A MANUAL OF GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9220, 24 November 1888, Page 6

A MANUAL OF GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS.

There has just been issued from the Government press at Wellington the first part of a work entitled, " A Manual of the Grasses and Forage Plants Useful to New Zealand," by Thomas Mackay. It is issued under the auspices of the Crown Lands Department, in compliance with a resolution agreed upon when Mr. Rolleston was in office in 1684, for the purpose of supplying useful information to farmers about grasses and forage plants who are not familiar with Hie science oi botany. Owing to the Department having to undertake much scientific work the preparation of the first part of this manual has not appeared until now. It is devoid of all technical terms ; indeed, it is stripped of all technicalities rather too severely, for there is not even furnished a botanical description of the plants which •ire illustrated and referred to in the body of the work. Tnis, we think, is to be regretted, and is making too great a concession to ignorance. Without some tecnnical description of the different parts of the plant illustrated the mind of the untrained farmer is not at all elevated by looking upon the well-drawn illustrations of tne grasses and other plants illustrated. He may be able to recognise a grass he picks up by reierence to the illustration from its general appearance, but if a brief botanical description of the plant had been given, together with the general information collected and published, the cost would nave been scarcely added to, and tiie untrained observer would have been unconsciously lea to look upon the characteristic features of each class of plants as the true means of identification rather than upon a general outside appearance. The present part treats of plants introduceu ironi Britain and other countries, or '• Wiiicn snould be introduced " into New Zealand; out, so far as Auckland is concerned, all the plants illustrated have already been introduced here. The second part 1-. to be devoted to a description of those plants indigenous to New Zealand ; and in the third part, when published, it is intenaed to Give the particulars of any special experiments of a practical nature winch nave been made concerning the cultivation, as well as respective values of ooth imported and native kinds for pasture or fonder." Mr. Mackay acknowledges his indebtedness to Mr. Koch, of Wellington, tor tne careful way in which the several pianos illustrated have been drawn, and Mr. Mac Kay nas shown great industry in getting together th" information he has collecteu res pec Li., the several grasses referreci to. Not only does he toll the results of the local cultivation of the grasses describ ;d, but he informs his readers of the commercial results obtainable from the cultivation of the several classes of grasses. For instance, in respect to cocksfoot, ho teii3 us that the average produce of seed in New Zealand is about 3501 per acre, for wnich the grower, if a good sample, gets 4d per lb. "This leaves about 2d net alter paying all expenses—nearly £3' an acre. To do this the paddocks set apart for seed must be shut up for about five months, from October to Feoruary inclusive, but after the seed steins are cut or stripped, the land can be grazed with occasional rest during the other seven months. In Banks' Peninsula alone the proceeds from this industry have avemged ior some years £40,000 yearly. In liSSti they reached £00,000, and though it is difficult to get an estimate for other parts of the colony, yet it may be set down at £20,000, of which Taranaki will have the largest share. A very large quantity of the seed is exported to England and Australia." This is a sample of the information which Mr. Mackay furnishes about the plants he treats of, and the work, in the hands of the general run of country farmer.-,, can hardly be other than useful. It is issued in a handy form, and evidently at a low price. It is well printed, and should s oon be iound if not in almost every home m the country, at least in every rural norary througuout the length and breadth i>l tne coiony.