1804. ] 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
T Y rejoinder feems abfolutely necef- ” 
fary, for the grace, not of poetical, 
but of common argumentative juftice : 
that which is of more peculiar confe- 
quence, of fafely conducting a worthy 
charaéter out of a /erape, into which I had, 
by merely, however, connecting his name | 
with real facts, unwittingly led him. 
To fave precious time and well-taxed 
paper, I thall ftate the information I 
have recently acquired, which will be 
tantamount to anfwering E.N. by fin- 
gle paragraphs. Mr. Gibbs was fome- 
what ftartled at the information, that the 
honour had been conferied on him by the 
Monthly Magazine, of introducing ‘him 
before the bar of the public ; but from 
himfelf I obtained the following intelli- 
gence :—‘* That he had been giving his 
attention to the calleéting of gra{s-feeds 
more than ten years That he ufes his 
Brompton ground merely asa nurfery for 
the various fpecies, of which he has 
about two hundred different {pecimens, 
in order to try their refpeétive qualities, 
feleling, accordingly, for cultivation.— 
His method of cultivation for fale is, to 
contrast with farmers who occupy land 
of quality fuitable to the production of 
the various graflcs; by which means 
he has obtained fixteen dittinét fpecies, 
in quantities amounting in all to upwards 
of two hundred bufhels per annum, for 
feveral years paft, and in the two laft 
years to full fifteen hundred bufhels per 
annum ; having at this time in his pof- 
feffion more than that quantity of new 
feleéted feeds, befide expecting more in 
the courfe of the feafon. He has, for 
{fucceflive years, employed many perfons 
in collefting feed, by hand, in various 
parts; has purchafed feeds from more 
than one, or two, perfons, but never more 
than five fpecies of any one perfon.”” 
Thus, Sir, I have “* a round, unvare 
nifhed tale delivered,’ which, I truft, 
carries nothing in it for. detection but 
truth. I truft, alfo, that it will thence 
appear, no one perfon has procured for 
public ule fo great a quantity of nataral 
erals feeds as the feediman to the Board 
ot Agriculiure.—And I have done thus 
much without the flighteft intention of 
detracting frem the merits of the friend 
of E. N. who has grown, it feems, one 
hundred bufhels of grafs-feeds annually 
fince 1797, and whole exertions, there- 
fore, both for himflf and the country, 
I honour. 
As to the patronage of the Board of 
Montuiy Mag. No. 109. 
Culture of Graffes—Account of Strafburg. 509. 
Agriculture, the hofiour of its recom. 
mendation fimply ought to have been a 
fufficient remuneration to the meritorious 
and painful collector and cultivator of an 
article of fo much confequence, and of 
which there is fo great public need. But 
if their reiterated injunctions on the pro- 
per feeding of grafs-lands, as well as on 
many other important points of hufban- 
dry, have been negleéted; no poffible 
blame ought to attach to the Board of 
Agriculture, which, all its real errors 
allowed, has conferred more eflential bea 
nefits upon this country than any other 
Board ever did, not excepting even Trea- 
fury Boards, and thofe of Trade and 
Plantations. I fay this moft impartially, 
having never fought or expeéted advan- 
tage, either prefent or future, from the 
Board of Agriculture, and having, on a 
certain occafion, experienced a trifling ne- 
glect from it; but not feeling aggrieved, 
I had nodefire to complain. 
Tam, Sir, your’s, &c. 
O@. 11, 1803. Jeli 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
SKETCH Of the STATE of STRASBURG, 
Srom the recent TRAVELS of CAMUS, @ 
MEMBER of the NATIONAL INSTI- 
TUTE, through the Departments lately 
united to FRANCE. 
HE fields, as you approach Straf- 
burg, are covered with poppy, 
from the berry of which is extracted’ an 
oil called Eyelet, which is frequently fold 
at Paris for oil of olives. A large quan 
tity of fine hemp is cultivated, and fome 
flax and tobacco. From Paris to Straf- 
burg not an inch.of heath, or of ground 
that lay fallow, prefented itfelf to my 
View. 
It might be fuppofed that the Intti- 
tute had fent a colony to Strafburg; but 
the idea would not be corre&t. The 
learned men were not fent thither, but were 
formed and exifted before ; and the Initi- 
tute had the. good fenfe to invite them to 
becumeits members. - Arbaga‘t, Brunck, 
Koch, Lombard, Oberlin, and Schweigeu- 
fer beiong to the Inftitute. Lately they 
could have reckoned among them Dr. 
Hermann, but death has erafed his name 
from tke lift. In a-fequeft-red part of 
the cty there is a neat and convenient 
houfe ; it has many rooms for ftudy, and 
the moderate light which they admit in- 
vites to meditation, and the walls are 
covered with nfetul books within a con- 
venient reach, becaufe they are all 
and often confulted. In the {paces be- 
3 U tween 
