TEE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



acre. Two acres that were not pastured 

 yielded one hundred and one bushels — 

 weight per bushel forty-two pounds. 



A hardy, rol)USt winter oat for fall 

 sowing is, as the introducer claims, a 

 novelty worthy the attention of every 

 farmer in the land. Its enormous pro- 



ductiveness may be easily understood 

 when it is stated that as many as 150 

 strong stems have been counted growing 

 from one stool, and bearing G,:M2 grains, 

 all from one seed. 



K. Wood, Ky. 



The Hon. F. R. Moor in Australia. 



A SPLENDID 1 



ON Friday last, the Hon. F. R. Moor 

 .returned to the Colony from Australia. 

 Mr. Moor, it will be remembered, went to 

 Melbourne as a representative of the 

 Colony to assist at the celebration of the 

 festivities in connection with the inaugu- 

 ration of the Federal Government of 

 Australasia. The bon. gentleman visited 

 the different colonies of the continent, 

 one ot his chief objects being that of 

 collecting information which might be of 

 service to Natal colonists engaged in agri- 

 culture. The results of his observations 

 he will communicate, from time to time, 

 to the Journal. The first of the subjects 

 dealt with is the 



Paspalum Grass. 



This grass which originally came from 

 South America, and is scientifically 

 known as paspalum dil/tatum, is attract- 

 ing attention throughout every part of 

 Australia — in the rain belts and the 

 drought belts, and in the hottest and the 

 coldest districts paspalum is thriving. 



"All my enquiries, and all my personal 

 observations," said Mr. Moor, " go to show 

 that pasp'ilum. will be one of the best 

 grasses for Natal farmers to try. The 

 grass has a broad leaf, it attains a length 

 of about two feet, it is rank in growth, 

 and anyone only looking at it would come 

 to the opinion that it is altogether too 

 coarse for the pasturing of stock. On 

 handling it, however, that opinion would 

 be changed. To the touch it is soft as 

 velvet, and on the ground it lies thickly 

 matted. 



"In New South Wales, it is being 

 very extensively grown. At the 



CURE GRASS. 



Hawkesbury Agricultural College of 

 that colony I saw a field of it. The 

 soil was poor an<l shallow — ironstone and 

 gravel over white pipeclay. It had been 

 planted some eight months, and was doing 

 well. Already it had been grazed by 

 sheep, and it was rapidly making big 

 growth. The head of the college told me 

 that it was very popular among farmers, 

 and that its cultivation was spreading 

 in every direction. He also assured me 

 that it did not suffer in any way from 

 cold, and that it was one of the best 

 drought-resisting grasses known in Aus- 

 tralia. In the back country, well up the 

 mountains, where the cold is intense in 

 winter, he also informed me the ^jaspalum 

 was doing well. 



" In Queensland, at Brisbane, I saw a 

 plant of the grass in the Acclimatisation 

 Gardens surrounded by exotic grasses. 

 At the time of my visit the country was 

 suffering from the severest drought ever 

 known. The paspalum. was making good 

 growth, while the surrounding grasses 

 were either dying or dead. At the Gatton 

 Agricultural College in the same colony I 

 also saw it. The soil here, unlike that of 

 Hawksbury, N.S.W., was rich alluvial, and 

 the growth was magnificent. 



" In getting the grass started there is 

 some difficulty, as many of the seeds 

 prove infertile. The most successful 

 method is that of laying out small plots and 

 by dividing or separating the roots, trans- 

 planting therefrom. The planting is 

 done in rows three feet apart, and the 

 plants two feet apart, or preferably, in the 

 opinion of some, three feet apart. 



