On Barilla. 433 



search, in the island of New York, towards the East 

 river, very near the city ; in Boston near Dorchester, 

 at the end of South Boston Bridge, and what surprised 

 me, at Falmouth on the Rappahannock opposite Fre- 

 derick sburgh, and at Ricket's near Richmond, both 

 places very remote from the sea. This makes me be- 

 lieve that this useful plant may enrich the bad sandy 

 soil as far as the head of tide in your rivers, which is 

 not the case in Europe, where it is generally found 

 near the sea shores. The salsola salsa^ another of the 

 barilla plants, I have observed in Boston neck, cover- 

 ing the low grounds inundated by the tide. The sa- 

 licornia fruticosa, which is one of the materials of the 

 fine Alicant barilla, grows in almost all your salt marsh- 

 es, and your sea shores present quantities of different 

 species offtwiis^ which are in Europe employed to the 

 same use. 



The salsola kali would be to the owners of your 

 sandy soils near the shore, an object of profit, with the 

 labour only of sowing it on such grounds, and cutting 

 and burning it in proper time. A little printed in- 

 6*truction on this subject would excite their attention 

 first ; but more is to be expected, if together with this, 

 they can witness the success of some practical example. 



At Rome and its neighbourhood, and in several 

 parts of Turkey, they cultivate a superior species of 

 barilla plant, the salsola sativa of die botanists. This 

 crop alternates very profitably with the wheat and bar- 

 ley crops.* The Roman name of the plant is riscolL 



* In some cases the seeds are sown witli the barley crops. After 

 the barley is reaped, the barilla plants occupy the ground. J. M. 

 VOL. III. I 3 



