334 



MY GARDEN. 



banks of our river. When in flower, the quantity of pollen which is 

 produced is prodigious. From five years of age till within the last 

 few years I suffered annually from hay fever, and could hardly venture 

 beyond the precincts of London when this grass was in flower, which 

 was generally between the roth and 2oth of June. The malady, how- 

 ever, suddenly left me, and I can now look with impunity at the 

 pollen which falls from the flower. Whilst the disease lasted, nothing 

 benefited me but opium, tobacco, and darkness. 



There is a variety of 

 this grass with coloured 

 leaves which has been 

 sometimes used for 

 edging. 



The Car ex pendula 

 (fig- 758) is a wild 

 plant, growing near 

 * ^ London. I remember, 



FIG. 757. Cock's-foot Grass. FIG. 7 s8.-Carex pendula. when a Student, finding 



it at Hampstead. It grows freely at Hornsey. It is a magnificent 

 plant, and is very showy. The effect of the common sedge by the 

 side of our lake is fine, and is well shown in plate 16, where the 

 sedge between the eel-trap and the Overfall adds greatly to the 

 general effect. 



WEEDS AND WILD PLANTS. 



" By the love 



Of their wild blossoms our young footsteps first 

 Into her deep recesses are beguiled." MRS. HEMANS. 



Byron, speaking of the wild plants of Italy, says, " All thy weeds 

 are flowers ; " which may truly be said of those of my garden, for 

 many beautiful flowers come up spontaneously as weeds, without our 

 care, without our thought, and without our cultivation. The first 



