S34 



1894, p, 382). — Guinea Grass, Bengal Grass (Java, Bachcr) ; 

 Fataque Grass (Seychelles, Jourdain). 



Lagos, Engcnni River, Idu, Nupe, Opobo, Lokoja, Abo 

 (Niger), Abinsi, etc. in Nigeria and known also from Senegambia, 

 Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Dahomey and Cameroons in other 

 parts of Upper Guinea, in Lower Guinea, Somaliland, Nile, 

 Congo and Zambesi regions and in general widely spread in 

 Tropical Africa, where it is indigenous, extending to South 



Af 



West 



Gulf Coast States, Florida, Java, Pliihppine Islands, etc. 



One of the best fodder grasses in the Tropics, suitable for 

 all kinds of stock, recommended as a soiling crop and cut before 

 the stems get hard and woody may be used as hay and silage. 



A perennial, 3-6 ft., sometimes over 10 ft. high, propagates 

 freely from seeds; but commonly grown by division of the 

 roots, planted about 2 ft. or more apart; requires a fairly rich 

 well drained soil, a hot climate with a good rainfall or with 

 every facility for irrigation, it grows quickly and comes to 

 maturity in 3 months or so and under good conditions lasts 

 for a good number of years. In India it has been found to 

 jaeld in 45 days a cutting 6-8 ft, high weigliing 14 tons on the 

 average, per acre (Diet. Econ. Prod. India); and at the 

 Hyderabad Fodder Farm — ^in a sandy or gravelly loam, irrigated 

 by sugar tank water, the cuttings for the first 6 years were 

 1st year (1st Feb. to Nov.) 4 tons of grass per acre; and for the 

 2-6 years, 7 cuttings each year of 25, 50, 65, 80, and 100 tons 

 per acre respectively, while the plots when 16 years old showed 

 no intersx)aces between the tussocks and no signs of deterioration 

 (Rao, Agric. Journ. India, 1910, p. 364). A yield of about 

 115 tons per hectare for the entire year has been obtained in 

 the Phihppines, where the grass has been found to improve 

 by the application of sulphate of ammonia and Japanese" 

 tankage in equal parts at the rate of 500 kilos per hectare, or 

 by " chemical sugar fertilizer " appHed at the same rate 

 (Phihppine Agric. Rev. 1912, p. 25). In Jamaica, the grass 

 recorded as having been introduced (about 1740) from the 

 Coast of Guinea as bird-food and that in 1794 "most of the 

 grazing and breeding pens were originally created and are still 

 supported by means of this invaluable herbage " (Kew Bull. 

 1894, p. 382). American mihtary horses fed with this grass 

 have been found to require 126 tons to feed 615 horses for a 

 month, work and saddle horses have been kept in excellent 

 condition with it as green feed in place of hay, while in Hawaii 

 although not recommended there as a pasture grass, 16 acres 

 of " Guinea grass " and 4 acres of " Para Grass " {Panicum 

 muticum, Forsk.) have been found to carry 40 head of mules and 

 horses for a year (BreakweU, Agric. Gaz. N.S. Wales, 1918, 

 p. 843). Other instances might be quoted of the popularity 

 of this grass in the many countries to which it has been 



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