
          U. S. Patent Office
 December 17, 1857


 Sir


 This office is desirous to obtain
 the opinion of one or more reliable botanists of the
 United States on the hybridity of the plants usually
 known under the names of Holcus Sorghum,
 Holcus saccharatus, Sorghum saccharatum, Sorghum
 bicolor, Sorghum vulgare, Sorghum rubens,
 Sorghum halapensis &c. The question is one of great
 interest at the present time in this country, as a 
 difference of opinion prevails among cultivators
 and others whether the above named plants will
 hybridize or mix when grown in the same field
 or near each other.


 Yours very respectfully
 J Holt
 [signed]
 Commissioner


 Prof Joseph Henry
 Secretary of the 
 Smithsonian Institution

        