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CHAPTER IX. 



THK RUSHES, GRASSES, AND FERNS OF THE GRKEN 

 LANES. 



UE English fields and lanes are crowded 

 with a host of objects whose appearance is 

 too modest and unpretentious to obtain 

 even a passing notice from ordinary 

 pedestrians. It requires little extra observation, how- 

 ever, to discover that they really possess beauties and 

 attractions of their own. Without such common ob- 

 jects as grasses, rushes, sedges, &c., what would 

 become of that charming greenness which delights 

 every eye ? Their general effect, therefore, if not their 

 individual, is far from unimportant. Nay, they possess 

 a utility also, as food for all kinds of cattle, such as 

 more showy members of the vegetable kingdom have 

 not. These remarks may sound like an apology, when 

 every botanist knows that the delicate, graceful 

 beauty and structure of our rushes and grasses 

 really need nothing of the kind. Ferns have long 

 held a high place in public estimation, on account of 



