Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist." [Oct. I, 19G3. 
plant as a grass destined to supplant the cocks- 
foot as the primary grass in our pasture?, the 
contention was met with the statement that the 
g-rass already existed in the district, and that it was 
a weed. Being satisfied thut this was a mistake, 
and that the whole question was of too important 
a character to neglect, I determined to unilertnke a 
journey to New South Wales for the express pur- 
pose of examining and investigating the grass in 
the districts where it is stated to be successfully 
established. 
"Thit necessitated a special visit to the north- 
•asteru corner of New South Wales, where is 
situated the rising district of Wollongbar, on 
the Bichmond River, a locality that is destined to 
become one of the most important centres of pro- 
duction in that colony. About ten miles beyond 
Ballina, the first port of call, the country begins 
to rise about 400 or 500 feet above the sea. This 
country, which was originally covered wiili timber 
and dense Jungle, has been, and is still being, 
dealt with in precisely the same manner as the 
scrub country of Gippsland, the soil and the 
general aspect being in all points very similar. 
Wollongbar has lately come into prominence on 
account of the attention paid to the cullivation 
of artificial grasses, and foremost among those who 
hare devoted their attention to this industry is 
Mr. H. Morton Williams, of " Fh.ridn," Wollong- 
bar. Mr. Williams has been remiukiibly KUCcesMful 
with the cultivation of the Paspalum dilatatum 
which, if appearance, growth, quaiity, ;ind geriorul 
results are anything to go by, certainly promises 
to become the queen of grasses for the dairy 
farmer and graziers generally. This grass is in- 
digenous to Ceylon, and was first brought under 
the notice of Australians by the late Baron von 
Mueller, who strongly recommended it on account 
of its high nutritious qualities, and its drought- 
resisting properties, on which he laid great stress. 
Like many other things, very little notice was 
taken of the grass at the time. If any attempts 
were made to cultivate it, very little was heard 
of it, The first to introduce the seed into the 
EichmondEiver district was Mr. Edward Secombe, 
who procured a small parcel and succeeded in 
propagating it. No seed at the time could be 
obtained under lOs. to 12a. per lb. Mr. Secombe's 
experiments at once attracted the attention of 
Mr. Williams, who determined to give it a tdal. 
Mr. Williams' holding consists of 100 acres, 60 of 
which are cleaned in the usual way, that is, by 
burning the cut scrub, and then burning off the 
logs. Of the 60 acres, 7 acres are occupied with 
garden, orchard, stockyards and flats for testing 
seeds, leaving 53 acres under grass. Much of 
this contains large bare patches where logs have 
been burnt off, so that, at the outside, there are 
not more than 50 acres. And since last September 
7 acres out of that have been continually shut up 
for seed purposes. Mr. Williams states that in 
the first instance he sowed Paspalum dilatatum, 
cocksfoot, rye grass, timothy, couch grass, alsike 
and white clovers. In addition to the Paspalum 
there are only small patches of cocksfoot and 
rye grass left. The Paspalum i« asserting 
itself and gaining possesion of tlie ground 
from which the other grasses have vanished 
Having spent two days on the farm*, and closely 
observed everything, I can from actual obser- 
vation bear out all Mr. Williams' statements. He 
and others iifErmed that the district nas suffering 
from a four-months' drought, from October to 
the end of January, therefore it could not be said 
that things were under their best aspect. 
"As showing the carrying capabilities of the 
Paspalum, the number of stock noted on the farm 
'"ere 34 milk cows, 22 head young stock, ranging 
from 12 months to 2 years old, I bull and 6 horses 
making a total of 63 head. The uhole of the 
stock were in excellent condition, and, as a rule, 
their condition was better than that of cattle fed 
on other grasses. A feature of the farm is the 
number of small paddocks into which it is divided, 
and the process of sub-division is still being 
carried out. So rapid and continuous is the 
growth of the grass — assuming that it has a rea- 
sonable amount of rain — that the soundness of 
the principal of closing a paddock for a few 
weeks is fully demonstrated in the case of this 
remarkable pasture plant. It seems to possess 
exceptional vitality, together with sound consti- 
tution, and grows with great rapidity after a 
fall of rain. It should be noted tluit the whole 
of the grass seed on the farm was sown on the 
surface after the scrub had been burnt, and from 
a sample that wasaug up for inspection I noticed 
that it presented a dense mass of fibrous roots, 
some of vvhich were over 12 inches in length, 
showing thit it grows no less vigorously down- 
ward than upward. In deeply cultivated land it 
is a veiitable deep sinker, and a grass that, if 
given an opportunity, is thoroughly capable of 
looking after its own existetice. As a frost- 
resisting grass I was informed that when the 
sugarcane was entirely blighted the Paspalum 
only showed very slight signs of having been 
affected. Cows when turned in upon it from 
other pastures, soon show an improvement, and 
an increased yield of milk. Mr. Williams, who 
sends his cream to the local creamery, furnished 
me with the average test for each month for the 
past year, which may be looked upon as a good 
yield, considering that the cows are purely a 
scratch lot, picked up in the sale yards, and in no 
way selected :— For January 3'7, February 3'7, 
March 3-8, April 3-8, May 4*1, June 4-3, July 4'1,' 
August 4-0, September 3'7, October 3-6, Noveml 
her 3'5, December 3-6. As to the quality of the 
grass when converted into liny, subjoined is an 
analysis made by Mr. F. B. Guthrie and supplied 
by the Wollongbar Experimental farm : — Moisture 
lO'oS; total albuminoids, lO'Sl ; soluble albu- 
minoids, 1*38 ; insoluble albuminoids, 8*93 • di- 
gestive fibre, 29-&G; woody fibre 27-95; total 'ash, 
6'37; soluble ash, 4'32; insolouble ash (by dif- 
ference), 2'05; amide compounds, 14'8Q. Total 
100-00. 
" From the foregoing it will be seen that the 
Paspalum is a valuable fodder plant as well as a 
pasture grass and worth the attention of all who 
may have land suitable to its growth. Where 
it will not grow it is diiBcult to say. It must be 
accepted that, provided it can obtain sufficieot 
