GRASSES AND GRASS SEEDS.

Press, Volume XLVII, Issue 7540, 2 May 1890, Page 2

GRASSES AND GRASS SEEDS.

Continuing our reference to a discussion at the Penrith farmer's club on the question it "Grasses and Grass Seeds," the opener of the debate amplified his remarks by adding that to produce good seed many things required to. be carefully thought out. The production of seed had in itself a tremendous effect upon grass. For example, whenever wheat or oats produced seed the plant died, showing that nature made the plant for a certain purpose, and that when that purpose was effected the plant ceased to live. That was a fact which farmers did not sufficiently recognise, with the result that in their meadows they often allowed the hay to get ripe. It ought to be cut before the plant had had time to make seed. In that way the plant became perennial, and that was the only to perpetuate plants in their fulness. Then, when the seed had been produced, enormous changes went on inside the plant. In the first stage there were only leaves to the plant, but in the course of time a culm appeared, the flowers were borne in spikelets, and each flower, had an ovary. This- ovary contained little round bodies called ovules, which the plant could bear without detriment, but once these ovules underwent the act of fertilisation, a wonderful change took place. Anew plant or embryo was formed, and the forming of this embryo, and the food that had to support the embryo, caused the plant to deteriorate. In the production of this seed we had to consider certain agencies which had a tendency for good orfor evil. If we wanted food seed we must .have mature seed, he grasses the farmer need trouble, himself about were about 30 in number. Of these 10 or 12 might be called of the first class, 8 or 10 of the second class, and 8 or 10 of the third class. Beyond these were a large number that were of little or no use to the farmer, and were often positively injurious. They were aware that grasses when growing in the soil were engaged in a> struggle for supremacy, and it depended upon what substances they found in the soil which kind of them would assume predominance. If a . farmer sowed the very best of Seeds upon a soil unsuitable for their growth and development, a poor pasture might result and the seedsman might be blamed quite unjustifiably. The only way out of these difficulties was for the farmer to understand first the name, nature, and quality of the best grasses, and also of the others. If a class of young farmers could be formed to go into the fields, and learn how to distinguish the different kinds of grasses at sight, that would open the way' to most valuable knowledge to them. Once let them know the grasses, they would soon know their composition and habits, and in thi3 way they would be able to seethe actual condition of the soil as to these elementary substances by the kind of grasses predominant upon it. Some twenty-five 1 years' ago a poor pasture field was taken by Messrs La we , * and Gilbert and divided into twenty experimental plots. At that time the field contained 89 different grasses or plants—many of them useless. In two of these plots, 3 and 12, no manure had been since applied and the character of the {grasses upon these was still much the same as at the beginning, only : worse. On the eighteen other plots various manures and combinations of manures had been applied, and the character of the herbage had been, entirely changed. In order to mark the changes and to judge the habitat and the requirements of the grasses as to manures and soon, the grass of each plot was In every year mown, and carefully weighed. Then 201bs in weight .of each was taken and the number of each kind of plant in it was taken and the results noted for future references. But not only was this done, but the different plants were chemically anal vsed to see how much of the different elementary substances each had taken out of the soil. 'Here then, they had the most useful experiments ever conducted in this or any country as to grasses and the means to develops the best of them. From these tables they could get hot only the composition of each of the grasses; but from them, as he had said, they could infer the composition of the soil, and these facts once known they could easily see what, substances to apply to the soils to produce the best and most valuable feeding plants. That the subject was of immense importance and value he need hardly point out to them. There were,, no doubt, many who believed all they need apply 'was farmyard manure. On some "~ soils this might do fairly well, but on. very few. In the Rothamstead experiments it proved to be far below artificial manures when intelligently applied. It was found to clog up the pores of the soil with carbonaceous matters and actually to prevent the best plants growing, when of course they gave place to rough plants of little or no value. Made from plants of an inferior kind, farmyard manure cannot develop plants of the better kind. Some relied upon the feeding of sheep upon poor pastures, but there was nothing in the feed usually given that could develop the best grasses. The pasture might be made in that way to develop a lot of the second or third rate plants, but they would only satisly hunger and would not fatten. The same might be said of the feeding of cake to cattle upon grassland. In the rare Cases wßere the sou was suitable this might answer, just as under such circumstances may the feeding of sheep; but in soils like that at Bbthamstead it was aa clear as noonday none of these methods would have developed these two grasses, because they would not supply the sulphur and sodium necessary. But though these two grasses were not the best grasses they are very similar in composition to most of the best grasses, and therefore it was a fair inference that something else was wanted to develop really good feeding grasses than these methods. They all knew how extremely rare a eood feeding pasture really was. He should have liked, had. it been possible, to have brought practice to bear upon science by showing how these different grasses acted in actual use. Prof. Brown, of the Boyal Agricultural College of Ontario, had shown some remarkable results. Some good land was cleared and sown with 20 varieties of the best grasses, each separately. These were fed to fattening cattle and sheep, and different combinations of them were tried, and the difference in the value of these, the best

of grasses, was enormous. They were also tried with milking cattle, and the. difference in the quantity ot milk ana butter given was immense. Similar experiments were in progress at Woburn under the Royal Agrlooltural Society.