7 6 (E C O N O M Y 
and the fea repelled by this wonderful difpofi- 
tion of nature. 
How felicitous nature is about the prefer- 
vation of grafles is abundantly evident from 
hence, that the more the leaves of the peren- 
nial graffes are eaten, the more they creep by 
the roots, and fend forth off-fets. For the 
Author of nature intended, that vegetables of 
this kind, which have very {lender, and eredt 
leaves, fliould be copious, and very thick-fet, 
covering the ground like a carpet j and thus 
afford food fufffcient for fo vafc a quantity of 
grazing animals. But what chiefly increafes 
our wonder is, that although the graffes are 
the principal food of fuch animals, yet they 
are forbid, as it were, to touch the flower, and 
feed-bearing items ; that fo the feeds may 
ripen and be fown. 
The caterpillar or grub of the moth. Faun. 
Sue. 826. called graefmajken , although it feeds 
upon graffes, to the great deffrudtion of them, 
in meadows ; yet it feems to be formed, in or- 
der to keep a due proportion between thefe 
and other plants ; for graffes, when left to 
grow freely, increafe to that degree, that they 
exclude all other plants ; which would confe- 
quently be extirpated, unlefs this infedl fome- 
times 
