PART II
GRASSES
CHAPTER VIII
FAIRY-TREES MADE OF GRASSES
Some of our grasses appear like very large trees to the little grass fairies who, we like to pretend, hide in their midst; while other grasses, with their jointed, bamboo-like stems, seem to these tiny people to be tall forests of real bamboo.
Why not play that you are a little fairy and live among the grasses? But to see the grasses as the fairies see them you must lie down and bring your eyes very near the ground; so stretch yourself out flat, face down, with your head lower than the grass tops; then look steadily ahead through the tall grass stems. What do you see?
The five fairy-trees standing by themselves in [Fig. 46] are four short-stemmed tops of the Scribner's panic-grass. [Fig. 47] shows exactly how the grass looks before you pick it, and [Fig. 48] gives a simple design that you can make by placing the tips of the four grass tops together, allowing the stems of two heads to lie in a straight horizontal line (that means a line running from left to right), and the stems of the other two heads to lie in a straight line vertically (that means up and down).
Fig.46 - Trees of Scribner's Panic-Grass.
While you are playing with the grasses you can begin to learn something about them. The beard-grass, which some people call the little blue-stem ([Fig. 49]), has near relatives named forked beard-grass and bushy beard-grass. These are stiff and angular, with bamboo-like stems, just the thing for trees in a little Japanese garden which some time you will want to make. You may run across them anywhere, for they are common in all parts of our country.