HOLE : SOME INDIAN GRASSES AND THEIR CECOLOGY. 119 



older shoots and leaves of the less vigorous individuals, of such species are consequently- 

 utilised to any considerable extent by cattle. 



Typical species of this description are the common coarse savannah grasses Saccharum 

 Munja, Saccharum Narenga, Erianthus Ravenna? and Imperata. The last, being probably 

 the most valuable for fodder, may be taken as fairly representative of this class. 



If this grass is allowed to develop undisturbed, the grasslands composed of it chiefly 

 consist throughout the cold and hot season of a mass of immature culms each bearing 

 several large mature leaves which are more or less dead and dry and useless for fodder 

 while the still younger shoots are minute and inconspicuous. The presence of the old dead 

 leaves not only makes it difficult for cattle to find the few young green shoots that do exist, 

 or to obtain a mouthful of fodder free from a considerable admixture of unpalatable 

 material, but seriously retards the development of the young shoots by interfering with the 

 passage of moisture into the soil and with the access of light. Until the rains have well set 

 in and the development of the young culms has well advanced the quantity of green material 

 available on such grasslands is exceedingly small and in the rains the majority of it is too 

 coarse to be palatable. On the other hand, if these grasslands are fired when the old leaves 

 are thoroughly dry, about December, the young shoots usually start vigorous growth in Janu- 

 ary — February and a good supply of fodder becomes available from February to June. 

 If the grasslands are well grazed throughout the rains and thereafter, the vigorous develop- 

 ment of the plant and the production of the coarse unpalatable full-sized leaves oecomes 

 impossible and the grassland yields a practically perennial supply of slender culms and 

 small green leaves. If it is impossible to check vigorous growth during the rains, fire 

 should be annually employed to increase the fodder supply. 



In the case of the majority of the coarse savannah grasses in the present locality and 

 probably also in other parts of India, fire alone is rarely capable of killing out the species 

 and is directly beneficial in clearing away inedible material, in enabling cattle to gain easy 

 access to the young palatable shoots and in increasing the production and accelerating the 

 growth of the latter at a season when fodder is usually scarce. The only coarse savannah 

 species dealt with in this paper which is liable to be killed out by repeated early firing is 

 Saccharum Munja when growing on dry sandy soil. In this locality at least one area exists 

 near Bullawala where this has taken place and where a far more valuable fodder-grass, 

 viz. Andropogon monticola, now occupies the ground, owing to the fact that it suffers less 

 severely from fire damage. 



In addition to the direct action of fire on the grass plants, also, we have to consider 

 another important point, viz. the effect of fire upon the soil. It is obvious that any factor 

 which decreases the water-content of the soil, ipso facto, renders a locality unfavourable for 

 the vigorous growth of robust mesophilous and hygrophilous species and tends to produce 

 conditions suitable for the growth of more xerophilous plants. 



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