Vv WOODS AND FIELDS 195 
On the Downs indeed things change slowly, 
-and in parts of Sussex the strong slow oxen 
still draw the waggons laden with warm hay 
or golden wheat sheaves, or drag the wooden 
plough along the slopes of the Downs, just as 
they did a thousand years ago. 
I love the open Down most, but without 
hedges England would not be England. 
Hedges are everywhere full of beauty and 
interest, and nowhere more so than at the 
foot of the Downs, when they are in great 
part composed of wild Guelder Roses and rich 
dark Yews, decked with festoons of Travel- 
ler’s Joy, the wild Bryonies, and garlands of 
Wild Roses covered with thousands of white 
or delicate pink flowers, each with a centre of © 
gold. 
At the foot of the Downs spring clear spark- 
ling streams; rain from heaven purified still 
further by being filtered through a thousand 
feet of chalk; fringed with purple Loosestrife 
and Willowherb, starred with white Water 
Ranunculuses, or rich Watercress, while every 
now and then a brown water rat rustles in 
the grasses at the edge, and splashes into 
