CHEWING'S FESCUE ON POOR LAND.

To the Editor of " The Evening Mail." Sir,— ln your issue of Saturday last I noticed a letter signed "'Nemo" asking if Chewing's Fescue was a grass adapted for poor land. ' ' Nemo's" question is a somewhat vague one, as there are so many different kinds of poor laud, such as poor clays, poor sands, poor gravels, with many others ; and ho can hardly expeot the one grass to be equally at home upon these widely different varieties of poor land Chewing's Fescue is, however, a grass of wide adaptability and thrives in most soils having a dry bottom ; in wet clays

oi swamp land it is of little use. It is a I trne perennial pasture grass, deep ] rooted, drought resisting, very fine in tbe leaf, and well adapted for soils of a dry and rather gravelly character, snch as much of the land about Hope, near Richmond. It has also proved itself a most valuable grass upon the poor pumice lands of the North Island, especially those of the Waikato and Taupo districts, holding its own and spreading where rye grass, clover, and cocksfoot rapidly die out. It is no doubt a variety or sport of the Hard Fescue (festuca duriuscula) and was first grown in Southland, where it was called Chewing's Fescue because it was first grown for sale on an extensive scale by Mr Chewing, of Glmelg, Mcsburn, Southland. I believe I was the first to introduce and experiment with this grass in Nelson, and if "Nemo" would like to see it growing either separately, or as a mixture with other grasses, I shall be glad to show it him, and give him any further information he may require. I am, etc., J. W. MaRSDEN, Stoke, 16/4/96.