202 SOME MINOR PROBLEMS CONCERNED IN THE LOCAL 



of South Sussex (sandstone principally) is quite different. I do not 

 know whether it has ever been suggested that North Norfolk may 

 represent an older state of vegetation. 



Another disturbing element in distribution is the agency of man. 

 The farmer has enclosed the commons and cut down the woodland ; 

 he has taken away our Bracken and other sand-loving plants, and 

 has drained our wet meadows and so exterminated the Adder's- 

 tongue and Sundew and other bog-loving plants. On the other 

 hand, his introductions have not been commensurate. Where it 

 is possible to compare modern lists with ancient ones, the Essex 

 flora cannot be said to have gained. Some charges are occasionally 

 made against collectors and herbalists, but these have but little 

 weight in a neighbourhood like Felstead. Some species of pretty 

 flowers have gradually been transferred to cottage gardens ; but it is 

 questionable whether they would have survived in the circumscribed 

 areas now allowed to wild flowers. 



This circumscribed area introduces more prominently the factor 

 known as the struggle for life, and the final outcome of that struggle 

 must tend to the local extinction of many forms. It will be necessary 

 to give some details. We have at Felstead the meadows, hedgerows, 

 and small woods allowed to wild plants. The meadows now, as we 

 have before said, are so well drained as to be almost unable to sup- 

 port any bog forms, although a few linger. The hedgerows and woods 

 may be taken together, as from time to time the rank vegetation of 

 either is cleared away. 



First in the early spring comes the AriiDi (" Lords and Ladies "), 

 and as it has the bank pretty much to itself up to flowering time it is 

 very common. Later comes the Ground Ivy {Glechomd) and several 

 other forms sufficient to set up a competition for space, and none of 

 these, although familiar enough, can be regarded as so evenly dis- 

 tributed as the Arinn. As the season advances the competition 

 becomes very keen, and results in the establishment of a few forms 

 proper to the ditch, hedge, or bank as the case may be. The ditches 

 here generally produce in abundance Figwort and Epilobium, or 

 Reed and Sedge. The hedges (of Whitethorn) become overrun with 

 Briar, Bramble, Honeysuckle, Vetch, or Clematis. The banks 

 chiefly produce Campion and Sfe//aria, and later on various plants 

 in diminished numbers as they may get the chance to pierce the 

 otherwise dense foliage. The law is that in a hedge long neglected 

 the vegetation is divided among a few forms. On the other hand, if 



