NEW STRAINS IN GRASSES

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1688, 19 November 1925, Page 2

NEW STRAINS IN GRASSES

VALUE OF EXPERIMENTS.

An English agriculturist writes: The importance of strain, in clovers in particular, and in grasses also, is slowlly being realised. Clovers grown in different countries vary very much with regard to constitution, that is, their power to grow luxuriantly under soil and climatic conditions experienced in these islands. From a practical point of view it .may be stated that foreign strains of red clover are less reliable in their cropping powers than British strains. For example, strains of early red clovers from Brittany, Southern France, and Italy, and Norwegian strains of late red clovers, are unable to compete with native strains in persistence of cropping power. Similarly, with regard to wild white clover, the importance of having a strain from genuine old pastures must be obvious. Wild white clover that has been specially cultivated for seed loses persistence and therefore new evergreen strains are permanent.

New strains of perennial ryegrass are now upon the market. It is well known that ordinary perennial is not truly permanent; it is claimed that the new evergreen strains are permanent and yield better. Cocksfoot is another grass that has been greatly improved of late years, and strains very much superior to those in general cultivation can now be obtained.

The best advice that can be given to the man who objects to using these new strains because of their price is—experiment. Sow the larger part of a field with the usual mixture of ordinary seeds, and sow down the rest—say, half an acre—with a similar mixture of seeds of the improved strains it is desired to test. If the so-called improved strains are no better than the ordinary, then the farmer's loss is very slight; if the new strain is a great success, then valuable information wiil have been gained at a trifling cost.