STUDIES IN NATURE 



great quantities of corn and other crops, he may 

 just as well have big fields. Less ground is 

 lost in hedgerows, and it is easier for a plough, 

 harrow, or reaping-machine to work up and 

 down a large tract of land than to be continually 

 going from field to field and starting afresh. 

 Indeed, in some of the corn-growing parts of 

 England, it is only quite recently that the fields 

 were divided up at all, as little ridges of soil or 

 narrow bands left uncultivated were sufficient to 

 mark out the different properties. 



We may perhaps say, without being far from 

 the truth, that there are three kinds of fields. 

 There are the permanent pasture lands on which 

 from time immemorial the animals have grazed, 

 and it is not difficult to recognise their fine close 

 grass and soft springy turf. Then there are the 

 fields or leys on which we find grasses and 

 clovers of the quick-growing sorts ; these fields 

 for a year or two are used for hay-crops and 

 pasture, and afterwards are turned up again by 

 the plough and put to other purposes. Thirdly 

 there are the fields on which some sort of crop 

 other than grass is generally grown, the kind 

 and the order or rotation of the crop differing 

 according to the nature of the soil and the 

 custom of the country. 



It is a common mistake among unobservant 

 people to think that all grass is the same. Most 

 men and women have been obliged to realise 

 that there are at least two kinds of clover, since 



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