Country rambles in England : $b or, Journal of a naturalistKnapp, J. L. (John Leonard)
History
Country rambles in England : $b or, Journal of a naturalist
Knapp, J. L. (John Leonard)
Natural history -- England; Natural history -- Outdoor books
aridity and failure: the meadow grass (poa) and ray grass (lolium
perenne) were great sufferers; the dog’s tail (cynosurus) supported
itself better; the cockfoot (dactylis), though not killed, was so much
hurt, that its ensuing vegetation, instead of the coarse luxuriance it
generally manifests, was dry, hard, and deficient in succulency, or, as
our laborers emphatically say, was “stunned;” and bent-grass (agrostis
vulgaris), that certain indicator of a dry soil, appeared more than it
commonly does. But this destruction of the roots in very many places was
not obvious, the turf, as it was, remaining; yet some injury was
apparent in the succeeding summer and autumn. The crop cut for hay was
unusually abundant, and seemed to have exhausted the roots by its
growth, as no aftergrass sprang up; nor did the pastures which were fed
afford more than a dry, hard, yellow provender, looking tanned, as if
seared by severe frost; and in September, when in general we expect our
fields to yield an abundance of grass, as food for months, they
presented commonly the aspect of hard-fed lands in March, though so much
rain had fallen, both in July and August, as to lead us to expect
profusion. It did not appear that the roots had actually perished; which
could not have been the case, by producing the mowing crops that they
did; but this was a single effort: the injury was manifested by the
deficiency of the autumnal vigor; this was the actual result, difficult
as it is to assign a satisfactory reason. Perhaps these effects upon our
pasture lands were unprecedented: but these things pass away, unless
recorded; and though we may resort to the oldest memory for evidence,
yet memory is oblivious, often exaggerative, and cannot safely be
trusted.
June and July, 1825.—The quantity of that sweet clammy fluid, which we
find upon certain leaves, and commonly call “honey-dew,” was more than
usually abundant during these months. In the day-time, bees, wasps, and
tribes of flies collected to feed upon it, and in the evenings, moths
and insects of the night frequented the fruit trees on our walls,
particularly the cherry and the plum, for the same purpose, and their
presence brought the bat, so that some places were animated by the
flitting about of these creatures. Aphides abounded upon all the young
sprays.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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