VIII.] ENGLISH STRAW PLAT. 125 



Pratensis. This is the smooth-stalked meadow- 

 grass. So that it was quite useless to send for seed. 

 It was clear, that we had grass enough in England, 

 if we could but make it into straw as handsome as 

 that of Italy. 



215. Upon my publishing an account of what had 

 taken place with regard to the American Bonnet, an 

 importer of Italian straw applied to me to know 

 whether I would undertake to import American straw. 

 He was in the habit of importing Italian straw, and of 

 having it platted in this country ; but having seen the 

 bonnet of Miss WOODHOUSE, he was anxious to get 

 the American straw. This gentleman showed me 

 some Italian straw which he had imported, and as 

 the seed heads were on, I could not see what plant it 

 was. The gentleman who showed the straw to me, 

 told me (and, doubtless, he believed) that the plant 

 was one that would not grow in England. I how- 

 ever, who looked at the straw with the eyes of a far- 

 mer, perceived that it consisted of dry oat, wheat, and 

 rye plants, and of Bennet and other common grass 

 plants. 



216. This quite settled the point of growth in 

 England. It was now certain that we had the 

 plants in abundance; and the only question that re- 

 mained to be determined was, Had we SUN to give 

 to those plants the beautiful colour which the Ame- 

 rican and Italian straw had ? If that colour were to 

 be obtained by art, by any chemical applications, we 

 could obtain it as easily as the Americans or the 

 Italians ; but, if it were the gift of the SUN solely, 

 here might be a difficulty impossible for us to over- 

 come. My experiments have proved that the fear of 

 such difficulty was wholly groundless. 



217. It was late in September 1821 that I obtained 

 this knowledge, as to the kind of plants that produ- 

 ced the foreign straw. I could, at that time of the 

 year, do nothing in the way of removing my doubts 

 as to the powers of our Sun in the bleaching of grass; 

 but I resolved to do this when the proper season for 

 bleaching should return. Accordingly, when the 



