886 Lieut. Irwin's Memoir of Afghanistan. [Nov. 



hostile to verdure. The season of grass in all countries begins with 

 the renewal of the warm season, unless in circumstances the most 

 peculiar; and even in warm countries the herbage withers at the 

 beginning of winter. Neither are we to decide that warm countries 

 have naturally more grass throughout the year than the cold ; for if their 

 summer be dry, the heat of the sun soon withers the pastures, which 

 do not recover until next spring. It is evident therefore that the 

 growth of herbage will be greatest where heat and moisture meet in 

 due proportions. Moisture may arise from the atmosphere or from 

 the soil ; and with respect to the moisture of soils, it may arise 

 either from the composition or a low position. It is thus that a clayey 

 loam is better covered with grass than a loose sand or a hard clay ; and 

 many districts, the drought of whose climate would leave them little 

 verdure, have abundant grass which is nourished by the water descend- 

 ing from higher situations. A new complexity is added to the subject 

 when the periodical rains fall in the summer, and thus revive the 

 grass which has been withered by the heat in the warm climates. 



117. It is found that in India every grass and small plant has its 

 natural seasons of putting forth its new leaves, flowering, casting its 

 seed, and withering. Most of them flourish most in the Kureef, that is 

 after the great rains have begun to fall. Very many however even of 

 these put out new leaves in February and March — soon to be burnt up 

 by the scorching winds ; and some of them bear seeds in the Rubbee as 

 well as the Khureef. Some plants naturally flourish in the Rubbee ; for 

 example, the Sehoon, or wild oat — the seeds of which are shed before the 

 commencement of the great rains, but do not spring up until perhaps the 

 month of October. From what has been said, it is plain that in India 

 there are two seasons of grass — the lesser in spring, and the greater in the 

 great rains, and for a short time after them. The winter months have 

 but little fresh grass, but there is a considerable resource in the wither- 

 ed grass of the Khureef. Between the spring and Khureef grass is 

 an interval in which the pastures are burnt up by the excessive heat 

 and drought ; if the soil be very moist, or frequent showers fall, this 

 interval may not be perceptible. It may be supposed to be the 

 same with every country which, like Hindoostan, has a warm 

 climate, and its chief rains in the summer; but when either fails 

 we no longer find these two natural seasons of herbage. When 

 the cold reaches a certain point, the heat of summer is not sufficient to 

 wither the grass after its commencement in the spring, and this is 

 reserved for the cold of winter. The grains of the Rubbee, also, it may 

 be observed, in climates where the winter reaches a certain degree of 



