142 



to ttieir uninformed countrymen, the Transactions of 

 THE Highland Society. 



Nor is this the only instance I shall produce of the mis- 

 chievous use made of this well-intended pubhcation, by 

 ignorant book-makers, puffing their approaching publica- 

 tions through this respectable channel. 



I shall limit myself to one quotation more, and that from 

 a book of great circulation, Mr. Arthur Young's 

 Annals of Agriculture. 



Mr. Smith boasts there of a victory Se had obtained 

 over a troublesome enemy, which he calls Red Robin. 

 He says " his field had run to Red Robin to such a 



mischievous degree, that to walk over it was like ti'ead- 

 ** ing on a cushion," (the description given of fiorin grass 

 by both friend and enemy) ; and Mr. Young himself is so 

 good as to inform us, that Red Rohin is the agrostis 

 stolonifera. 



Mr. Smith proceeds, "This Red Rohin by neglect had 

 " over-run his grounds to a ver}' great degree ;" adding, 

 " that any sort of stock would starve rather than touch 

 " its herbage." We have thus Mr. Young's authoritj- 

 for the identity of Red Rohin with the agrostis stolonifera, 

 and for the aversion of all cattle to the latter. 



The seedsman, as well as the modern agricultural 

 writers, have declared war against fiorin; the Board of 

 Agriculture gave some stolones, received from me, to 

 Mr. Salisbury, to make experiments on: he pronounced 

 them to be coucli grass, and was indignant at being sup- 

 posed capable of cultivating so vile a weed — he who had 

 been regularly educated under the celebrated Mr. Cur- 

 tis ; and some respectable strangers have lately written to 

 me, requesting me to tell them how they are to get into 

 fiorin stock, as the London seedsmen refuse to supply 



