294 The Face of the Wilderness 



sheds and outhouses ; and reed-thatch may also be 

 seen capping the old " cob " or mud walls, which 

 survive in parts of the country where there is no good 

 supply of stone. The cane-like stems are stiffer 

 and more durable than straw ; and for this reason 

 they are suitable material for the screens used in 

 brickfields, although straw is often used in their 

 place. Reed-thatch nowadays has always an old- 

 fashioned air ; and even straw-thatch, which ousted 

 it as cultivation reclaimed >the wild, is now seldom 

 seen on new cottages, while the thatcher grows a 

 rarer and rarer craftsman. The giant rush, which 

 often grows beside the reed in pools and quiet 

 streams, is another water-plant with the same 

 kind of history. Its tall, slender stems are used for 

 the seats of rush-bottomed chairs, and were turned 

 to many other purposes in earlier times. Now, 

 however, rush-bottomed chairs have passed out of 

 favour with country cottagers, who consider them 

 rude and old-fashioned; while for exactly these 

 reasons they are liked by many people in more 

 sophisticated ranks of society, who think they are 

 weary of elaboration. The rushes which were for- 

 merly used as wicks for rush-lights were not of this 

 large kind, which grows in running water, but the 

 common species of wet, oozy fields. This also 

 tends always to vanish as land is properly drained ; 

 but it is still too common for the farmer's liking, 

 as there is no surer sign of a wet, sour soil. Rush- 

 lights were not given up owing to any scarcity of 

 rushes, but to the competition of factory-made 

 dips. 



