882 Transactions. — Botany. 



Poa albida Buchanan, Lc, plate L., C. Equals Poa aoiceps, Forst., var. e aljdna, 

 Hook, fil., Handb. N.Z. Flora, I., p. 339 ; also Poa sclerojjhylla, 

 Berggren, Trans. Boy. Soc. Lund, p. 30, 1878. 

 ,, macliayi, Buchanan, I.e., ]3late LI., A. 

 ,, kirkii Buchanan, I.e., plate LI., B. Poa 'purpurea, Kirk, undescribed, 



Trans. N.Z. hut.. Vol. IX., p. 500. 

 ,, sderophylla, Berggren, Trans. Boy. Soc. Lund, p. 80. 

 ,, pusilla, Berggren, Trans. Boyal Soc. Lund, p. 31. 

 Agrostis aniula, R. Brown, /3 sjmthacea, Berggren, I.e., p. 82. 

 Sehedonorus littoralis, E. Brown, var. tritieordes,'Benih.2k'm, Fl. Austral. ,YII., 



p. 655. Indigenous Grasses of New Zealand, plate LIV. 

 Triticum scahrum, R. Brown, var. temie, Buchanan, I.e., plate LVIIL, B. 

 Stipa i^etriei, Buchanan, I.e., plate XVII., 2. 



Deyeuxia scabra, Bentham. Indigenous Grasses of Neiv Zealand,, plate 

 XXVL, 2. 



Art. LVII. — On Grasses and Fodder Plants. By S. M. Curl, M.D. 

 [Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, TAth September, 1879.] 

 Among 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 then' merits under 

 careful test culture, upon various soils, and in differing chmates. 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-caUed practical men entirely neglected, 

 and the few men who have devoted thenlselves 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 their 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 originaUy much less valuable 



