858 



regions irrigation is necessary after each cutting, from 3-6 of 

 which may usually be made during the year, about 5 weeks 

 being considered sufficient for the development of a hay crop. 

 Curing is recommended to be done as quickly as possible in order 

 to keep the hay of a good colour. The yield of hay on favourable 

 moist soils is given at 8 tons or more or under dry conditions and 

 in poorer soil 1-2 tons per acre. Nearly all the Rhodes Grass 

 seed harvested in the United States is gathered from about 

 bahng presses, barn floors and other places where the hay has 

 been handled ; it has so far not been found practicable to harvest 

 seeds by thrashing or stripping as the ripening is more or less 

 continuous and uneven throughout the year; from 20-50 lb. 

 per ton may be obtained in this way, and unless cleaned, 

 allowance must be made for the chaff and trash contained in it 

 when sowing (Tracy, I.e.). 



There appears to be no record of this grass being grown in 

 Nigeria ; but the evidence of its value is strongty in favour of a 

 trial, particularly so, as other species of CJiloris are known to 



occur wild. 



Ref. — Rhodes Grass {Chloris Gayana), "Maiden, in Agric. 



Gaz. N.S. Wales, xvii. Dec. 3rd, 1906, pp. 1206 1211. 



" Rhodes Grass " (Forage Plants) in Philipi)ine Agric. Rev. v. 



1912, pp. xxii-xxiii. " Rhodes Grass and Its Introduction 



into the West Indies," xiii. March 14th, 1914, p. 85.- " Une 



Nouvelle Plante Fourragere pour les pays Sub-tropicaux, Le 

 Chloris Gayana," Misson, in Bidl. Soc. Nat. d'Accl. de France 

 (Revue des Sciences Nat. Apphquees) Ixvi. Jan. 1919, pp. 17-27. 

 —Rhodes Grass, Tracy, U.S. Dept. Agric Farmers' Bull. 

 No. 1048, 1919, pp. 1-14. 



Chloris robusta, Stajpf; Fl Trop Afr. ined. 



Vernac. name.— Kasara (Sokoto, Dalziel). 

 Yola, Sokoto, Borgu, Congo region &c. 



A perennial, ornamental, 5 ft. high, Borgu (Barter, Herb. 

 Kew), a tall grass of river beds, Sokoto and Yola (Dalziel, Herb. 



Ke w ) . 



Chloris virgata, Swartz; Fl. Trop. Afr. ined. 



///. — Jacq. Eciogae Gram. t. 9 (C. polydacfyla) ; Transvaal 

 Agric. Journ. iv. 1905-06, t. 9 ; Wood, Natal PI. v. t. 436 ; Agric. 

 Gaz. N.S. Wales, xvii. 1906, p. 1208, t. 436; Notizbl. Bot. Gart. 

 Berhn, No. 46, Feb. 5th, 1910, p. 144; Hitchcock, Grasses, 

 U.S. Dept. Agric. Bull. No. 772, 1920, p. 190, f. 112. 



Vernac. names. — Kafar fakara or Kafar gauraka (Sokoto, 

 Hausa, Dalziel). — Sweet Grass or Zoet Grass (Transvaal, Burlt- 



Davy). 



Katagum, Ogurude, Transvaal, Natal etc. in Africa and in 



India, Burma and China. 



A fodder plant, largely used for hay in the Transvaal con- 

 sidered highly nutritious and keenly relished by stock; baled 

 " Sweet Grass " hay is sold largely in the markets of Pretoria 

 and Johannesburg (Kew Bull. 1911, p. 160); the favourite veld 



