Grass with green flag half-mast h'n 

 Succory to tnatch the sky, 

 Columbine with horn of honey. 

 Scented 5crn and agrimony. 



Mea£lDi»7 



¥ 



Perhaps it will be helpful and instructive to notice the special 

 characteristics of this large and useful family of plants. Not only is it of 

 interest in itself, but also of great service to those who wish to make 

 studies with pencil and brush, for to understand the underl)-ing prin- 

 ciples of construction of anything we wish to draw is a great help towards 

 making a characteristic reproduction of it. 



The following definitions, given by Marshall Ward, are very useful 

 in enabling us to distinguish grasses from other forms of plant life. 



"The first is, their leaves are arranged in two rows alternately up 

 the stems ; the second that their stems are circular and flattened in 

 section, or if in some other shape, they are ;/ez'er triangular or solid. 

 Moreover, the leaves are always of some elongated shape, and without 

 leaf stalks, but pass below into a sheath, which runs some way down the 

 stem, and is nearly always perceptibly split. Further, the stems them- 

 selves are usually long and cylindrical, and distinctly hollow except at 

 the swollen nodes, and only branch low down at the surface of the 

 ground, or beneath it." 



By this time we have perhaps arrived at our destination, the happ_\- 

 hunting-ground of our desires, and we are grateful for the friend!}- shade 

 of the giant elms in the hedgerow. 



Long before we have time to make studies of all the varied treasures 

 in the sea of waving grasses before us, the mowers will have laid them 

 low, and on our second visit we may find our meadow studio invaded by 

 an army of rustics, whose swiftly-moving scythes keep time together with 

 fell, rapid strokes. Or perhaps the whirring music of the more up-to- 

 date mowing machine has accomplished the work of devastation still 

 more quickly. 



Well, even when the meadow grasses have fallen, and have been 

 gathered into stacks of sweet-smelling hay, we have only to seek fresh 

 fields and pastures for more specimens of the wonderful family now 

 engaging our attention and delight. Leaving the meadow, whose short, 

 stubby grass is already making a brave effort to throw out shoots for a 

 second crop, we turn our attention to the corn-crop, growing higher and 

 stronger each day under the brilliant midsummer sun. 



It is, I am sure, unnecessary for me to warn my readers against the 

 practice some inconsiderate folks have of heedlessly trampling down 

 crops, either of meadow grass or in cultivated fields. If we notice the 

 " trail " left by a careless pedestrian in search of a " short cut " over a 

 meadow of long grass, we cannot help a feeling of anger at his 

 thoughtlessness, and, of course, in corn or similar crops the havoc he 

 will make, without a thought of evil-doing, is immeasurably more. 



We can find our specimens on the edge of the field, near the hedge- 

 row, or fringing the footpath, without doing damage. 



Suppose now we have gathered a handful of graceful specimens of 

 meadow grass, and returniu!/ to the shadv studio under the trees we 



Tail 



46 



