543 
1812 .] On the English Mode of Soimding the Latin A. 
since taken some pains on the subject. 
It does not appear, from any inquiries 
ivithin my power, that the fiorin-grass 
is s6 readily to be met with in this coun¬ 
try as in Ireland; not that its culture, 
very limited indeed, has hitherto pro¬ 
duced such successful results as in that 
country and in Scotland. It is said here 
to be of very slow growth ; and, with re¬ 
spect to the stolones, or strings, some of 
which I have seen two years old, a 
friend merrily observed, we can, at no 
rate, compete successfully with the Irish 
for lengtli. Nor indeed, I apprehend, 
for substance, in the grass of which we 
are speaking; the small plots of it which 
I have seen affording no promise of that 
vast bulk and weight per acre, which 
lias been produced in Ireland. Indeed, 
were it allowable or requisite to hazard 
an opinion upon very confined experi¬ 
ence, 1 should suppose that, with us, 
forin-grass is not likely to excel 
either in weight or quality ; and that the 
upshot of our experiments will not im¬ 
probably be a somewhat late acknow¬ 
ledgment of the truism of the noble 
lord, who warned us in limine of the 
physical impossibility ofmaking a silken 
purse of a sow’s ear.” ' 
In the course of last year I planted 
some florin strings obtained from Ireland, 
but the grass did not grow. On the 
16th of last month I planted two patches 
in rows, according to the directions 
given in Dr. Richardson’s pamphlet; the 
strings, fresh from a piece of fiorin two 
years old, the produce of imported Irish 
strings. The hind a light loam, perfectly 
clean, having been experimentally cleared 
above and beneath, about the year 1796, 
and subsequently so managed until weeds 
have forgotten to grow upon it. The 
weather has since been extremely favor¬ 
able to vegetation, and a few blades of 
grass appeared on the SStli, as above ; at 
present, October 17tb, there are about 
thirty blades to a square yard. I last 
month made a small quantity of hay from 
the two-year old piece, with the view of 
collecting the opinions of dealers and 
consumers in London, I showed a sam¬ 
ple of it at Smithfield market, tiie first of 
the florin species, I believe, ever seen or 
beard of there, to several salesmen and 
buyers. One salesman said, immediately 
on handling the sample, that its com¬ 
plexion and smell would always sell it; 
and that, in his opinion, the present worth 
of such a commodity was from five to 
six pounds per load. On the contrary, 
Uie others^ both salesmen and purciia'' 
sers, agreed that it did no deserve the 
name of hay, and was of no worth what¬ 
ever at market, or any where else, ex¬ 
cepting where hay could not be iiad. 
Of a similar opinion were the stable- 
keepers and cow-kcepers, to whom I 
showed the sample ; Mr. Aldridge, of the 
Repository, St. Martin’s Lane, assures 
me that he could not suppose it worth 
cultivation, either as grass or hay, upon 
land capable of producing that which is 
good. On trial I did not observe that 
greediness in horses for fiorin hay which 
has been ascribed to them, although they 
undoubtedly will eat it; and, with respect 
to cows, I offered it to four out of about 
a dozen, wiiich would not touch it. On 
comparing my dry, light, and faint-smel¬ 
ling, sample with another of fragrant and 
juicy hay, full of flower and condition, 
and which was bought at five pounds ten 
shillings per load, the laugli went much 
against me. The very appearance of 
florin hay, I think, denotes its consan¬ 
guinity with the stalky and imuitritious 
grasses; and, to its paucity of sap and 
juices, may be in part attributed ro'the 
little damage it receives from the wea¬ 
ther. I have not yet been able to disco¬ 
ver the slightest prejudice against this 
grass, in either seedsmen or others, as 
has been suspected and published, and 
doubtless by and by its fate in England 
will be determined in much more exten¬ 
sive and satisfactory experiments than 
any to which I can pretend. In the 
mean time permit me, through the chan¬ 
nel of your most extensive publication, to 
tender my mite of information to tlie 
public acceptance. 
Somers Town. John Lawrence, 
Oct. 1811. ^ 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, 
ITH respect to the general Eng¬ 
lish sounding of the Latin A 
among us, Winchester, perliaps, alone 
excepted, it appears to have no other 
ground than that of our excessive and 
notorious complacence for ourselves and 
our habits on all occasions. It has been 
urged,—why slioutd we make the sound¬ 
ing of a letter or tw’O, in a dead lan¬ 
guage, a point of consequence, since, 
on the whole, it is utterly impossible, 
at this distance, to ascertain the Roman 
mode of pronunciation. There seem, 
however, strong reasons to convince us# 
that the ancient Romans sounded the a. 
broad, and the i like our e, a habit 
vhit;h 
