08<3 LETTER II. TO [PART III, 



gentlemen's gardens, there are sometimes hedges 

 or screens made of these reeds. They last, if 

 well put up, half a century, and are singularly 

 neat,' while they parry the wind much better 

 than paling or walls, because there is no eddy 

 proceeding from their repulsion. They are ge 

 nerally put round those parts of the garden 

 where the hot-beds are. 



1043. Now, the Broom-Corn far surpasses 

 the reeds in all respects. I intend, in my Book 

 on Gardening, to give a full account of the ap 

 plicability of this plant to garden-uses i both 

 here and in England ; for, as to the reeds, they 

 can seldom be had, and a screen of them 

 comes, in most parts of England, to more money 

 than a paling of oak. But, the Broom-Corn!- 

 What an useful thing ! What quantities upon 

 an acre of land ! Ten feet high, and more 

 durable than reeds ! The seed-stems, with a bit 

 of the stem of the plant, make the brooms. 

 These, I hear, are now sent to England. I have; 

 often talked of it in England as a good traffic. 

 We here sweep stables and streets with what 

 the English sweep their carpets with! /You 

 cari buy as good a broom at New York for 

 eight pence sterling as you can buy in London 

 tor five shillings sterling, and the freight cannot 

 exceed two-pence or three-pence, if sent with 

 out handles. I bought a clothes-brush, an 



