steuakt's planter's guide. 229 



sweeps down every idle weed, every wild flower which 

 escapes his large-mouthed oxen. The live smooth 

 bark of the lush fast-growing trees, affords no foot- 

 ing for the various and beautiful tribes of mosses and 

 hchens. The fog-bee has lost its dwelling, the humble- 

 bee its fiow^ers, and they have flown away. Scarce 

 an insect remains, except the swollen earth-worm, 

 the obscene beetle, and the bloated toad, crawling 

 among the rank grass. There is a heavy dankness 

 in the air itself The nervous fluid stagnates under 

 it, — the muscles relax into lassitude, — ^inexpressible 

 depression sinks upon the heart. 



It is impossible to describe the relief we feel when 

 we emerge again into varied nature beyond the ring- 

 fence, — we have the hill and the furze, the wild- 

 violet and the thyme, and all the sweet diversity of 

 oiu subalpine flora. We have the thatched, patched 

 hut, the fine ragged children, the blooming cottage- 

 girl, — we have the corn-field, where weeds of every 

 dye, the beautiful centaur ea and scabiosa, the ele~ 

 gant fumaria, the gaudy cock-rose, and the splendid 

 chrysanthemum, are contending for existence with 

 the cerealeae. Look at the broken mound, with its 

 old picturesque trees and tangled bushes ; there is 

 the ancient root where the throstle had its nestlings, 

 which are now at large on the leafy boughs, and are 



