ON THE TUSSAC GRASS. 315 



storm-beaten promontories and small islands witli a dark rick 

 verdure, always reminding- me of tropical luxuriance ; but its 

 im})ortance in a practical jjoint of view is what I am desirous 

 of making- fidly known to your lordship and to all interested 

 in agricultural pursuits. I should wish to send a large 

 quantity of tussac seed to Eng-land eveiy season, but the 

 settlers here are as yet far too few in number and far 

 too busy to spare time to collect it. It appears to me it 

 would be money well laid out if one of our leading- agri- 

 cultural societies were to send here an intellig-ent person to 

 remain the six summer months collecting- seed. He would 

 be absent from Eng-land about a year, and the whole ex]iense 

 would not exceed 300Z. He should bring- either a wooden or 

 iron house, 10 feet scpiare, with a small stove ; three tons of 

 coal, provisions, such as biscuit, pork, coffee, and sugar ; 

 g-unpowder, shot ; warm clothing, bed and blankets ; a fold- 

 ing- table, two stools, and a military canteen. More thing's 

 would be an encumbrance. Dettleff, whom I have men- 

 tioned above to your lordship, usually goes from the settle- 

 ment on foot, and takes only a g-ood dog- and a stick. 

 He is absent about two months, sleeps under a rock, lives on 

 wild g-eese and rabbits, and occasionally a calf, and invariably 

 returns in the best possible health. A person from Engiand 

 mig-ht, however, fix his little residence on a small tussac 

 island close to the settlement, and at present reserved by 

 Government, and in one summer collect such a quantity of 

 seed, with Dettleif's aid, as would more than cover his 

 expenses, to s-ay nothing- of the advantage of having- a g-ood 

 authority at home, that could be referred to at any moment. 

 I have g-iven a close attention to this g-rass for four years ; 

 and tlioug-h at first it may appear a dreamy kind of en- 

 thusiasm, I do not hesitate to say, that, should it be found on 

 trial to succeed in the United Kingdom as well as it does in 

 the exposed portions of the Falkland Islands, it will raise 

 the annual income of many landed proprietors from " hun- 

 dreds" to ''thousands." A. tussac-fed ox is in the finest 

 order here at the end of the winter, though never housed or 

 cared for in any way. In the Falmouth. Packet and Cornish 

 Herald newspaper, of the 23rd August 1845, I have been 

 shown a parag-raph stating- that J. Matheson, of Lewis and 

 Achany, M.P., sent some tussac g-rass seed, procured from 

 the Falkland Islands, to Stornoway, and that Roderick 

 Nicolson, tacksman of Colb, has been ])erfectly successful in 

 raising- g-rass from the seed. I should be g-lad to hear of 



