FARM AND STATION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 8280, 23 October 1905, Page 3

FARM AND STATION.

' v - Paspalum Dilatatum.

An esteemed contributor sends the following:— I read with interest your paragraph on Paspalum in your issue of 11th. I don't know if your correspondent* means Paspalum dilatatum. I have seen this grass growing in Queensland, where it was very highly spoken of. It was originally imported from .America to New South Wales, and from there as a drought resister. It is more thought of for its power of keeping green all the year round than anything else. It grows a rather coarse leaf and grows a good foot high in big stools. Cattle eat it very readily, and it is prized for dairy cows. It also gives a largo amount of feed, I believe. I was always told, and my experience has always been, that it is a slow grower, both from roots and seed, for the first two years, and then flourishes well. I have only once heard it badly spoken of, and that was that it was very hard to get rid of by ploughing, but I think that was on account of the size of stools. If you could give me a little more information about your correspondent's grass, if it should prove different, I should be obliged. I would like to know whether it has the carrying capacity of English grass, whether sheep do well on it, or only cattle, and if it will spread and oust English grasses already planted.