6 THE MEADOW. 



buried together. The grasses, therefore, which 

 grow in such situations, have long wiry leaves which 

 spring from the root far below the surface of the 

 ground, and are little injured, however hard the 

 wind is ; they are also furnished with very tough 

 stems, spreading horizontally, not like the runners 

 of the garden strawberry on the surface, but at a 

 depth of many feet in the sand. From the joints 

 of these ascend tufts of such leaves as I have de- 

 scribed above, and roots are connected with each 

 tuft. I have sometimes seen these underground 

 stems in places where they have grown through the 

 sides of sandhills, running along the ground to the 

 distance of twenty or thirty feet. The greater 

 part of the coast of Holland, being composed of 

 dykes, upon the security of which the existence of 

 the country depends, the Dutch have turned to 

 advantage the peculiar growth of these grasses, 

 and have planted them wherever the soil is adapted 

 for their growth, that is, wherever danger is most 

 to be apprehended. Several parts of the shores 

 of England are protected from the encroachments 

 of the sea by the same means. 



Some other kinds of perennial grass send out 

 new roots from any of the lower joints of the stem 

 which happen to touch the ground. By this con- 

 trivance, when one portion of the plant is injured 

 or destroyed, the other continues to thrive on its 

 own resources. 



Grasses which are annual in their duration, 

 depend more for their preservation upon their 

 seeds than upon their roots. These, by an equally 

 wise provision, are scantily provided with roots and 

 leaves, while their flower-stalks are both abundant 

 and productive. In most kinds of grass too, the 



