540 
and when dried, insomuch that cows and horses 
often eat the thatch from the roofs of the houses 
when this happens, as it often does, to be com- 
posed of tussac grass. “ During several long 
rides into the country,” says Lieut. R. C. Moody, 
the Governor of the Falkland Islands, “I have 
always found the tussac flourishing most vigor- 
ously in spots exposed to the sea, and on soil un- 
fit for any other plant, viz., the rankest peat-bog, 
black or red. It is singular to observe the beaten 
footpaths of the wild cattle and horses, marked 
like a foot-track across fields in England; ex- 
tending for miles over barren moor-land, and 
always terminating in some point or peninsula 
covered with this favourite fodder; amid which 
one is almost certain to meet with solitary old 
bulls, or, perhaps, a herd of cattle—very likely a 
troop of wild horses, just trotting off as they 
scent the coming stranger from afar. I have not 
tried how it would be relished if made into hay, 
but cattle will eat the dry thatch off the roof of 
a house in winter; their preference to tussac- 
grass being so great that they scent it a consi- 
derable distance, and use every effort to get at 
it. Some bundles, which had been stacked in 
the yard at the back of Government House, were 
quickly detected, and the cattle from the village 
made, every night, repeated attempts to reach 
them, which occasioned great trouble to the sen- 
try upon duty.” “Tussac,” continues the same 
authority, “is green all the year round; frost 
does not appear to injure it, nor does snow cover 
it; it is a soft, succulent, and highly nutritious 
grass, extremely relished by all animals—cattle, 
horses, sheep, and pigs. There is an island in 
Berkeley Sound that can be reached at low 
water from the main; the area of this island is 
as nearly as possible 800 acres, and there are 
about 400 acres of tussac-grass upon it; the re- 
mainder of the island is thinly covered with 
coarse wing-grass and rush on peat-bog—a very 
wretched piece of pasture-land, affording scarcely 
any nutriment. Last autumn I caused the Go- 
vernment herd, consisting of 800 head of cattle 
and about 60 or 70 horses, to be placed on this 
island for the winter months; the animals re- 
mained on the island nearly six months, with no 
other nutriment than what the island afforded ; 
towards the end of that time, they began to get 
poor, and the tussac was eaten down to the 
roots; by next autumn it will have entirely 
recovered. JI am compelled to let the cattle 
graze the tussac from want of hands and means 
to make different arrangements; nor do I consi- 
der any other plan a matter of sufficient moment 
in the present state of the colony to warrant the 
outlay requisite to economise properly this in- 
valuable food. But in England, where labour is 
cheap, I would act differently; the cattle could 
be folded in an adjoining paddock to the field of 
tussac, and fed over the wall or fence by men 
cutting the tussac in bundles, commencing with 
the upper row and passing regularly through the 
TUSSAC-GRASS. 
field; by the time they had cut the last row, 
the first would be ready to cut again. Had such 
a plan been adopted by me in the island I men- 
tioned above, I feel confident the 400 acres of 
tussac would have amply supplied the 800 head 
of cattle for twelve instead of six months. It is 
incredible how much is injured by being trodden 
down and eaten too close; and the horses, from 
preferring the root, do more mischief than the 
cattle. I ought to mention that the plant is of 
slow growth, and would probably be three years 
in coming to perfection, during which period, 
however, it might be cut annually with advan- 
tage. When once full-grown, it springs up ra- 
pidly after being cut down, the blades reaching 
their full height of 7 feet by the end of summer, 
though cut down in the spring. I kept up a 
favourite horse in a loose box one winter, and 
had him fed entirely on tussac, cut for him and 
given green. He ate it greedily, and was always 
in excellent condition ; but as a general rule, I 
should consider it soft food for a horse doing 
any work. When it is remembered that this 
invaluable provision of nature thrives luxuri- 
antly where scarcely any other vegetation will 
exist—that it is most nutritious, and much 
relished by cattle, it is impossible to resist feel- 
ing the most earnest desire to see it extensively 
tried in those portions of the United Kingdom 
which in climate and soil bear some resemblance 
to the Falkland Islands. I might easily expa- 
tiate on the extreme beauty of its vegetation, 
covering rocky storm-beaten promontories and 
small islands with a dark rich verdure, always 
reminding me of tropical luxuriance; but its 
importance in a practical point of view is what 
I am desirous of making fully known to all inte- 
rested in agricultural pursuits.” 
Tussac, in its natural state, is generally found 
growing near the shore, and flourishes best where 
the saline spray dashes over it. Indeed, expo- 
sure to the sea-breeze, and the peculiar influ- 
ences which emanate from the ocean, are condi- 
tions which seem essential to its prosperity. It 
is then only that it reaches its most stately pro- 
portions, and assumes that exuberant and im- 
posing form, which have led one author to speak 
of it as the “ splendid tussac-grass, the gold and 
glory of the Falklands.” As it recedes from the 
ocean, it becomes dwarfed and sickly, as if out 
of its kindred and appropriate element, in this 
respect resembling our own native Arundo are- 
naria, Triticum junceum, and certain other gra- 
mineous plants. As with these also, and a con- 
siderable number of other species, the glaucous 
colour of the tussac grass may be regarded as 
indicating it to be a littoral plant; for it would 
seem as if many of the plants growing near the 
sea caught their hues, as they are known to ac- | 
quire certain other of their properties, from the 
element in their vicinity. It is probable that 
the saline matter the plant derives from the 
spray and sea breezes, contributes not a little to 
