160 



fioriii. Twice, at the request of the Irish Farming So- 

 ciety, I have "visited and examined this dreary territory, 

 and reported on its aptitude for florin cultivation; engaging 

 , to supply the city of DubUn with all the hay requisite for 

 the numberless 'horses it feeds, freni grounds hitherto 

 deemed unprofitable. 



My speculations were then limited to the actual culture 

 of florin ; for I had not at that time discovered the facility 

 of raising immense crops of this valuable grass, without 

 the trouble and expense of cultivation, by substituting the 

 spontaneous eflbrts Nature to the labour of man, in 

 preparing our surface. 



So soon as I was convinced of the feasibility of my new 

 measures, 1 tendered my services to the Society, offering 

 to superintend their execution myself: the Society was 

 pleased to accept my offer, and a day was fixed for my 

 waiting on them at their house, to arrange proceedings ; 

 unfortunately, in the interval, the excellent state of health 

 which I had been blessed with to a late period of fife, was 

 interrupted, and I was no longer equal to the requisite 

 exertions. 



But still my pen is ready ; and should I have roused a 

 desire to improve the wilds of Nature, I am still able to 

 direct the exertions of spirited amateurs ; and whether 

 they are about to be made on the Scotch Mountains, 

 where I am already employed, — on the peaty WiCKLOW 

 Mountains, to which I have long looked wiili a wishful 

 eye, — or to the new theatre I should be happy to open* 

 the Julian Alps, — I am still able to direct the operations 

 I can rjo longer superintend, and to communicate with the 

 amateurs of any country who shall call upon me, and make 

 me acquainted with their local circumstances, that I may 

 teach them bow to avail themselves of them. 



Though mountains be my immediate and favourite ob- 



