Part III.] Morris Birkbeck, Esq. 341 



which it has given me against our indemnijied tyrants. 

 " Cobbett's pigs and Swedish turnips" will be talked 

 of long after the bones of Ellenborough, Gibbs, Sid- 

 mouth, Castlereagh and Jenkinson will be rotten, and 

 their names forgotten, or onljf remembered when ray 

 "trash" shall. 



644. This is a rambling sort of Letter. I now come 

 back to the Broom-Corn for thatch. Sow it in roics 

 about five feet asunder ; or, rather, on ridr/cs, a foot 

 wide at the top, with an interval ol' five feet ; let the 

 plants stand all over this foot wide, at about three inches 

 apart, or less. Keep the plants clear of Aveeds by a 

 couple of weedings, and plotigk tcell between the ridges 

 three or four limes during the summer. This will make 

 the plants grow tall, while their closeness to each other 

 will make them small in thickness of stem or stalk. It 

 will bring them to about the thickness of fine large reeds 

 in England, and to about twice the length ; and, I will 

 engage, that a large barn may be covered, by a good 

 thatcher, with the stalks, in tico days, and that the 

 covering shall last for fifty years. Only think of the 

 price of shingles and nails ! Only think of the cost of 

 tiles in Eiiglaufl ' Onl^ think of the expense of draw- 

 ing or of reeding straw in England ! 0"ly think of" 

 going into the tcater to collect reeds in England, even 

 where they are to be had at all, which is in a very few 

 places ! 'I'he very first thing that 1 would do, if I were 

 to settle in a place where I had buildings to erect, would 

 be to sow some Broom-Corn ; that is to say, sow some 

 roofs. What a fine thing this would bo upon the farms 

 in England ! What a convenient thing lor the cottagers ! 

 Thatch for their pretty little houses, for their siies, for 

 their fuel-house, their cow-shed ; and brooms into the 

 bargain ; lor, though the seed woukl not ripen, and 

 though the broom-part would not be of the best quality, 

 it would be a thousand times better than heath. The 

 seed might be sent from this country, and, though the 

 Borough-villains would ta.v it, as their rapacious system 

 does EVEN THE SEEDS OF TREES ; yet, a 

 small quantity of seed would suffice. 



645. As an ornamental plant nothing equals this. 



