CHAPTER XXXV. 

 COCKSFOOT. 



If one were asked to state to what, more than any- 

 thing else, may be attributed the weath and prosperity of 

 New Zealand, the answer would be, to cocksfoot grass. 

 The pastures of the country provide principally the 

 material composing over three parts of the Dominion's 

 exports, and these pastures are constituted in the main 

 of cocksfoot. In all the provinces, in every nook and 

 corner, at every latitude and every altitude, from sea 

 level to 3000ft. up, the plant may be seen flourishing; 

 fine specimens often on steep, if not abrupt, land. It is 

 difficult to realise that any grass plant could be so gene- 

 rally adapted to the all-round conditions of any country 

 as cocksfoot is to New Zealand. It is eminently respon- 

 sive to the country's liberal rainfall and sunshine, and 

 when an occasional drought makes a call it responds on 

 most soils. Many pastures of the Dominion are com- 

 posed almost entirely of cocksfoot with clover. 



The sowing of cocksfoot as the leading grass in New 

 Zealand is a good principle in establishing a pasture, but 

 it is no argument for sowing it to a very predominant 

 extent on some soils. Where it is prominent in a pasture 

 the grazier has to contend with its extraordinarily robust 

 growth in the spring or early summer time, when it is at 

 its best, completely overtaking the consumption of the 

 stock, and where sheep are the leading stock this throws 

 one's grazing arrangements out of gear. A profusion of 

 feed is made available suddenly, and two features become 

 prominent waste by trampling, and the grass running 

 to seed and becoming fibrous and unsuitable for sheep. 

 This suggests the question if it would not be better to 

 have in the pasture a larger proportion of other grasses 



