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extremes of wet and drought, to an extent that will scarcely 

 be credited ; but I speak from experience. 



Making a dam for the purposes of irrigation, I flooded a 

 ditch, with florin growing at the bottom. This was covered 

 twenty-two inches deep, and for four years the roots 

 regularly sent up stolones to the surface of the water, in 

 good health ; and probably would have continued to do so, 

 had not the floods of a rainy winter filled up the ditch. 



Nearly at the same time I <ried the other extreme, and 

 planted a florin sod on the top of my garden wall, ten feet 

 high ; here, without being watered or approached for four 

 years, it continued vigorous, dropping every year a bunch 

 of stolones, twelve or fourteen inches long; — nor did this 

 root die a natural death ; it was destroyed in putting an 

 additional building against the wall. 



- Though this grass preserves its existence, and even its 

 health, under such opposite extremes, it luxuriates into value 

 only under more favourable circumstances, for the soil in 

 which it grows must be tolerably deep, and well drained, so 

 as effectually to prevent any water stagnating about its 

 roots. 



Another curious property of this agrostis is, that it thrives 

 and luxuriates equally at the top of the mountain and 

 bottom of the valley, indifferent to any changes in elevation. 

 I even proved on the spot, to my friend Serjeant Foy, 

 and some members of the Farming Society, that florin 

 was more vigorous towards the summit, obviously because 

 the rivals that crowded it lower down, left the alpine field 

 to this hardier grass, unable to sustain the severities of the 

 chmate. 



I have said enough to shew that to cultivate florin grass 

 at great elevations, is no very desperate attempt ; for we 

 may surely expect, that a vegetable fostered by man, 

 protected from its enemies and rivals, and stimulated by 



