ARTIFICIAL FIELDS 



five inches of the surface, then the tufted Aira {Deschampsia 

 caespitosa) will kill out the other kinds and flourish abun- 

 dantly. But if the water rises higher than this the marsh 

 series comes in (see Chap. xvi.). 



So that the thirsty grasses of the meadow are helped or 

 hindered in their fight for life by changes in the water away 

 down in the soil below their roots. 



Even in Great Britain one can see distinct differences in 

 very dry and very wet summers, but all these pastures, 

 meadow-lands, and hay-fields are, as we have already men- 

 tioned, as much due to man's forethought and industry as a 

 factory or coal-mine. 



It is very difficult to realize this. The best way is to go 

 to the National, or any other good picture-gallery, and look 

 carefully at any landscapes painted before the year 1805. 

 You will scarcely believe that the country as painted can be 

 the land we know. Where is the "awful orderliness"" of 

 England ? Where are the trim hedges ? Where are the 

 tidy roadsides and beautifully embanked rivers that we 

 see to-day? 



As a matter of fact, until the great Macadam made good 

 roads and the great Telford and other engineers built stone 

 bridges, it was impossible to rely on getting about with 

 carts and carriages. Gentlemen's coaches and wagons used 

 to be literally stuck in the mud ! Horses were drowned at 

 fords, or died in their struggles to pull very light loads 

 through mud which nearly reached the axles of the wheels 

 (see Chap. xi.). 



Besides the change due to roads, fences, drains, and farm 

 buildings, the very grasses themselves are growing un- 

 naturally. The farmer has selected and sown what he 

 thinks best. 



217 



