has given a figure of the ' Mitchell Grass,' 

 and he states that the Minister for Mines and Agriculture has made arrangements for the 

 preparation of an illustrated monograph of the grasses of Nw South Wales. This will 

 be a great assistance to those who cannot appreciate written descriptions for the identifica- 

 tion of species, whilst the promised work on supposed poisonous plants is still a great 

 desideratum for New South W T ales. The Department of Agriculture has done much 

 service by the publication of Mr. Turner's book, whilst the writer has shown himself 

 fully capable of advancing the interests of the Colony by making known in popular lan- 

 guage the plants best adapted for forage, their nutritious or other properties, the range 

 of their distribution, and the time of their seeding." Sydney Mail. 



This valuable work ought to be in the hands of every agriculturist and pastoralist in the 

 Colony. ... So large a part of New South Wales being peculiarly a grazing country, 

 all information in regard to its natural resources in the way of food for stock is of 

 general interest. We therefore hail this publication of the Agricultural Department as a 

 matter of national importance, and deem it a fortunate circumstance that a man of so 

 much practical knowledge and so capable of putting what he has to say into clear and 

 popular shape as Mr. Turner was available for the work. All that is known about our 

 grasses he has brought together in the " Census " in a form to be " understand ed of the 

 people. ' The study of Australian grasses is a very interesting one to the botanist, as 

 well as to the agriculturist. . . . We ought to have in our local museum actual 

 specimens of all the native grasses which flourish in the district. ... As a supple- 

 ment to this work on our grasses it is proposed to publish at an early date a list of all the 

 introduced weeds, with instructions to farmers as to the best means of extirpating them. 

 This will be followed by a descriptive list of all the supposed poisonous plants which 

 grow in New South Wales. " The National Advocate, Bathurst. 



Sydney : Charles Potter, Government Printer. 1895. 



