424 HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 



that would afford culms or straw of this grain sufficiently fine, and 

 at the same time of a texture sufficiently tough and firm for the 

 Leghorn plait; but experience will prove, that these last-men- 

 tioned properties are not to be obtained here by this plant. 



W. P. Taunton, Esq., of Bristol, communicated a specimen of 

 wheat cultivated in Italy for the Leghorn plait; this proved to be 

 a specimen of the Triticum spelta, or spelt-wheat (see p. 1 15 supra). 

 Mr. Taunton states, that in Italy the wheat cultivated for the 

 straw is cut over twice or thrice, or is eaten down by cattle, so as 

 to render the culms which afterwards spring up very slender. 

 The long Italian summer allows of that mode of culture, which 

 this climate will not permit. The straw of Mr. Cobbett's wheat 

 proved too coarse for Leghorn plaits, but would have answered for 

 the split-straw manufacture. The straw of the fine varieties of 

 oats was also too coarse, though clean and of a good colour. The 

 expense attending the culture of grain for the straw merely, and 

 the difficulty of raising it of the required degree of fineness for the 

 Leghorn plait, without increased labour and expense in picking, 

 seem to forbid the adoption of that mode of obtaining straw in 

 this country for that particular purpose, more particularly when 

 the perennial grasses offer culms or straw of a finer quality than 

 is seen in any Italian plait, and which may be obtained at compa- 

 ratively a very small expense. There are many species of peren- 

 nial grasses adapted to supply fine and beautiful straw, the prin- 

 cipal of which have already been noticed ; but as several of these 

 species of grasses affect soils of a different nature, it may be useful 

 to mention the different soils peculiarly adapted for the growth of 

 certain species, that those who may be locally circumstanced as 

 to a particular soil, and who may be disposed to encourage the 

 introduction of so valuable a manufacture among the females of 

 the labouring classes, may be saved the temporary disappointment 

 caused by cultivating a grass not adapted to the soil, or not calcu- 

 lated to afford the finest straw for the intention. 



Heath, or black siliceous Moor-soil. See p. 119. 



Festuca ovina, sheep's-fescue grass, p. 257. Straw very fine 

 and clear. 



Festuca duriuscula, hard-fescue grass, p. 155. Straw long, equal, 

 and clear; but coarser than the sheep's-fescue. 



Festuca ovina hordeiformis, long-awned sheep's-fescue, p. 159. 

 Straw long, clear, and equal. 



