Herbage

“ The first green herbage of the spring works off the impurities of the blood, cleanses the system, renovates the constitution, and enables the animal to accumulate a store of strength to carry it forward to its destined course. ”

“ The whole tract may present a pleasant aspect in the fresh time of the year, when the ground is covered with herbage; when the trees are in their green leaf, and the glens are enlivened by running streams. ”

“ According to this definition, wheat, barley, oats, and rye, properly belong to the grasses, although they are known by the peculiar appellation of corn or grain. [2]
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To the grasses it is that the face of nature is indebted for a great portion of its cheerful appearance, and its beauty. They constitute the general herbage of every country, covering to an immense extent the whole surface of the ground. They are very various in their kinds, the British species alone being nearly a hundred and twenty in number. ”

“ Is thine alone, the seed that strews the plain?
The birds of Heaven shall vindicate their grain.”
6. And in the Flora which then decked the plains, fringed the marshes, or clothed the heights, “the birds of heaven” had ample provision in seed, fruit, and herbage for all their wants. Remarkable indeed the adaptation of the animal tribes referred to in the previous section to the lacustrine condition of the surface which still so generally prevailed. The plants of the period are such as are now exclusively confined to warm or tropical latitudes. ”

“ These animals feed, of course, on grass and herbage; and, as grass and herbage can only grow on open ground, the forests have gradually disappeared, and the country has for ages consisted of great grassy plains, or of smooth hill-sides covered with verdure. ”

“ Around dry lakes and marshes the herbage preserves a set and orderly arrangement. Most species have well-defined areas of growth, the best index the voiceless land can give the traveler of his whereabouts. ”

“ Grass-trees and the brown brake-fern, whips of native cherry, and all the threads and tangle of the earth's green russet vestment hide the feet of trees which lean and lounge between us and the water, their leaf heads tinselled by the light. ”

“ In ordinary usage the term grass, pasturage, hay, &c., includes many varieties of clover and other members of the natural order Leguminosae as well as other “herbs of the field,” which, though not strictly “grasses,” are always found in a grass field, and are included in mixtures of seeds for pasture and meadows. The following is a list of the most desirable or valuable agricultural grasses and clovers, which are either actually sown or, in the case of old pastures, encouraged to grow by draining, liming, manuring, and so on:—
Grasses. ”

“ Sometimes in such arid dry countries, a small spring of water will form around itself a refreshing oasis of greenery surrounded everywhere by dreary thorn-scrub or monotonous sand. All the plants in such a spot have their own special work to do: the graceful trees which shade the spring, the green mosses on the stones, the fresh grass and bright flowers or waving reeds, are all associated in a common work. They protect and shelter each other; their dead leaves are used to form soil; their roots explore and break up the ground. ”

“ I could not gaze my fill on the fresh succulent vegetation, the magnificent oak and beech woods which crowned the hills on the right and left, sometimes growing down to the very road, sometimes going off into the distance; everywhere skirting the most fruitful fields, shaded with red and brown where they had been newly ploughed, clothed in deep or tender green where they were covered by the young winter crops or the fresh clover. ”

“ Meadow Rue, Thalictrum.—Tall and vigorous herbaceous plants, mostly without any beauty of flower when closely examined, but often affording a pleasing distant effect when seen in masses, and hence desirable for this mode of gardening, though seldom suitable for a position in the garden proper. They grow in any soil, and should be placed among rank herbs and coarse vegetation, not in the foreground, which might be occupied by more brilliant subjects. ”

“ Hence arises that infinite diversity of substances of different properties which are drawn from the vegetable kingdom. Close together, in the shadow of the same wood, grow crow-foot and wood-ruff, centaury and nightshade; the same soil gives food to their roots, the same air plays around their foliage ”

“ A wood is trying to grow up on the grassland. If left alone, an oak or beech forest would, after many years, spread over all our grass pastures and hay-fields. These tall herbs are the pioneers, and the briers and brambles are its advanced guard. ”

