154 



TEE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



most prized grass on tlie uorliiern rivers ; 

 but it is unfortunately a dillicult one 

 to raise from seed. It requires at least 

 three vveeks of warm, moist weather to 

 germinate, but when you get Paspalum 

 dilatatum you have it for all time. ^ It 

 shows up enormous quantities of feed 

 during the hottest and driest weather ; 

 and now that our farmers freely admit 

 rye-grass will die out after a few years, I 

 strongly advise sowing a mixture of 

 r as pal V III with other seeds — say, about 1 

 to l.V ft. per acre. The following 

 should be a good mixture :— Eye-grass, 

 perennial, 15 ft. ; cocksfoot, 15 ft. ; 

 mixed English grasses, 3 ft. ; Kentucky 

 blue-grass, 3 ft. ; clovers, mixed, 3 ft. ; 

 Paspalum, 1 to 1| ft. This will make a 

 good bottom for the first two years. After 

 the rye-grass will start to die out in many 

 place's, the second year the fields should 

 be allowed to seed if possible, so that the 

 Piispalum will have an oi)portunity to dis- 

 tribute its seed, which i-^ very light ; in 

 fact, it is blown a short distance by the 

 M'ind and carried about by the stock and 

 Sampled into our loose soil. Tliis is one 

 of the main reasons why I advocate _ a 

 small sowing to allow Nature to do its 

 OAvn work after the first sowing. This 

 would not meet with the same results in 

 hard clay lands where the surface soil is 

 very hard, as found in many dstricts. By 

 this method the farmer would have a field 

 of Paspalum coming on when the other 

 grasses are dying out. 



Mr. O'Callaghan, Dairy Expert, pro- 

 cured from the Hawkesbury Agricultural 

 College 200 roots of Paspahnn and had 

 them forwarded on to me at Stud Farm, 

 Berry. They were planted on 5th October, 

 1900. The rcsnlt is, the grass has grown 

 4 feet high, through a very unfavourable 

 time ; and as I Avished to give them a 

 severe test they were '|)lanted in lisht poor 

 soil, which was too poor to grow broadcast 

 maize planted alongside of it about the 

 same time. Now, a Tier fi\e months' 

 growth, ibc Piisjiaiiiiii is much higher 

 than the maize, while the latter, at time 

 of writing, is withered up on account of 

 the dry weather, and all grasses also, ex- 

 cept the Pnspahni}, whicli i< green and 

 flo^lrishin^■, and the growth astoundng. It 



was sown m drills 5 feet apart ; it is now 

 m seed, which will be harvested by cut- 

 tino- the heads olf and the roots taken up 

 and transplanted elsewhere. The seed is 

 very hard to harvest, as it ripens irregu- 

 larly and much of it sheds, which, when 

 tramped into our loose soil by the stock, 

 will genmnate, as this is the best seed; 

 ami, ui my opinion, why so small a per- 

 centage of It germinates is that the best 

 seeds\ue left behind on the farm on 

 which It was grown ; hence it is hard to 

 get good seeds on the market. The most 

 ?diable course to adopt for best results 

 i. bv planting the roots. One root or 

 buncli will nfake several settings, whicli 



'''^ "If iJSis S a 



Uoveiniuent iarm&. rn iijiiit, 



Hold with other grasses it would be a 

 good idea to procure the roots and plant 

 them, say, G feet apart both way. im- 

 mediately after the grass has been sown^ 

 if allowed to seed the following year 

 thev would distribute, in Nature s way, 

 a ^reat amount of seeds. Drills need not 

 f)" drawn ; roots could be planted with 

 the hoe after the style of maize bprmg 

 the better time for plantmg the seeds, 

 but out ot season for sowing other 

 I^Jtsei; and 1 have planted Paspalum 

 "eeds in March, last year, and ha^ the 

 sat isl action of it germinating ; and m 

 this district I would favour March sow- 

 in.- as weeds do not grow so abundantly. 



To point out the wisdom of sowing 

 Pnsmlnm with other grasses, I have con- 

 versed on the sul)ject with many leading 

 and enterprising dairy-farmers, antl 

 r,ointed out to them the advantages with 

 the result that they at once saw the ad- 

 vantage and purchased Paspalum dilata- 

 tum seed to sow with grasses they had 

 ready to lav down in permanent pastures 

 Ao-ain, many visitors that call upon us at 

 th^e Stud Farm with a view to inspecting 

 the imported stock, are struck with the 

 wonderful growth of the Paspalum, and 

 always make the request to he allowed a 

 handful of seeds for trial sowing on their 

 own farms. This speaks volumes for it, 

 and only requires to be brought before 

 their notice and in a few short years we 

 M-ill see the now unsightly tussocks and 

 swamp-grass ousted and our fields again 

 waving with a permanent grass. 



