GRASS SEEDS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 25 April 1913, Page 2

GRASS SEEDS.

The farmer's object is to produce as many plants as he can without overcrowding, which is quite unlikely with the usual quantity of seed provided per acre upon a given area of land. We have seen that he can accomplish that object with a much smaller weight of seed of those varieties which wei»h much lighter than others. It has been pointed out that seed sufficient to provide an acre of land with 10,000,000 plants could be obtained by the use of timothy or catstail for a sum of 4s, whereas seed to supply the same numi ber of plants of the meadow fescue variety would cost twenty times that amount. In the first place, timothy is a much cheaper seed to buy than meadow fescue, and in the second it would be necessary to use five times the quantity of the latter variety. It is a curious fact that, while timothy is the cheapest seed grass in the market, taking the number of seeds it provides into account, it usually forms a very small proportion of a "mixture, and is sometimes omitted altogether. Among the more costly varieties of seed areT Meadow fescue, which provides a comparatively small number to the pound ■ cocksfoot, which may be placed in almost the same category- and the two rye-grasses, Italian and perennial. It is for this reason that such large weights of the rye-grasses are essential, but, while the value of perennial rye-grass is admitted, there is no reason why it should not be supplanted to a much greater extent by timothy. J._.is grass is very largely used in parts or Scotland and the United States without any admixture, and there are many practitioners who believe that where it suits the soil it is equally as valuable as either perennial or Italian rye-grass. It is for the above reasons that buyers of seeds for leas or permanei\t pastures are well advised when they take the trouble to ascertain what suits their soil best, what produces the most luxuriant herbage, what quantities of seed should be used in consequence and at what cost to themselves. Obviously, timothy can be employed with- • out any admixture at a very trifling cost as compared with the cost of cocksfoot, foxtail, meadow fescue sheep's fescue, tall oat grass, and certain other varieties. The life of a seed is determined by its power to re- ! sist the conditions of its environment, inus a hard clover seed may resist

the influence of water when placed between two sheets of blotting paper, but there are few grass seeds which are not amenable to this form of test. Seed should therefore be kept dry and at a moderate temperature, moisture and heat combined being very detrimental.—"Apple Blossom." in the Tasmanian Mail.