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FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 12 



child. In different sections it has, like other 

 plants, different names — It is called Ribbon, Fan- 

 cy, Fortune, Puzzle, Ladies,'' and even, I believe, 

 is sometimes called IVilcK's Grass. I am confi- 

 dent you must have seen it, for I am greatly mis- 

 taken if I have not seen it in the cottage gardens 

 in the suburbs of your city. It is the grass which 

 many years since was much used on the borders ol 

 flower beds, and is in truth highly ornamental. Its 

 general appearance when in a body, is that ol 

 deep green, but on examination, each leaf or 

 blade will be found striped with white, yet no two 

 can be found precisely alike, hence it is said by 

 the boys that he who finds two precisely similar 

 has made his fortune, and his lady love shall not 

 refuse her smiles. From the ease with which it 

 is cultivated, more I think than from its want of 

 elegance, it is now generally ejected from the gar- 

 dens of the rich, but the cottager, who seldom 

 loses his taste for the beauties of nature, yet gives 

 it a place in his little domain, and I doubt not that 

 you will easily find and recognize it in such situa- 

 tions. In our little village, 1 think I shall procure 

 sufficient quantity to plant half an acre the ensu- 

 ing spring. You recollect that I did not commence 

 taking your interesting publication until Septem- 

 ber, though I subscribed for the back numbers. 

 On the night of the first day of Octobor, while 

 watching by the bed-side of a sick friend, I in- 

 dulged myself during the slumber of the patient, 

 in looking over back numbers of the Farmer and 

 Gardener, and my eye caught Mr. Robinson's 

 publication. Before the sun rose, I went into my 



farden (for I am not rich enough to object it) and 

 irected my servant to dig up about two square 

 feet of the tufts, and immediately planted it in a 

 morass near my house — a morass subject to oc- 

 casional overflows by the tide, and one which has 

 hitherto defied all my power to drain or dry, by 

 ditching and dykeing. Though planted so late in 

 the eeason, it grew apace, and now covers more 

 than twice its original surface. There are even 

 at this unusually cold time, green blades upon it. 

 Some pigs were running in the morass when it 

 was planted, and I observed that although it grew 

 rapidly, they cropped it constantly, and seemed to 

 prefer it to any other food. With that which was 

 growing in my garden, I tried both horses and 

 cows, and they eat it greedily, though it was old 

 and partially dry. It is my opinion that this grass, 

 together with the gama, are much more than 

 doubling the value of southern states. The latter 

 flourishes in dry and almost barren sands, and the 

 Ribbon, (which in honor of Mr. Robinson, we 

 ought to call Robinsine) I have no doubt will be 

 found capable of converting pestiferous marshes 

 into productive lands, and thereby subserve the 

 health as much as the interest of the southern 

 Atlantic States. For the covering which I anti- 

 cipate from it to the dirty bog near my house, I 

 would not accept any sum that could be offered. 

 Indeed I think a few years must show how much 

 we are indebted to the discoverer and publisher of 

 its value and use, and for myself I am pained 

 that I am unable to express my gratitude only by 

 the feeble use of words. 



While planting the grass, a tuft unobserved fell 

 into a ditch, water always stands a few inches, 

 and sometimes to the depth of two feet. In a 

 week this tuft shot up spires several inches in 

 length, and continued to grow until the weather 



became cold, since which it has disappeared; 

 whether dead or not, the spring will decide. I 

 also cut off' some of the spires vvithout root, and 

 stuck them in the mud; they grew off at once, 

 and I drew some of them afterwards, and found 

 they had shot out roots in every direction; but 

 since the cold weather they too have disappeared, 

 but I hope yet to see them burst into lile with the 

 returning spring. You will at once say that I am 

 an enthusiast, to make such high estimate upon 

 such slight grounds, and so indeed I am. I know 

 that this is not a fair trial, but it is a trial under 

 every possible disadvantage— the season late, the 

 place a perfect quagmire, so very spungy as not 

 to bear a man without the aid of a plank to sus- 

 tain his weight; yet here it grew rapidly. I know 

 it bears summer sun on high land, and therefore 

 have no fear for it in the swamp, since I have 

 found it to flourish well in that situation. Should 

 no unforeseen accident intervene, I will next au- 

 tumn give an accurate statement, of the result of 

 my experiment. You may think this is written 

 for publication, but it is not so intended, and yet I 

 am anxions that the value of the Robinsine should 

 be known; but I am not a farmer except in theory 

 and in contemplation — my possessions number 

 less acres than my age numbers years, and there- 

 fore I cannot be "a teacher in Israel." 



From Loudon's Gardener's Magazine. 



ON THE MODE OF RAISING MUSHROOMS FROM 

 THE MUSHROOM STONE. 



By Mr. James Alexander, Gardener at Maeslaugb 

 Castle. 



I have no doubt but you, and many of your 

 correspondents, are acquainted with the mush- 

 room stone; but, as I have not seen it mentioned 

 in your Magazine, I send you the following ac- 

 count of one that was under my care for upwards 

 of two years. It was sent to Mr. Thorburn of 

 Murth, from Calabria, in Sicily, with directions to 

 give it a little water when it appeared dry, which 

 was generally three or four times a week in 

 dry weather: and, in the course of a fortnight 

 after I received it, a couple of mushrooms made 

 their appearance, which grew to be very large; I 

 think, about 9 inches in diameter. They were po- 

 rous beneath, in place of gill, as in the common 

 mushroom; consequently, they appeared rather to 

 be a species of Boletus than a species of Agari- 

 cus. However, they were of excellent flavor, and 

 the ship captain who brought the stone home told 

 me that it produced three mushrooms at sea, 

 which, he said, were very fine. In three or four 

 weeks after the two above-mentioned were ga- 

 thered, three or four more came up, and so on, for 

 the first year. The second year it was not quite 

 so productive; and, in 1833, my successor inform- 

 ed me that the mushroom stone was nearly ex- 

 hausted. 1 think eight or ten such stones would 

 supply an ordinary family with mushroom for two 

 or three years. 



Maeslavgh Castle Gardens, June 16, 1835. 



