Bb NATURE IN ENGLAND. 



The softness and humidity of the English climate 

 act in two ways in promoting that marvelous green- 

 ness of the land, namely, by growth and by decay. 

 As the grass springs quickly, so its matured stalk or 

 dry leaf decays quickly. No field growths are desic- 

 cated and preserved as with us ; there are no dried 

 stubble and seared leaves remaining over the winter 

 to mar and obscure the verdancy of spring. Every 

 dead thing is quickly converted back to vegetable 

 mould. In the woods, in May, it is difficult to find 

 any of the dry leaves of the previous autumn ; in the 

 fields and copses and along the highways, no stalk 

 of weed or grass remains ; while our wild, uplying 

 pastures and mountain- tops always present a more or 

 less brown and seared appearance from the dried 

 and bleached stalks of the growth of the previous 

 year, through which the fresh springing grass is 

 scarcely visible. Where rain falls on nearly three 

 hundred days in the year, as in the British islands, 

 the conversion of the mould into grass, and vice 

 versa, takes place very rapidly. 



