i68 BEACH GRASS 



the obstructions as hurdles for their pleasure. 



After the chase had swept by and the red 

 coats, dotting the field, were lost to sight in the 

 distance, the whole family anxiously inspected 

 the poor neglected forest. Although there were 

 hoof prints close to some of the forest trees, not 

 a single one had been injured. They had had 

 many narrow escapes and I felt there was a future 

 for them. 



At first my forest made but a pitiable appear- 

 ance. It vanished when the grass was tall and 

 green in early summer, but, with each returning 

 fall when the grass was brown and prostrate, I 

 was cheered by the reappearance of the little trees 

 on the hillside, and, after three years, some of 

 the trees were plainly noticeable above the grass 

 at all times. 



At the end of the third year I took a census ; of 

 the trees by a method which I imagine is new to 

 foresters. I prepared two strings, each the length 

 of the forest, and tied rags to them at intervals 

 of ten feet. I stretched the first string along the 

 upper edge of the forest, the second ten feet 

 within the sacred precincts. In this way I laid 



