HAY-TIME 145 



terrifies them to such a point that they will lie down 

 and submit to be knocked on the head. Smaller 

 animals are often cut to pieces by the machine. When 

 only a few square yards remain to be cut, the 

 labourers arm themselves with sticks, and watch for 

 anything that runs out. A good dinner is often got 

 in this way, but among the miscellaneous collection 

 of animals killed are many that no one would eat. 1 



Grasses, as every farmer knows, are of many species, 

 and every field contains a mixture of several kinds. 

 A few, among which are our chief cereals, are annual, 

 the majority perennial. When a perennial grass, 

 sprung from seed, has once established its rootstock, 

 sent its roots downwards into the earth and expanded 

 its leaves, runners are pushed out, which travel on or 

 beneath the surface of the ground, sometimes to a 

 distance of several feet, rooting at intervals and 

 forming fresh tufts of leaves. The runners are solid, 

 and often sheathed in scales, which are really a kind 

 of leaves. Runners which lie on the ground are 

 green, but the subterranean ones are blanched. 



I have lately gained a practical knowledge of the 

 runners of one particular Grass, Holcus mollis, which 

 is, I am told, known to farmers as the Yorkshire Fog. 

 Our tennis-lawn was sown last year with fine grasses, 

 but in the old sods which formed part of the soil 

 were many bits of Yorkshire Fog, which soon began 

 to show themselves above ground. Every one must 

 know this grass by sight, if not by name. It has 



1 A graphic account of the disturbance of wild creatures by 

 the mowing of the grass is given by Cornish in Wild England 

 of To-day,?. 243(1895). 



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