252 ^^^ Florin* 



<* stance with currant jelly. A trial was then made, to 

 '' ascertain the quantity of spirit, that could be obtain- 

 *< ed from the same material ; when, on the first at- 

 *' tempt, (from forty pounds of Fiorin hay,) seven pints 

 '• of very palatable spirit was distilled ; much superior 

 " to common Whiskey ; and far better than the pro- 

 *« duce of any other kinds of grasses ; beside being 

 <« more abundant." — Whether this be a satire on the 

 Fiorinists, or a serious fact ; it is not difficult, experi- 

 mentally, to determine. 



I send also some culms with panicles ; and seed. 

 The former slightly resemble the panicles of blue grass; 

 and the latter, the seed of herd grass ; though smaller. 

 It is more for curiosity than real use ; for it is agreed, 

 that propagating from the joints of the strings, is the 

 only eligible mode. I have some now for distribution, 

 to experimenters. Any one may see, how widely dif- 

 ferent the Fiorin is, from the squitch or hwt grasSy 

 ftriticwn repensj with which it has been confounded. 



MANGEL-WURTZEL, 



I weighed the first stripping of the leaves. The 

 patch in which they grew, contains about a sixteenth 

 of an acre. The weight of the whole was 680 nett 

 pounds. I have stripped them three times ; and am 

 proceeding in the fourth. Three strippings, at 4, 1-4 

 tons each, is 12, 3-4 tons, per acre. But the quantity is 

 unequal, in the several strippings ; yet I think I may 

 safely calculate, for the season, on fifteen tons, to 

 the acre -.—allowing two tons, as deduction from 17 



