156 AUTUMN AND WINTER 



earth-surface meeting the warm air from the sea; and the 

 southerly current thrust up by the incoming easterly one 

 causes more rain by reduction of pressure. Immediately to 

 leeward of a mass of high ground, there is sometimes a com- 

 paratively dry, low-lying district : where the next hills rise to 

 eastward, the rainfall increases again. 



Wet autumn weather plays a great part in the prepara- 

 tion of the soil for nature's next annual crop. Wind and 

 rain soften and beat down the dry stems and faded leaves of 

 summer's vegetation ; and the worms set busily to work in 

 burying the fallen leaves in the damp earth. They are 

 extraordinarily active in wet autumn weather, especially by 

 night ; they draw down the leaves into the soil, and also 

 bury them by the digested soil thrown out of their burrows. 

 The soil is fertilised by the leaf-mould thus formed, and its 

 surface is cleansed for the growth of the young blades in 

 spring. 



Autumn floods carry the seeds of plants for many miles 

 downstream, and wash them into crevices and hollows high 

 above summer level. So, when spring and summer come, 

 the rocky walls of the torrent are garnished with clinging 

 flowers. When the streams roll furiously in their beds, the 

 eels pass down to the sea on that strange autumn journey to 

 the depths, where they breed and die. But the chief work 

 of the storms is the replenishment of the pools and streams. 

 By the end of a long dry summer the beds of the ponds and 

 brooks are half choked by weeds, and covered by a dry 

 growth of turf. The first task of the autumn rain is to 

 reclaim the lost ground. It is curious to see how quickly a 

 grass-grown watercourse loses its carpet of verdure in wet 

 autumn weather. A few hours after it is first filled by a 

 rapid current, the grass-blades are all strained in the same 

 direction downstream, and flattened into a discoloured film. 



