?•"><; THE farmers' HANDBOOK. 



No. 3. — Elephant grass is especially suited to the medium or poorer class 

 of soils. Kikuyu grass will thrive luxuriantly when planted alone. Its rate 

 of growth is much more rapid than that of elephant grass, and therefore 

 when combining these two grasses the elephant grass should be allowed to 

 become well established by being permitted to grow to a height of about a 

 foot before the kikuyu is planted. The elephant grass roots should be 

 planted 6 or 8 feet apart, with the rows the same distance apart. The 

 kikuyu grass roots should be planted between the elephant grass roots a 

 couple of feet apart. The planting is easily carried out by.making shallow 

 furrows with the plough in the cultivated ground, dropping the roots or 

 cuttings in the furrows, and then covering with the soil. 



No. 4. — Where couch grass does not occur spontaneously it is not prac 

 ticable to go to the trouble of laying down a pasture, as the seed germinates 

 badly and root-planting is necessary. On the river flats of the coast, and 

 also on other good soil, couch grass provides excellent pasturage, and in 

 some instances, as on the Clarence and Macleay Rivers, farmers are disin- 

 clined to replace it by paspalum. 



No. 5 is a mixture that does well on soils where paspalum and couch have 

 not obtained a good hold. Sow in autumn at the rate of 6 lb. of Phalaris 

 bulbqga and 5 lb. of clover per acre. The pasture should not be grazed until 

 it is well established. 



Middle Coast (Manning, Hunter, and Hawkesbury Rivers). 

 <Teneraliy speaking, the mixtures recommended for the North Coast' can 

 be used for these localities. Shearman's clover does well in moist situations 

 and Chilian clover (a strain of Red clover) has also proved satisfactory. 



South Coast. 

 Summer Pashtres. Winter Pastures. 



(1) Paspalum and White clover. (4) Cocksfoot, Perennial rye, and 



(2) Rhodes grass and lucerne. prairie grasses, and Red clover. 



(3) Elephant and kikuyu grass. (5) Phalaris bulbosa, White 



clover, and Tall oat grass 



Nos. 1, 2, and 3 can be sown and treated as on the North Coast. 



No. 4 should be sown early in the autumn (March or April) at the rate 

 of 10 lb. cocksfoot, 12 lb. Perennial rye, 6 lb. prairie, and 4 lb. Red clover, 

 per acre. This pasture provides good feed in the early spring. 



No. 5 should be sown in early autumn at the rate of 6 lb. Phalaris bulbosa 

 4 lb. White clover, and 6 lb. Tall oat grass per acre. Both J'halaris bulbosa 

 and Tall oat grass are excellent winter grasses and are not affected even by 

 the heaviest frosts. 



New England and Northern Tableland. 



It has been proved that the coarse native grasses like Kangaroo grass 

 Wild Sorghum (Sorghum plumosum), and Tussock poa (Poa caispitosa) 

 are very unsuited to sheep. Much better results are obtained from finer 

 native grasses, such as the Danthonia, Chloris, and Eragrostis grasses. The 

 Danthonia grasses are the best native winter grasses of New England. They 

 should be encouraged by being allowed to seed at periodical intervals and by 

 scattering the seed over denuded areas. 



Several introduced grasses have proved successful on the Northern Table- 

 land. The most important are cocksfoot, Perennial rye grass, Phalaris 



