NEW GRASS GRAZING, &C. 147 



Hygeia for his handmaid, to receive the pilgrims that must ever gather from all 

 quarters around his health-restoring fountain, himself a living and cheerful wit- 

 ness of its virtues. It is reported there are two hundred and twenty there now, 

 but double that number Avould not incommode him. Parish &: Ficklin, old con- 

 tractors at Charlottesville, have again covered these and other principal mail- 

 routes with their excellent stages, and teams, and drivers, and their names are a 

 sufficient guaranty that all in that department is 'O. K.' 



In the iield, as w^ell as at the table d'hote, two senses have convinced me 

 that no country can be better adapted for the growth and perfection of mutton 

 than is this, for finer I never saw or tasted. 



In the hope of having time on my return for a more leisurely agricultural sur- 

 vey, let it only be noted here that I have met with a grass which is altogether 

 new to me, and promises to spread and oe of great value. When I say new, I 

 might probably say that I saw the same grass growing luxuriantly in Dr. Thorn- 

 ton's meadows at Montpelier. It seems to be identical with the greensward, 

 except that it is more gigantic. The blades of the second growth are very silky ; 

 and I understand that both horse and ox, for whose judgment I entertain pro- 

 found deference, delight to graze on it. In rich, clayey, low ground, it is very 

 luxuriant, and is overcoming the timothy. How or when it came here no one 

 can tell me. Doctor B. informs me that it has increased wonderfully during 

 the few years he has been here, although it has been annually mowed and grazed 

 on. It ripens rather earlier than timothy, or about the time the red-clover blos- 

 som becomes brown. I learn that it abounds on the Ioav lands of the South 

 Eranch of the Potomac, and is deemed very valuable for grazmg, and Dr. B. is 

 of opinion that if mowed in time it would yield in his meadow from I5 to 2 tons 

 of the best sort of hay. From all I can learn of its character, particularly as a 

 superior mowiBg-grass, it is probable that measures will be taken to distribute it 

 widely. Whatever more may be learned of it worthy of note, in my progress 

 westward, you shall know. If good luck should throw Dr. Bachman in my way, 

 I should hope to gather something, in regard to this and other grasses, worthy 

 of your Journal. By the way, they find the Volunteer Red Clover a great pest in 

 their timothy meadows hereabout, as the stalk becomes exceedingly hard be- 

 fore the timothy is sufficiently matured to make the best hay. You are aware 

 that while clover makes the better hay for being cut earlier, timothy should 

 stand to go well to seed. — I hope to gain, farther westward, better information, 

 too, as to the system of breeding and rearing their stock cattle. 



Mem. — There are few things to which these valleys are more congenial thaa 

 the Hop ; in fact. Vines of every kind seem to glory in the climate, and greatly 

 beautify the country as you pass through it. 



White Sulphur Springs, Greenbriar Countj-, Va., July 28, 1847. 



If, before you die, you wish to see " the man with the cue," you may find him 

 here, at the good old White Sulphur, in the person of the worthy Proprietor. 

 He really looks not five years older than he did some twenty-five years ago ; his 

 politics as sound, his friendships as stanch, and his laugh as loud and honest as 

 ever ! It would do his Baltimore friends good to see how manfully the old gen- 

 tleman maintains his ground, single-handed, against the fell Destroyer with his 

 inexorable long scythe, before which all things perishable must fall at last. 



Louisiana, Virginia, Missouri, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, 

 New- York, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama, Pennsylvania, 

 Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New-Hampshire, Texas and Cuba all have their 

 representatives here now in convention. Not a political convention, mind ye ! 

 Not at all. Ours here is a convention of gentlemen of all parties, met to drink 

 at the pure fountain of health, to indulge in the pleasures of social intercourse, 

 to interchange knowledge, and to recreate in the mountain air, and thus regain 

 and accumulate what vigor we may for the several duties that await us, each in 

 his sphere, in the busier seasons approaching. 



Those who have not been for some years at the several watering-places in 

 these mountains — which, when once you are here, seem to shut you out from the 

 great world of toil and care — can have no idea of the improvements that have 

 been made in the mean time. 



Familiar as many of your city readers may be with the arrrangements and 



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