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a perennial and forms large clumps or masses rising to a height 

 of 7 ft. with long, arching leaves which possess valuable feeding 



properties and are greedily eaten by horses, cattle and sheep. 

 The bases of the leaves, stem and rootstock are sweet, with a 

 nutty flavour, and offer such a temptation to horses and cattle 

 that when allowed free access to the plants they almost invariably 

 kill them by eating them to the ground line. Sections of the 

 stems cut into small pieces and prepared in various ways are 

 also eaten by the inhabitants, whilst one of the early Governors 

 of the Islands records that two deserters from an American ship 

 kept themselves alive for 14 months by eating the stems. 



Attention was originally directed to the plant by Col. Moody, 

 the first Lieut. -Governor of the Falklands, in 1842, in a des- 

 patch to Lord Stanley at the Colonial Office. During the same 

 year the Antarctic Expedition under Sir James Clark Ross 

 wintered in the Islands and Dr. Hooker paid a good deal of 

 attention to the grass, sending home a description and apparently 

 seeds to his father, Sir William Hooker, at Kew, who, in turn, 

 read a paper on the plant before the Geological Society in 

 November, 1842. From that time onwards for several years- 

 Governor Moody continued to direct the attention of the Colonial 

 Office to the value of the grass as a fodder plant and strongly 

 recommended on several occasions that experiments should be 

 made with it on the exposed shores of the islands on the coast 

 of Scotland, suggesting that one of the small islands of the 

 Orkneys, such as Hunda, should be inven up for the purpose. He 

 further recommended that a man should be sent out to study 

 the plant and collect seeds. 



In 1844 Governor Moody reported to Lord Stanley that a 

 settler, Jergen Christian Detleff, had a parcel of 6 lbs. of Tussac 

 seed for sale, which he was desirous of sending to England and 

 for which he expected not less than £2 10s. a pound, but for 

 a large quantity he would probably accept a less price per 

 pound. In this report the Governor very strongly recommended 

 that the grass should be given an extensive trial in Britain, 

 and on 1st February, 1884, in a letter to Sir W. Hooker, he 

 advised the despatch of a quantity of seed for Kew, enclose- 

 with a larger amount to Lord Stanley at the Colonial Office, 

 with a quantity from a settler on speculation for sale. This 

 seed appears to have been widely distributed, and there is 

 evidence that within a few months plants were growing at Kew, 

 Glasnevin, Clonbrenny in County Meath and in the Island of 

 Lewis. It is only in the latter place, however, that there is any 

 reason to suppose that it was planted as a farm crop. The seed 

 was sent to Lewis by Mr. (afterwards Sir James) Matheson, 

 then a Member of Parliament, and the cultivation of the grass 

 was undertaken by Mr. Scobie. Writing to Mr. Matheson in 

 1849, Mr. Scobie reported u The seeds which you sent me in 

 1844 were sown the following spring in various parts of the 

 islands, viz., Coll, Holm, Linshader, Golson, &c. ; of all these 

 the two former were the only places where this valuable grass 

 appeared, and of these two Holm was the most successful and 

 vigorous, being sown in a square plot of deep, brown moss of 



