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HARSHBERGER: PHYTO-GEOGRAPHIC SKETCH 151 
(Pycnanthemum linifolium Pursh) and in wet places Cyperus tnflexus 
Muhl. and Fimébristylis laxa Vahl. 
MEADOW-PASTURE-FIELD-PLANT FORMATION. * — From early 
historic accounts of the region, the original forest was interspersed 
with open glades and natural meadows where for some edaphic 
reason the trees did not grow. These areas (such as we have left 
in the “ Indian clearing’ near Lima, Delaware County, and in 
the Playwicky clearing in Bucks County) were settled upon first, 
and with the exception of the areas above mentioned we have no 
natural openings that have not been altered by the hand of man. 
The botanist, therefore, has no data upon which to base a state- 
ment of the plant covering of such open, treeless areas. 
Several kinds of fields may be distinguished. A classification 
of the plants according to the character of the inclosed areas might 
be made, but it would be too minute for a general phyto-geo- 
graphic survey, such as this paper is intended to be. The uncul- 
tivated fields of southeastern Pennsylvania may be classified as 
follows : 
I. Fields formed by clearing of the original timber. 
2. Wet fields that may be called meadows, usually level and 
Situated in low ground. 
3. Barren fields characterized by the shallowness or poor char- 
acter of the soil. 
4. Dry fields that are fertile, but lack abundant water, the rain 
draining off after it falls. These fields are situated usually on hill- 
Sides, 
5. Fields with rich soil that have been fallow, and that are 
used as pastures, 
6. Abandoned fields in which weeds have been allowed to 
Tow rampant and in which trees are beginning to appear. 
Fields of the first class, formed by the clearing away of the 
Criginal timber, are usually at once cultivated by plowing and 
Sowing between the stumps; occasionally, however, they are left 
Uncultivated and they become veritable weed patches. Most of 
the herbaceous weeds, mentioned as growing in cultivated areas, 
appear and occupy the ground. Some of the original woodland 
* Fora list of plants peculiar to this formation on Darby Creek, the writer is under 
iZations to Miss Lydia P. Borden, of Manoa, Delaware County, Pa. 
