NATURE NEAR LONDON 



yonder it is hard and wiry, and again graceful and 

 drooping. Here there are bunches so rankly ver- 

 dant that no flower is visible and no other tint but 

 dark green ; here it is thin and short, and the 

 flowers, and almost the turf itself, can be seen ; 

 then there is an array of bennets (stalks which 

 bear the grass-seed) with scarcely any grass proper. 



Every variety of grass and they are many 

 has its own colour, and every.blade of every variety 

 has its individual variations of that colour. The 

 rain falls, and there is a darker tint at large upon 

 the field, fresh but darker ; the sun shines and at 

 first the hue is lighter, but presently, if the heat last, 

 a brown comes. The wind blows, and immediately, 

 as the waves of grass roll across the meadow, a 

 paler tint follows it. 



A clouded sky dulls the herbage, a cloudless 

 heaven brightens it, so that the grass almost reflects 

 the firmament like water. At sunset the rosy rays 

 bring out every tint of red or purple. At noon- 

 day watch as alternate shadow and sunshine come 

 one after the other as the clouds are wafted over. 

 By moonlight perhaps the white ox-eyed daisies 

 show the most. But never will you find the 

 mowing-^grass in the same field looking twice 

 alike. 



Come again the day after to-morrow only, and 

 there is a change ; some of the grass is riper, some 

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