74 WILD FLOWEKS. 



grass, (Poa aqua.tica,) is often six feet high. It 

 has a long creeping root, and grows either 

 by the sides of ditches, or on other moist lands. 

 In the fenny districts of Cambridgeshire and 

 Lincolnshire, it is a very valuable plant of 

 pasturage ; but when it grows in rivers, its 

 tangling roots and luxuriant growth make it 

 very troublesome, and it soon fills up a river 

 which has not a rapid current. 



Meadows are, at all seasons, pleasant spots. 

 In the dreariest months of the year, their 

 fainter greenness is agreeable to the eye, 

 which has lately looked but on the cold plain of 

 snow, or the leafless trees. But when May 

 comesj, and the grass twinkles in the sunshine ; 

 and the daisies open their round eyes by thou- 

 sands among it ; and the buttercups gleam in 

 rich profusion, tlien is the tim fully to enjoy 

 the meadow. These simple flowers give delight 

 to the many " who long in populous cities 

 pent," novvT wander fortli into the fields. Nor 

 would we forget the joy which they afford to ' 

 children. Children spring up, like the butter- 

 cup, everywhere, and are linked by strong ties 

 to almost every human heart ; and those who 

 can look back to rural walks of early life, when 



" Thouglits themselves were birds, and stars, and flowers," 



are disposed to sympathize with the joy of the 

 Uttle ones, as they gaze on the yellow field. 



The buttercup is a species of ranunculus. 

 The kind which blooms at this early season, is 

 the bulbous crowfoot, {Ranunculus bttlbostis,) 

 and may be distinguished from the other flowei- 



