PASPALUM DIGITARIA AS A SAND-DRIFT BINDER.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXVII, Issue 2, 20 August 1923, Page 73

PASPALUM DIGITARIA AS A SAND-DRIFT BINDER.

Mr. W. H. Field, M.P., contributes the following note: “ Some time ago, acting on the advice of Mr. B. C. Aston, I tried growing one of the paspalum grasses (P. digitaria') in my grass-garden on the sandhills at Waikanae. This grass grows so rapidly and produces such strong shoots that I was induced to try it on a bad “ blow-out ” on the top of one of the grassed dunes near the homestead. It seemed to me a comparatively short time after this had been planted that I visited the spot again, when, to my astonishment, I found that the grass had become thoroughly established, was rapidly covering the loose sand, and had effectually stopped the drift. I am so impressed with the possibility of this grass that I am trying it on a much larger scale. Stock seem to be very fond of the grass, and possibly it may have to be protected from them m the early stages of its growth, but it is difficult to see how, with its strong rooting-system, they could exterminate it when once it had become established.”