PIONEER PLANTS ON A NEW LEVEE 425 



(Ham, and specimens of Amaranthus were few and far between. 

 Handicapped from the start, only a scattering stand had de- 

 veloped, and these poor individuals were having a hard fight 

 for existence. Shouldered and smothered by their neighbors, 

 they showed little trace of the sleek prosperity that had been 

 the lot of their parents the summer before : the kingdom of the 

 amaranth was at an end. 



But even then a new race was beginning to rear its head 

 among the ranks of the Chenopodiuni; a possible rival that 

 might drive it. in its turn, into extinction. During the second 

 summer a few specimens of Lactuca scariola were observed on 

 the area. They maintained their place and bore their seed. 

 so that by the latter part of the summer the winter rosettes 

 of this plant were showing themselves wherever there was an 

 inch of free ground, and they even established themselves be- 

 tween the stalks of the Chenopodiuni where it was not too thick. 

 Long after the early frosts and snows had killed the last of 

 the goosefoot these rosettes of the wild lettuce held their color, 

 and before the seedlings of the third year made their appear- 

 ance they were again at work. "Where Chenopodiuni had taken 

 but a few weeks' advantage of Amaranthus, Lactuca profited by 

 nearly half a year's handicap. At the 'beginning of the present 

 season (1916) the wild lettuce shows very strong evidence that 

 it is going to give the goosefoot a hard fight for its position as 

 the dominant plant. It is the most eloquent sermon on prepar- 

 edness that one can imagine. 



One other factor thrusts itself into the situation. In the 

 first paper note was made of the dominance of the tall rag- 

 weed. Ambrosia trifida. on a small area, the reverse slope of 

 the levee at its extreme eastern end. During the si seas 



this weed added to its original territory the river side of the 

 same part of the embankment and at the beginning of the third 

 season its seedlings are in evidence in advanced positions on 

 other portions of the area. It may be that this invasion will cut 

 off the feud between Chenopodium and Lactuca before they have 

 a chance to carry the contest to a finish. 



