PARA GRASS ON ASCENSION. 139 



" Mr Bell frequently accompanies me in searching for eligible spots 

 for establishing fresh patches of vegetable ground, and by the aid of 

 terracing, as we can command labour, I feel confident that an ample 

 supply of cabbages, leeks, and at times potatoes, can be commanded. 



" Mr Bell having represented to me that numbers of young shrubs 

 and trees required protection when first planted out, I have caused a 

 lai'ge number of guards to be constructed from firewood and the hoops 

 that come off the trusses of hay; they answer most admirably. 



" These plans, combined with the system of layering adopted by 

 Mr Bell, and the breaking up of new ground, will, I feel convinced, 

 do all that is possible for the cultivation of the Mountain, which ia 

 capable of spade labour only. 



" The cones of the pitch pine from the Bahamas ordered by their 

 Lordships to be forwarded to Ascension, upon Sir William Hooker's 

 recommendation, will, in all probability, succeed, and I shall be glad 

 to get them. 



*' Having described our requii'ements and plans for the cultivation 

 of the mountain, I think an account of an experiment on a large 

 scale, which we are making on the north-east plains, may be 

 interesting to Sir William Hooker. 



"In a document from Mr Bell to Captain Burnett, dated October 

 1859, I find these plains described as having been cleared and culti- 

 vated twenty years before, but in consequence of the loss of horses, 

 and frequent failures of the crops, they were abandoned and con- 

 sidered barren and useless. 



"However, on searching the records last year, a letter was dis- 

 covered bearing date 31st August 1849, from the Secretary of the 

 Admiralty, acquainting the captain in charge that Sir William Hooker 

 intended to forward a case of most excellent grass for fodder, known 

 by the name of ' Para;' accompanying this letter was a description 

 of the grass and its habits. 



"At Ascension it is doing wonders, increasing in the most 

 astonishing manner, and growing down all weeds and inferior grasses 

 wherever it is once established. Patches of it were tried on the No. 2 

 plains, and made not only rapid growth but resisted a drought of 

 several months, though exposed to a tropical sun and the full force 

 of the south-east Trade. 



" Ploughs and harrows having been promptly supplied at my 



request, w^e took advantage of a spare team, and a colt that required 



breaking in, to plough and harrow these plains, and, much to our 



atisfaction, found them to be covered with a rich friable loam. 



