IS PASPALUM A WEED?

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1245, 26 February 1914, Page 25

IS PASPALUM A WEED?

Paspaium Dilatatum has now been established in the North Auckland Peninsu.a long enough to have proved its usefulness as the best grass ever introduced. Ic has sail a few enemle.. who condemn it because it grows too weli; ior one nas only to investigate a little to and in practically every instance that these objectors have planted it in their orchards or garuens, have in consequence been turned mto paddocks capable of supporting a beast to tne acre — a, blessing turned into a curse oecause it was planted in the wrong place. “A lew years ago at a show I heard a farmer snouting at the man nex<, him: ‘Paspaium, don't talk to me aoout tne uanged weed!’ He then described in tuiid terms, and I gathered that it was of a rich crimson colour, ano mat. if lie couid send it to the piace where there is a constant high. temperature and gnashing teem lie wouiu promptly do so. 1 guessed . tnat.;it was tne uoua> trouble and asked.: D-d you put n in your oichard?'. He glanced ac me suspiciously ior a moment, then replied: ‘vveii, yes i did, worse luck. Did. it grow.'' ft was like a red rag to a buii. He naturally, had a tain voice, ana he fairly squeaked: wu** grow? why, 1 ieft tne disc m a corner oi tne ploughing, and uetore i couid say uacK rtooinson’ it nau coverea it over; then over tne seat; rignt out of signt; up the trees ana smotuered the tence. Oh, yes ngrew. i>-d it hold.'" was my next question, ’we nave been trying ior years to get a grass wmch will noid. ■ i es, -sir, he answered, ‘it will num, Lo-d tiii me nay oi j udgment; for i ploughed it and uisced it and noed it, ana p-oagiieu it again, and me mure r med to go*- it cut tne ueiter it grew, i suggested mat if he realty wanted to get rid Qi it ne might try pig* in me wet weather when tne exposed tree roots would- not ue injured, or n a targe piougnabiie area, to plough it in frosty weamer so that the roots are exposed to the cold. •i\ow, as some object tnat it grows tuo vveii, omeis say that it aoes not grow enough, or even at ait in me Wimer, io put it another way they are not satisned with a grass wmcn gives, under tavourable conditions, a return of oo tons of green feed per acre during the season, or if utilised in another torm, ever s.x tons of cnaft per acre.; cut, line me worker, tne capitalise, ana Oliver Twist, they ask loi more, if tncy woum shut up a top uress iv and cut it for i.ay, or mam ensilage, they wou.d nnu t-ai xt vs not necessary ior paspalujn co grow in the winter. In any case, mey are correct, ior i nave ixieasuieu as macii as Six inches of euiuie paspaium m tne midd.e of u c.ne, x-ixu vcneis Have noticed a p«rBibceno growth ad me winter, except on iipsty days, Wiien most grasses aie uermant.

• i i.iia mat it makes a very nmnt.ous nay oi a dark green colour, rainer coarse and long in the grain, out to quote tne seedmen's catalogues, • 6 reediiy eaten by ah kinds ei smcK, espec.uiiy uaipy cows.' in its green state an kinds or stock tnnve on it, horses line it.,, put on condition ana can no a considerabxe amount ol work it feu on paspaium aione, and a li-tle hard feed m conjunction goes a very long way. Caives do well on it, aim I have watched them select tufts o. it irorn among otner grasses. When not hungry mey stron along nipping seed heads, wmch tney ev.dently look on as tit-bits, rigs get rat on it, and as a dairy gruss only lucerne iS ahead of it. As a part test of its leeding vame my neighbour tells me tnat he could wish tor nothing better ior his lambs.

i\ow, a large area of the virgin country north of Auckland is covered with tea-tree and tern which is difficult to eradicate. This kind of scrub, generaxly grows on poor land, and on this claos of country paspaium always forms a flat, impenetrable mat, rather tiian snooting stra.ght up, thus checking the young growth of fern, etc. from the very beginning, and eventually kil.ing it right out, more particularly if the fern and the tea-tree are cut occasionally and the paspaium assisted in its good work. With the same kind of help the grass w.ll eventually wipe out blackberries and briar; so apart from its other good traits it is of especial value m eradi eating noxious weeds. . It will grow on all kinds of soil, even on pipe clay which has een ploughed it has been known to grow places. On rich flats it gives a

enormous yield and wi.l grow on swampy land lightly covered with water without apparent injury. At the time of writing (November 20th) I have ciumps of it averaging three ieet six inches in height growing in a swampy creek, its roots being in water. For several years it has aone well m this condition, and in me not weather when the creek is dry it attains a height approximating to five feet six inches, whilst the seed heads are higher. Here again paspaium is superior to other grasses, for once ryegrass, cocksfoot, etc. goes to seed they produce little growth and the tendency is for them to dry up in hot weather, and as a consequence the cream cheques show a marked faking off, which can only be checked by a liberal su|pply of green' feed, such as maize, etc. On the other hand the paspaium flourishes greatly, seeds luxuriantly, but keeps its bright luscious green and the hotter it is the more it grows, provided its roots, which are deep seated, can get a little moisture. With two or three paddocks of paspaium in reserve there is no necessity to grow green feed, and unlike most of the spec.allygrown feed it oan be repeatedly eaten off during the whole summer. “The season of 1912-13 was the driest known for the past fifty years, ana feed was so scarce that most dairy farmers had to dry off tneir cows to save them; even then many head were lost. In hundreds of instances it was the paspaium which. Kept stock alive all through tne drougnt and tor hundreds of square miles that was the omy green tmng to oe seen except the bush, and even portions of tnat pensned from thirst. This was the test, and those with paspaitxiii in large areas did well m spite ci me season, and, m fact, were the omy dairy farmers that held out at ah. Dur.ng the height of the drougnt 1 measured some paspaium growing unaer tne most favourable conditions —rich soil, moisture and iieat—and found that it grew two feet six inches in thirty days. A gentleman representing one of the oldest land agencies in the province stated that the same phenomenal growth of the grass had come under his notice in another district.

“By experiment I find that if the growth of the grass and seed of sur-face-sown paspaium be represented oy the figure 4, men on good ploughed land the growim would be represented by v. Again by actually testing and counting, i and that on.y about zt> per cent, of New Zealand-grown seed geiiiixnates; mere is a large proportion tx.at has no kernel. On me otner hand beccombe s seed is highly satisfactory, one has only to take a i.andml ana aware its weight with a handful of any other grass, the weigh. is theie and so are the kernels. Pinch them between your thumb- and linger nails, bite tnem. Seed after seed stands the test, hard and nrm, for the germ is there- I am of opinion that New Zealand-grown seed wki never equal Seccombes, because Seccomoe’s is properly harvested and grown and developed under ideal climatic conditions such as we only get here in a life-time.

“Seed does best when sown in the spring, .and a friend writes that ho has got a perfect sward by the following method: —He sowed Lotus angustissimus, five pounds to the acre, mixed with Italian ryegrass, in tho autumn, then in October, in suitable weather, he sowed ten pounds of Seccombe’s. This sank down amongst, the angustissimus and rye, thus finding the perfect seed bed, shade, moisture, and heat. As a dairy grass it is first class. We find that there is a tendency for the milk to d minish, even to the extent of six gallons at the end of a week when the cows were put into another paddock of a larger area and equal bulk of grass. There is a constant unvarying persistent return, wet or fine, year in year out. Paspaium -tells, and so does good seed; therefore, get Seccombe s. Finally a grass which gives so much nourishing feed must in time require manure or it will probably die out eventually. Therefore top dress.”