616 
P L A T. 
becaufe, if you were to take off, when green, the part 
above defcribed, that part would wither up to next to 
nothing. This part mud die in company with the whole 
plant, and be feparated from the other parts after the 
bleaching has been performed. 
iz. The time of cutting muft vary with the feafbns, 
the fituation, and fort of grafs. The grafs which I got 
jn Hertfordfhire, than which nothing can, I think, be 
more beautiful, was,,when cut, generally in-bloom ; juft 
in bloom. The wheat was in full bloom; fo thara good 
time for getting grafs may be confidered to be that when 
the wheat is in bloom. When I cut the grafs in Suffex, 
the wheat was ripe, for reaping had begun; but the 
grafs is of a very backward fort, and befides, grew in the 
lhade, among coppice-wood, and under trees, which ftood 
pretty thick. 
13. As to the forts of grafs, I have to obferve, gene¬ 
rally, that in proportion as the colour of the grafs is 
deep, that is to fay, getting further from the yellow and 
nearer to the blue, it is of a deep / and dead yellow' when 
it becomes ftraw. Thofe kinds of grafs are beft which 
are in point of colour neareft to that of wheat, which is 
a frelh pale green. Another thing is the quality of the 
ftraw as to pliancy and tougiinefs. Experience muft be 
our guide here. I had not time to make a large collec¬ 
tion of forts, but thofe which I have fent you contain 
three forts which are proved to be good. In my letter 
of the 3d inftant, I fent you fixteen pieces of plat, and 
eight bunches of ftraw, having the feed-heads on, in 
order to (how the forts of grafs. The fixteenth piece of 
plat was American. The firft piece was from wheat cut 
and bleached by me ; the reft from grafs cut and bleached 
by me. I will here, for fear of millake, give a lift of the 
names of the feveral forts of grafs, the ftraw of^ivhich 
was fent with my letter of the 3d inftant, referring to 
the numbers as placed on the plat, and on the bunches 
of ftraw'. 
1. Wheat. 
2 and 3. Melica casrulea, or purple melica-grafs. 
4 and iz. Agroftis ftolonifera, or fiorin grafs; i. e. 
one fort of couch-grafs. 
5 and 10. Loliunt perenne, or ray-grafs. 
6 and 11. Avena flavefcens, or yellow oat-grafs. 
7 and 15. Cynofurus criftatiis, or crefted dog’s-tail- 
grafs. 
8 and 13. Anthoxanthum odoratmn, cr fweet-fcented 
vernal-grafs. 
9 and 14. Agroftis canina, or brown bent-grafs. 
14. Tliefe names are thofe given at the Botanical 
Garden at Kew; but the fame Engiifti names are not, in 
the country-, given to thefe forts of grafs. The fiorin 
grafs, the yellow oat-grafs, and the brown bent, are all 
called couch-grafs; except that the latter is, in Sufiex, 
called red-robin: it is the native grafs of the plains ot 
'Long Ifland, and they call it red-top. The ray.-grafs is 
the common field-grafs, which is all over the kingdom 
fown with clover. The farmers in a great part of the 
. kingdom call it bent or bennet grafs; and fometimes 
darnel-grafs. The crefted dog’s-tail goes, in Suffex, by 
the name of Hendon-bent, for what reafon I know not. 
The fweet-fcented vernal grafs, I have never, amongft 
the farmers, heard any name for. Mifs Woodhoule’s 
grafs appears, from the plants that I faw, to be one of 
the forts of couch-grafs. Indeed, I am fure that it is a 
couch-grafs, if the plants that I faw came from her 
feed. My fon, who went into Connedicut, who faw the 
grafs growing, and who fent me home a fpecitnen of it, 
is now in England : he was with me when I cut the grafs 
in Sufiex, and he fays that Mifs Woodhoufe’s was a 
couch-grafs. However, it is impoffible to look at the 
fpecimens of ftraw, and of plat which I have fent yon, 
without being con vinced that there is no want of the raw 
material in England. I was, after firft hearing of the 
fubjed, very foon convinced that the grafs grew in Eng¬ 
land ; but I had great doubts as to the capacity of our 
fun. Thofe doubts my own experiments have completely 
removed ; but then I was not aware of the great effect of 
the fcalding, of which, by the way, Mifs Woodhoufe 
had faid nothing, and the knowledge of which we owe 
entirely to my fon James’s journey into Connecticut. 
