on my publishing an account of what had taken place with regard to
the American Bonnet, _an importer of Italian straw_ applied to me to know
whether I would _undertake to import American straw_. He was in the habit
of importing Italian straw, and of having it platted in this country; but
having seen the bonnet of Miss WOODHOUSE, he was anxious to get the
American straw. This gentleman showed me some Italian straw which he had
imported, and as the seed heads were on, I could not see what plant it
was. The gentleman who showed the straw to me, told me (and, doubtless, he
believed) that the plant was one that _would not grow in England_. I
however, who looked at the straw with the eyes of a farmer, perceived that
it consisted of dry _oat_, _wheat_, and _rye_ plants, and of _Bennet_ and
other _common grass_ plants.

216. This quite settled the point of _growth in England_. It was now
certain that we had the plants in abundance; and the only question that
remained to be determined was, Had we SUN to give to those plants the
beautiful colour which the American and Italian straw had? If that colour
were to be obtained by _art_, by any chemical applications, we could
obtain it as easily as the Americans or the Italians; but, if it were the
gift of the SUN solely, here might be a difficulty impossible for us to
overcome. My experiments have proved that the fear of such difficulty was
wholly groundless.

217. It was late in September 1821 that I obtained this knowledge, as to
the kind of plants that produced the foreign straw. I could, at that time
of the year, do nothing in the way of removing my doubts as to the _powers
of our Sun_ in the bleaching of grass; but I resolved to do this when the
proper season for bleaching should return. Accordingly, when the next
month of _June_ came, I went into the country for the purpose. I made my
experiments, and, in short, I proved to demonstration, that we had not
only the _plants_, but the _sun_ also, necessary for the making of straw,
yielding in no respect to that of America or of Italy. I think that, upon
the whole, we have greatly the advantage of those countries; for grass is
more abundant in this country than in any other. It flourishes here more
than in any other country. It is here in a greater variety of sorts; and
for _fineness_ in point of size, there is no part of the world which can
equal what might be obtained from some of our _downs_, merely by keeping
the land ungrazed til