A TASTE OF KENTUCKY BLUE-GRASS 229 



All the saplings and bushy imdergrowths com- 

 mon to forests have been removed, leaving only 

 the large trees scattered here and there, which 

 seem to protect rather than occupy the ground 

 Such a look of leisure, of freedom, of ampli- 

 tude, as these forest groves give to the land- 

 scape ! 



What vistas, "vvhat aisles, what retreats, what 

 depths of sunshine and shadow ! The grass is 

 as uniform as a carpet, and grows quite up to 

 the boles of the trees. One peculiarity of the 

 blue-grass is that it takes complete possession 

 of the soil; it suffers no rival; it is as uniform 

 as a fall of snow. Only one weed seems to 

 hold its own against it, and that is ironweed, a 

 plant like a robust purple aster five or six feet 

 high. This is Kentucky's one weed, so far as 

 I saw. It was low and inconspicuous while I 

 was there, but before fall it gets tall and rank, 

 and its masses of purple flowers make a very 

 striking spectacle. Through these forest glades 

 roam the herds of cattle or horses. I know no 

 prettier sight than a troop of blooded mares 

 with their colts slowly grazing through these 

 stately aisles, some of them in sunshine, and 

 some in shadow. In riding along the highway 

 there was hardly an hour when such a scene 

 was not in view. Very often the great farm- 

 house stands amid one of these open forests 

 and is approached by a graveled road that winds 

 amid the trees. At Colonel Alexander's the 

 cottage of his foreman, as well as many of tlie 

 tarm buildings and stables, stands in a grassy 