“ Not until the various initial obstacles have been overcome can one appreciate the true "call of the wild," the full pleasures of the chase. When we have learnt not only what plants are to be looked for, but those two essential conditions, the when and the where; the rule of season and of soil; the flowers that bloom in spring, in summer, or in autumn; the flowers that grow by shore, meadow, bog, river, or mountain; on chalk, limestone, sand, or clay—then the quest becomes more effective, and each [Pg 14] successive season will add materially to our widening circle of acquaintance. ”

“ One does not here see our beautiful moss and lichen-covered mountains and hills, but thickets of the primeval forest, from which, on all sides, look forth those beautiful palmetto trees, with their large fan-like leaves waving in the air, and the regular and graceful form of many half-tropical plants, which, indicating a new phase of earth's vegetable productions, have a wonderful fascination for me. ”

“ The numerous families of grasses have all three males, and two females, except Anthoxanthum, which gives the grateful smell to hay, and has but two males. The herbs of this order of vegetables support the countless tribes of graminivorous animals. The seeds of the smaller kinds of grasses, as of aira, poa, briza, stipa, &c. are the sustenance of many sorts of birds. The seeds of the large grasses, as of wheat, barley, rye, oats, supply food to the human species. ”

“ 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 our 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 centaurea and scabiosa, the elegant fumaria, the gaudy cock-rose, and the splendid chrysanthemum, are contending for existence with the cerealeæ. ”

“ The fern, the moss, the foxglove, the daphne, the wild strawberry, grasses of all kinds, tangled furze and thistles, and plants innumerable, which elsewhere would be weeds, but here appropriately adorn the garden of nature, literally mantle the banks on either side, whilst the trees which line their top thrust their roots down and in and out in the most fantastic shapes. ”

“ Action Of Vegetable Life.—The preliminary condition to vegetation is the formation of soil, but once started, vegetation aids greatly in the decomposition of rocks. Some forms of vegetation, as the lichens, have apparently the faculty of growing on the bare surface of rocks, but the higher order requires at least a little soil. The vegetation acts by shading the surface and thus rendering the action of water more effective, by mechanically separating the rock particles by means of its penetrating roots and by the positive solvent action of the root juices. ”

“ Such are the conditions which prevail throughout nature in the progress of vegetable growth; the green matter gathering on a pond, the mildew accumulating on a shaded wall, being the commencement of a process which is to end in the development of the giant trees of the forest, and the beautifully tinted flower of nature’s most chosen spot. ”

“ The most singular vegetable production in this country is called the flower of the air, from having no root, and never growing on the ground. Its native situation is on the surface of an arid rock, or twining round the dry stem of a tree. ”

“ Vegetable forms of a higher and a higher order gradually succeed each other, each series perishing in due season, and giving to the soil additional elements for the growth of plants of their own species or those of others. Flowering herbs find a genial home on the once bare rock ”

“ We have now glanced at the most distinctive of the plant formations which we meet with in our own country, and find that they accompany extreme conditions relating to water and soil: it remains to return to the consideration of the vegetation which develops under conditions of a more normal character—on ordinary soils, in fact, which are neither very wet nor very dry. ”

“ Instead of mountains,—deep forests and green meadows, a plain presents itself with its undulating fields of golden grain, and in contrast great fields showing the dark green leaf of the beetroot, everywhere there is evidence of the fertility of the soil and signs to cheer the heart of the farmers with the prospect of a bounteous harvest. ”

“ This plant is the first that vegetates on naked rocks, covering them with a kind of tapestry, and draws its nourishment perhaps chiefly from the air; after it perishes, earth enough is left for other mosses to root themselves; and after some ages a soil is produced sufficient for the growth of more succulent and large vegetables. In this manner perhaps the whole earth has been gradually covered with vegetation, after it was raised out of the primeval ocean by subterraneous fires. ”

