128 ENGLISH STRAW PLAT. [No. 



combined, are the pieces Nos. 13 and 8 ; and by look- 

 ing at the parcel of straw, Nos. 13 and 8, you will 

 see what sort of grass that is. Next comes 10 and 5, 

 which are very beautiful too; and the sort of grass, 

 you will see, is the common Bennet. The wheat, 

 you see, is too coarse ; and the re.-t of the sorts are 

 either too hard or too hrif g you to look at 



Nos. 10 and 5. Those appear to me to be the thing 

 to supplant the Leghorn. The colour is good, the 

 5: ra\\> wnrk well, they afford a great variety of sizes ', 

 and they come from the common Bennet grass, 

 which grows all over the kingdom, which is culti- 

 vated in all our fields, which is in bloom in the fair 

 month of June, which may be grown as fine or as 

 coarse a- ire pl'-a^e, and ten acres of which would, 

 I dare say, make ten thousand bonnets. However, 7 

 and 15, and 8 and 13, are very good; and they are to 

 in every part of the kingdom. 



As to platters, it is to be too childish to believe that 

 re not to be got, when I could send off these 

 . and get back the plat, in the course of five 

 Far better work than this would have been 

 obtained if I could have gone on the errand myself. 

 then will people not do, who regularly under- 

 take the business for their livelihood ? 



I will, as soon as possible, send you an account of 

 the manner in which I went to work with the grass. 

 The card or plat, which I sent you some time ago, 

 you will be so good as to give me back again some 

 time ; because I have now not a bit of the American 

 plat left. 



I am, Sir, your most humble and most obedient 

 servant, WM. COBBETT. 



221. I should observe, that these written communi- 

 cations of mi no to the Society, belong, in fact, to it, 

 and will be published in its PROCEEDINGS, a volume 

 of which comes out every year ; but, in this case, 

 there would have been a year lost to those who 

 may act in consequence of these communications 

 being made public. The grass is to be got, in great 



