144 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society, 



to the supply, whicli will mainly depend on the facility of growing 

 it on waste or bog lands. As before mentioned, the grass grows 

 freely on even only partially drained bog. Last year trials were 

 made to grow the grass from seed in prepared bog land ; but 

 owing to the seed being bad, the experiment failed. And this 

 seed had been imported from Germany and France, but it has 

 since been found that all the seed of the year 1879 was bad. 

 Last year Mr. Richardson collected seed in Galway and also had 

 samples from Germany and France. Doctor M'Nab has kindly 

 tested the different samples and found the Irish seed to be far the 

 best, being free from weeds and ergot, and germinating well ; 

 whilst the foreign seeds are much ergotised, and with one excep- 

 tion, not germina^ting well. It therefore seems as if the home- 

 grown seed were best, and as the proper time for harvesting the 

 grass is late autumn, it will be practicable to collect the seed from 

 the standing crop. So far as my observation and enquiries 

 enable me to form an opinion, the best preparation for growing 

 the grass is burning the surface of the bog. There is at present a 

 large and increasing demand for a raw material, such as Melic 

 grass, and perhaps it might be considered worthy the consider- 

 ation of the Agricultural Committee of the Royal Dublin Society 

 whether the growth of this grass might not form a subject for 

 encouragement on the part of the Society. 



Comparing analysis No. 2 of Dr. Cameron, with the other 

 analyses, it will be found to correspond pretty nearly with No. 5 

 of Mr. Arnott's, and both point to the fact that the leaf part of 

 the Melic grass ought to have a fair feeding value. It would, 

 therefore seem as if it might be possible in some cases to feed off" 

 the leaf part of the crop in spring, as is done with rye, and 

 afterwards allow the seed stems, which are of more value for 

 fibre, to mature. 



In growing the grass it would be desirable to do so as a crop 

 alone, and thus save the cost and trouble of picking. 



In conclusion, I would repeat that in Melic grass we have a 

 raw material, which if grown in sufficient quantity would be 

 gladly purchased by paper makers, and a crop which can be 

 grown on waste lands where no other crop of any value can 

 so far as is at present known be cultivated ; and that for the 

 purpose some 400,000 acres of useless wet bog could be utilized 

 at a comparatively small outlay. 



