138 ENGLISH STRAW PLAT. [INK 



and bleachers and preparers would do the same. 

 So that there is scarcely any country labourer's fami- 

 ly that might not derive some advantage from this 

 discovery ; and, while I am convinced that this con- 

 sideration has been by no means over-looked by the 

 Society, it has been,, I assure you, the great consider- 

 ation of all with, 



Sir, your most obedient and 



most humble Servant, 



WM. COBBETT. 



223. In the last edition, this closing part of the 

 work, relative to the straw plat, was not presented to 

 the public as a thing which admitted of no alteration ; 

 but, on the contrary, it was presented to the public 

 with the following concluding remark: " In conclu- 

 sion I have to observe, that I by no means send forth 

 this essay as containing opinions and instructions 

 that are to undergo no alteration. I am, indeed, en- 

 deavouring to teach others ; but I am myself only a 

 learner. Experience will, doubtless, make me much 

 more perfect in a knowledge of the several parts of 

 the subject ; and the fruit of this experience I shall be 

 careful to communicate to the public." I now proceed 

 to make god this promise. Experience has proved 

 that very beautiful and very fine .plat can be made 

 of the straw of divers kinds of grass. But the most 

 ample experience has also proved to us that it is 

 to the straw of wheat, that we are to look for a man- 

 ufacture to supplant the Leghorn. This was men- 

 tioned as a strong suspicion in my former edition of 

 this work. And I urged my readers to sow wheat for 

 the purpose. The fact is now proved beyond all con- 

 tradiction, that the straw of wheat or rye, but particu- 

 larly of wheat, is the straw for this purpose. Finer 

 plat may be made from the straw of grass than can 

 possibly be made from the straw of wheat or rye : 

 but the grass plat is, all of it, more ,or less brittle; 

 and none of it has the beautiful and uniform colour of 

 the straw of wheat. Since the last edition of this 

 work, I have received packets of the straw from Tus- 



