9882 Transactions.— Botany. 
Poa albida Buchanan, l.c., plate L., C. Equals Poa anceps, Forst., var. ¢ alpina, 
Hook. fil., Handb. N.Z. Flora, I., p. 889; also Poa sclerophylla, 
Berggren, Trans. Roy. Soc. Lund, p. 80,1878.  . 
a mackayi, Buchanan, l.c., plate LI., A. : 
kirkii Buchanan, l.c., plate LI., B. Poa purpurea, Kirk, undescribed, 
Trans. N.Z. Inst., Vol. IX., p. 500. 
» sclerophylla, Berggren, Trans. Roy. Soc. Lund, p. 80. 
» pusilla, Berggren, Trans. Royal Soc. Lund, p. 81. 
Agrostis emula, R. Brown, (9 spathacea, Berggren, l.e., p. 82. 
Schedonorus littoralis, R. Brown, var. triticordes, Bentham, Ft. Austral., VIL., 
p. 655. Indigenous Grasses of New Zealand, plate LIV. 
Triticum scabrum, R. Brown, var. tenue, Buchanan, l.c., plate LVIII., B. 
Stipa petriei, Buchanan, l.c., plate XVIL., 2. 
Deyeuxia scabra, Bentham. Indigenous Grasses of New Zealand., plate 
si 5 
Art. LVII.—On Grasses and Fodder Plants. By 8. M. Curt, M.D. 
[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 18th September, 1879.) 
Amone the thousands of species of grasses that grow, and are indigenous to 
various parts of the world, and very many of which are known to possess 
peculiarities for which they are esteemed. in the several localities, how very 
little has been done to cultivate them and ascertain their merits under 
careful test culture, upon various soils, and in differing climates. Excepting 
the few Poas, Loliums, Bromes, Fescues, and a small number of others, hardly 
any of the known grasses have been sown and used by farmers and 
graziers, in either Great Britain, America, Europe, these colonies, and 
elsewhere. They have been by so-called practical men entirely neglected, 
and the few men who have devoted themselves to growing and testing 
them by scientific methods, are small in number, and yet when we con- 
sider the enormous interests involved, this seems incomprehensible, know- 
ing, as we all do, that cattle, sheep, horses, and many other creatures 
that are used as food, or for draught purposes, are principally dependent 
upon grasses for théir sustenance, and that the better the grass, the more 
of it and its varieties suited to the several conditions, so will be the increase 
and perfection of the animals fed upon it, and the greater will be the profit 
to the persons owning the animals eating these grasses. 
When, however, any good grass has been cultivated under favourable 
conditions, cultivation has developed its merits, and its qualities have been 
changed, or improved. The Loliums (ryes) were originally much less valuable 
