GRASSY PLACES. 



A REVIEW OF THE REGION. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



"Happy they 



Who in the fresh and dawning time of youth 

 Have dwelt in such a land, tuning their souls 

 To the deep melodies of Nature's laws." 



ALFORD. 



GRASSES are well represented on the Riviera, for very 

 many species may be found here : nevertheless our 

 English greensward is not common. The rainless 

 season dries it up. For this reason the hotel-keepers 

 find it easier to sow fresh grass each Winter than to 

 keep it alive during the Summer by constant watering. 

 So just about the time when the first frost-bitten 

 strangers begin to make for the south, we see a sparse 

 preraphaelite herbage sprouting in front of the hotels. 

 This " gazon," as they call it out of courtesy, never 

 quite succeeds in hiding the nakedness of the soil. 

 Nevertheless, in well-kept gardens, there are lawns 

 which will bear comparison with ours. 



There are extensive "Grassy places " of a swampy 

 sort at the mouth of the Var ; but the nearest ap- 

 proach to an English meadow in the Nice valley is a 

 field as yet unbuilt upon as you go from Carabacel 

 towards St. Barthe'lemy. It is bright with Beadstraw 



