THE MEADOW. 5 



the plant with moisture, perform another equally 

 useful by sheltering the immediate neighbourhood 

 of the root from the rays of the sun; and the 

 plants themselves, by growing not singly but in 

 tufts, afford protection to each other. Some spe- 

 cies are perennial, that is, they continue to grow 

 for several years. One of these,* which is very 

 common in meadow pastures, is furnished with 

 roots composed of fine, closely-matted fibres, and 

 in ordinary seasons derives from the soil by the 

 'help of these as much nourishment as it needs. 

 But if by any chance it grow in a situation where, 

 from the dryness of the season, the porous nature 

 of the soil, or other cause, such roots would be of 

 little use in a very dry season, the fibres disappear, 

 and the root acquires a number of juicy balls, strung 

 together like beads, and these supply the leaves 

 and stem with nourishment till the return of rainy 

 weather. Other perennial grasses grow naturally in 

 a soil composed of sand, with a very little mixture 

 of mould. Here fibrous roots would be of -little ser- 

 vice, for the sand from which they spring becomes 

 perfectly dry after a few days of hot weather, and 

 roots of this description could not reach sufficiently 

 deep to procure a supply of nourishment. Besides 

 this, sand-hills in the neighbourhood of the sea, 

 being necessarily much exposed to the wind, are 

 liable to constant changes. Either the sand is 

 blown away from them, in which case all plants 

 not extending beyond a certain depth would be 

 carried off with it, or the hillock, by the addition 

 of fresh sand, is constantly increasing in size ; and 

 in this case, both leaves and stems would soon be 



* Phleum pratense. 



