8.
Landscape from Cotswolds.
9.
The same—Bredon Hill.
10.
The same—Saintbury.
But we must not think only of holidays, or of the Thames as an idle river in a rich country. England is a fertile country, and cultivated almost from end to end. There are crops of grain—wheat, barley, and oats, which, as you know, in the northern countries take the place of rice—and there are also broad fields of green grass where the cattle and sheep feed. Here is a view taken from the edge of the Cotswold Hills, near the source of the Thames. It gives a good idea of an open countryside in England. The land, as you see, is cut into fields by hedgerows, which are long belts of green, growing bush planted for the purpose of preventing the cattle and sheep in one field from straying into the next, where they might damage the standing crops. If you looked down upon such a country from a balloon, you would see it divided into little oblongs and squares, all beautifully kept. Many of them would be green with grass, but others would change in colour with the season, showing ploughed soil in the winter, green growing corn in the spring, and golden harvest in the autumn. But at all times the bushy hedgerows would strike you most, for in other countries men use fences of dead wood or of iron wire, but the green hedges of England, often bright with flowers, are a sight never to be forgotten. The roads traverse the country between two lines of hedge almost all the way. Here is another scene in the same part of England, and yet another, with the fields and hedges spreading away to the horizon.
11.
Landscape—Brook and Poplars.
Next we come to a landscape such as you find beside the brooks which wander sluggishly through the rich plain. Note the tall poplar trees set against the shining western sky, for it is evening, and the man and boy are going home after their work in the fields.
12.
Scene in the Fens.
There are parts of England which were once marsh, but have long been drained and brought under tillage. In these the hedges are usually wanting, for the ditches serve to divide the fields. The chief district of this kind is known as the Fens. It is situated near the East coast. Here we have a Fen scene, with a horizon like that of the sea, so level is this old marsh land. Note the windmill for pumping the water out of the lower ditches into the higher. The wind sweeps freely over the great flat expanse.
13.
Surrey Pine Wood.