GRASS. 
193 
In this table are arranged twenty species of the usual 
meadow grasses ; it will be seen that they differ under varying 
circumstances of soil and condition of the meadow ; each species 
of this tribe of plants becoming, as it were, an index of the 
nature and cultivation of the soil ; for if the latter be neglected 
there will soon be a change, not only in the species and their 
proportion of meadow grasses, but gradually there will be 
introduced those of the jungle list, until the meadow itself, by 
continued neglect, would resolve itself into jungle, heath, or 
moor land. 
Our beautifully shaven lawns and green meadows, though so 
characteristic of merry England, are not natural to the country, 
but are, after all, the result of cultivative skill acting in accord- 
ance with those natural conditions of soil and climate which 
favour their development, and this consideration introduces us 
to the next division of our subject. 
4. The Economy of British Grasses. — It is often re- 
peated that, “ he is a benefactor to his country who makes two 
blades of grass grow where one did before,” — a remark, of 
course, more particularly directed to the farmer and the 
country gentleman, many of whom may be justly lauded for 
having attempted, with some measure of success, to realize the 
position. Still, however, these interesting plants have been 
so httle studied, that, after all, the progress of improve- 
ment in meadow is, and has been for a long time, nearly at a 
stand-still; and at the present moment the pastures of England 
are httle more than half as productive as they ought to be, 
many being in need of drainage, and more requiring 
weeding. 
Now, it may interest the popular reader to be told that some 
of the most mischievous weeds in meadows are grasses them- 
selves; still, if we could but instil into the minds of those 
whom it concerns, that whatever takes up space without con- 
tributing nutritious matter, can only be regarded as weeds, then 
the rough grasses that multiply just in proportion as a meadow 
is out of order would be looked upon with disfavour, and as 
some of these kinds arise from wet, others from poverty, and 
many from neglect, the study of the natural history of this tribe 
of plants is calculated to inf orm us of every condition of soil and 
cultivation, even in then’ most minute inflexions. That meadows 
should be overrun with rushes, wild parsley, docks, plantains, 
dandelions, and buttercups, exhibits want of care ; and the 
great prevalence of these is tantamount to a waste of land 
and loss of grass ; for “ two things cannot occupy the same 
space at the same time.” This is not the place, however, to 
enlarge upon what may be considered to some extent a profes- 
sional matter, and so leaving their cultivation to those concerned 
in it, we draw our brief survey of the grasses to a close by say- 
