58 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



the stalk and pods are nearly black, so that the 

 shocks on the side of the hills show at a great dis- 

 tance. The sward, where the slope of the down 

 becomes almost level beside the hedge, is short and 

 sweet and thickly strewn with tiny flowers, to which 

 and to the clover the bees come, settling, as it were, 

 on the ground, so that as you walk you nearly step 

 on them, and they rise from under the foot with a 

 shrill, angry buzz. 



On the other side the plough has left a narrow strip 

 of green running along the hedge : the horses, re- 

 quiring some space in which to turn at the end of each 

 furrow, could not draw the share any nearer, and on 

 this narrow strip the weeds and wild flowers flourish. 

 The light-sulphur-coloured charlock is scattered every- 

 where out among the corn, too, for no cleaning 

 seems capable of eradicating this plant ; the seeds 

 will linger in the earth and retain their germinating 

 power for a length of time, till the plough brings them 

 near enough to the surface, when they are sure to 

 shoot up unless the pigeons find them. Here also 

 may be found the wild garlic, which sometimes gets 

 among the wheat and lends an onion-like flavour to 

 the bread. It grows, too, on the edge of the low 

 chalky banks overhanging the narrow wagon-track, 

 whose ruts are deep in the rubble worn so in 

 winter. 



Such places, close to cultivated land yet undis- 

 turbed, are the best in which to look for wild flowers ; 

 and on the narrow strip beside the hedge and on the 



