ON VEGETATION. 



355 



vegetation, which, as long as the grasses flourished, 

 were kept in subordination and obscurity by their 

 superior growth ; while bare patches in other places 

 told us of aridity and failure : the meadow grass 

 (poa) and ray grass (lolium perenne) were great 

 sufferers ; the dog's tail (cynosurus) supported it- 

 self better; the cockfoot (dactylis), though not 

 killed, was so much hurt, that its ensuing vegeta- 

 tion, instead of the coarse luxuriance it generally 

 manifests, was dry, hard, and deficient in succu- 

 lency, or, as our labourers emphatically say, was 

 " stunned ;" and bent-grass (agrostis vulgaris), that 

 certain indicator of a dry soil, appeared more than 

 it commonly does. But this destruction of the 

 roots in very many places was not obvious, the turf, 

 as it was, remaining ; yet some injury was apparent 

 in the succeeding summer and autumn. The crop 

 cut for hay was unusually abundant, and seemed to 

 have exhausted the roots by its growth, as no after- 

 grass sprang up ; nor did the pastures which were 

 fed afford more than a dry, hard, yellow provender, 

 looking tanned, as if seared by severe frost ; and in 

 September, when in general we expect our fields to 

 yield an abundance of grass, as food for months, 

 they presented commonly the aspect of hard-fed 

 lands in March, though so much rain had fallen, 

 both in July and August, as to lead us to expect 

 profusion. It did not appear that the roots had 

 actually perished ; which could not have been the 



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