“ The supplication for grass and leaves and water reminds us that the herdsman no less than the husbandman depends ultimately on vegetation and rain; so that the same divine powers which cover the fields of the one with yellow corn may be conceived to carpet the meadows of the other with green grass, and to diversify them with pools and rivers for the refreshment of the thirsty cattle. ”

“ Old Man covered the plains with grass for the animals to feed on. He marked off a piece of ground, and in it he made to grow all kinds of roots and berries,—camas, wild carrots, wild turnips, sweet-root, bitter-root, sarvis berries, bull berries, cherries, plums, and rosebuds. ”

“ In nearly all our gardens we have a great deal of surface wholly wasted—wide spaces in the shrubbery frequently dug over in the winter, plantations, grass–walks, hedgerows, rough banks, slopes, etc., which hitherto have grown only grass and weeds, and on these a rich garden flora may be grown. Hundreds of the more vigorous and handsome herbaceous plants that exist will thrive in these places and do further good in exterminating weeds and preventing the need of digging. ”

“ The effect of other vegetation, however great, has been divided by mingled species; elm and oak in England, poplar in France, birch in Scotland, olive in Italy and 84 Spain, share their power with inferior trees, and with all the changing charm of successive agriculture. ”

“ The rootlets seize the sand and turn it to soil, to woody fibre, leafy verdure, blooming flowers, and delicious fruit. This asks life to come, partake, and be made strong. The grass gives itself to all flesh, the insect grows to feed the bird, the bird to nourish the animal, the animal to develop the man. ”

“ When the young grass throws up its leaves into the air, from which it derives so much of its nourishment, it throws down its roots into the soil in quest of food of another kind. The leaves may be mown or cropped by animals, and carried off the field, but the roots remain in the soil, and, as they die, gradually fill its upper part with vegetable matter. ”

“ Ornamental plants, or those commonly cultivated in flower gardens, will not stock the school gardens contemplated by the committee. Native wild plants, such as ferns, grasses, asters, goldenrods, violets, native shrubs, and economic plants, such as grains, vegetable roots, and leguminous and cucurbitaceous plants, must be the stock of the gardens. ”

“ Before we trespass on the domains of arboriculture, horticulture, or agriculture, under which heads the cultivation of useful or ornamental plants divides itself, some consideration is required of those plants which, quasi-wild, are usually included in accounts of the vegetation under the head of aliens, denizens, colonists, and so forth. ”

“ But the grass is still green, and the trees thick with foliage, the fields neatly ploughed and tilled and cultivated, with here and there a staring notice planted on the edge of a field, where the long, straight drills are sprinkled with budding green—'Crops sown. ”

“ Leaves, then, are for something more than to provide the beautiful foliage which is their most spectacular accomplishment. So varied is this in its beauty, from plain green leaves to the wonderful coloring found in begonias, coleus, and many other garden plants, that the sheer beauty of the panorama of foliage is likely to blind us to the more important uses of leaves. First of all must we consider them the factories, in which night and day are produced the food of all plants and most animals. ”

“ They never grow into branches, but detach themselves when full grown, fall to the ground, and take root there to form new plants.
Fig. 110. Bulblets in the axils of leaves of a Tiger Lily.
117. Consolidated Vegetation. An ordinary herb, shrub, or tree is evidently constructed on the plan developing an extensive surface. In fleshy rootstocks, tubers, corms, and bulbs, the more enduring portion of the plant is concentrated, and reduced for the time of struggle (as against drought, heat, or cold) to a small amount of exposed surface, and this mostly sheltered in the soil. ”

“ The vegetation, which is fresh and luxuriant by the water-side, is scorched up with the heat in the valley within as little as ten paces from the banks of the stream. The farthest off is the ‘osar plant, with its thick, juicy, dark green stalks and leaves, and its apple-like fruit, which is of the same colour, and therefore not yet ripe. ”