As part of a program of research aimed at improving the design and construction of farm dams, the Water Research Laboratory, has with the aid of a grant from the Water Research Foundation of Australia, undertaken a study of the protection afforded to spillways by various low cost surfacing techniques. These include vegetal cover by natural grasses as well as bituminous and soil admixtures. Preliminary study of available information was published as Water Research Laboratory Report No. 77. This study emphasized the necessity for tests of Australian grasses and products locally available under local conditions. The experimental program was divided into two parts. The first part, which is reported here, consisted of flume tests on numerous grasses and other surface treatments. The second part, which will be reported separately, consisted of more extensive testing of a selection of the more promising materials in long channels of continuously varying slope.