184 On Guinea Gras. 



with others, and in every season, as it has done this 

 season, with me, and as it has done in the West In- 

 dies for more than half a century, the planters of the 

 south will have no reason to envy their northern neigh- 

 bours, their luxuriant clover pastures, or their nume- 

 rous ricks of timothy hay. Meadows are generally the 

 most fertile part of every farm where they exist, and 

 their value is augmented by their contiguity to the 

 farm houses. If Guinea grass is substituted for clover, 

 timothy, and lucerne, at least seven eighths of all the 

 grounds appropriated to those crops will be given to 

 the cultivator for the purpose of raising sustenance for 

 the human species. To what amount this change will 

 increase the sum of national wealth, I leave to those 

 to estimate, who are more conversant with such cal- 

 culations. 



Certificates respecting Guinea Grass* 



February 23, 1812, 

 Dear Sir, 



Your favour of the 15th instant reached me yes- 

 terday. In reply to your inquiries respecting the Gui- 

 nea grass, I will with pleasure give you such informa- 

 tion as I have been able to make, to fulfil your wishes. 

 The first winter after I sowed the seed was fortu- 

 nately mild, as it did not go to seed, in the spring it 

 put up from the old roots. The branches I transplant- 

 ed, and they grew luxuriantly. It seeded late in Octo- 

 ber. The roots were killed by the frost, but in the 

 spring following, the seed that fell came up abundant- 



