YELLOW OAT-GRASS. 93 



February" come out, is* the most dreary and deso- 

 late of our year : they peep through the snow that 

 often surrounds them, shivering and cheerless: 

 they convey no idea of reviving nature, and are 

 scarcely the harbingers of milder days, but rather 

 the emblem of sleety storms, and icy gales (snow- 

 drop weather), and wrap their petals round the 

 infant germ, fearing to admit the very air that 

 blows ; and, when found beyond the verge of cul- 

 tivation, they most generally remind us of some 

 deserted dwelling, a family gone, a hearth that 

 smokes no more. A lover of cold, it maintains the 

 beautiful ovate form of its flower only in a low tem- 

 perature ; warmth expanding the petals, vitiating 

 its grace, and destroying its character. It seems to 

 preserve its native purity free from every contami- 

 nation ; it will become double, but never wanders 

 into varieties, is never streaked or tinged with the 

 hues of other flowers. 



One of our pasture grasses is particularly affected 

 by dry weather. Several are injured frequently 

 by drought acting upon the stalk, not molesting 

 the root, but withering the succulent base of the 

 straw, which arises from the upper joint ; in con- 

 sequence of which, the panicle and connecting 

 straw dry away, while the foliage and lower leaves 

 remain uninjured. None are so obnoxious to this 

 injury a,s the yellow oat-grass (avena flavescens) , 

 and in some seasons almost the whole of its panicles 

 will be withered in a field of surrounding verdure. 

 Pastures that are grazed must from circumstances 