15. Having thus given you an account of the time and 
manner of cutting the grafs, of the mode of cutting and 
bleaching ; having given you the beft account I am able 
as to the forts of grafs to be employed in this bufinefs ; 
and having, in my former communications, given you fpe¬ 
cimens of the plat wrought from the feveral forts of ftraw ; 
I might here clofe my letter ; but, as it may be ufeful to 
fpeak of the expenfe of cutting and bleaching, I (hall 
trouble you with a few words relating to it. If there 
were a field of ray-grafs, or of crefted dog’s-tail, or any 
other good fort, and nothing elfe growing with it, the 
expenfe of cutting would be very little indeed, feeing 
that a fcythe would do the bufinefs at a great rate. 
Doubtlefs there will befuch fields; but, even if the grafs 
were to be cut by the handful, my opinion is, that the 
expenfe of cutting and bleaching would not exceed four- 
pence for ftraw enough to make a large bonnet. I fivould 
be willing to confraCt to fupply ftraw at this rate for half 
a million of bonnets. The fcalding muft conftitute a 
confiderable part of the expenfe ; becaufe there mult be 
frelh water for every parcel of grafs that you put in the 
tub: when water has fcalded one parcel of cold grafs, 
it will not fcald another parcel. Befides, the fcalding 
draws out the fweet matter of the grafs, and makes the 
water the colour of London porter. It would be very 
good, by the bye, to give to pigs. Many people give 
hay-tea to pigs and calves; and this is grafs-tea. To 
fcald a large quantity, therefore, would require means 
not ufually at hand, and the fcalding isUn eifential part 
of the bufinefs. Perhaps, in a large and very convenient 
farm-houfe, with a good brewing-copper, good fuel, and 
water handy, four or five women might fcald a waggon¬ 
load in a day; and a waggon would, I think, carry 
ftraw enough (in the rough) to furnilh the means of 
.making a thoufand bonnets. However, the fcalding 
might take place in the field itfelf, by means of a port¬ 
able boiler, efnecially if water were at hand ; and, per¬ 
haps, it would be better to carry the water to the field, 
than to carry the grafs to the farm-houfe; for there muft 
be ground to lay it out upon the moment it has been 
fcalded, and no ground can be fo'proper as the newly- 
mowed ground where the grafs has ftood. The fpace, 
too, muft be large for any confiderable quantity of grafs. 
As to all thefe things, however, the beft and cheapeft 
methods will foon be difcovered, when people fet about 
the work with a view to profit. 
16. The Society will want nothing from me, nor from 
any body elfe, to convince it of the importance of this 
matter; but I cannot, in concluding' thefe communica¬ 
tions to you, refrain from making an obfervation or 
two on the confequences likely to arife out of thefe 
inquiries. The manufacture is one of confiderable mag¬ 
nitude. Not lefs than about five millions of perfons in 
tiiis kingdom have a drefs which confifts partly of manu¬ 
factured ltraw; and a large part and all the moll expen- 
five part of the articles thus ufed, now comes (rom abroad. 
In cafes where you can get from abroad any article 
at lefs expenfe than you can get it at home, the wifdoin 
of fabricating that article at home may be doubted. 
But, in this cafe, you get the raw material by labour 
performed at home ; and the colt of that labour is not 
nearly fo great as would be the coft of the mere carriage 
of the ftraw from a foreign country to this. It our own 
people had all plenty of employment, and that, too, more 
profitable to them and to the country than the turning 
of a part of our own grafs into articles of drefs, then ic 
would be advifable ftill to import Leghorn bonnets; but, 
the fads being thereverfe, it is clear that whatever money 
or money’s-worth of things be fent out of the country in 
exchange 
