Weeds of Arable Land 85 



tion of each particular crop to the weed-flora, as also the effect of varying 

 methods of cultivation and manuring. 



The case of the perennial weed, and its possible eradication or intrusion, 

 requires to be considered separately for each case. Where such plants pro- 

 duce seed in the first season, they are on equal terms with the annuals. 

 But their method of perennation may have nothing to do with the reproduc- 

 tive periodicity. The case of 3 common species ofEguisetum (E.arvense, E. 

 fluviatile, E, Telmateia), all freely intrusive from adjacent ditches and damp 

 places, sufficiently emphasizes this point. 



Root-crops are grown locally on heavy clay (Kimeridge, Oxford Clay), 

 alluvium, gravel-soils and Corallian : Wheat on all the higher sandy soils of 

 Greensand, Coral Rag, Calcareous Grit (Headington), Oxford Clay and 

 alluvium (Marston), and Kimeridge Clay (Littlemore). The complete history 

 of the weeds of arable land requires a detailed record of sample fields of 

 the different crops in rotation, on different types of soil-formation, continued 

 over several years. The most remarkable display of weeds, for size and 

 luxuriance, in relation to highly manured crops is shown on the Sewage 

 Farm (Littlemore). 



Small Holdings and Allotments. 



The case of the small holding follows that of arable land, as a condition 

 intermediate between that of the farm and the garden, in which the factors 

 of plant-association are further complicated by the addition of smaller crops, 

 as fruit-trees, vegetables and flowers of the market-garden, as also by a more 

 intensive condition of culture, by which more than one crop may be taken 

 off the same land in one season. Hence the case of the weeds as subsidiary 

 vegetation becomes more precarious ; exhaustive weeding may clear the 

 ground, and owing to the smaller area involved the labour question is not a 

 serious problem. On the other hand, the weeds become the more luxuriant 

 if weeding is neglected, and the condition of the holding may deteriorate 

 through lack of labour. Such land under private ownership, being less 

 accessible to the general public, may be left with the case of the private 

 garden growing plants of more decorative value under optimum conditions 

 of horticulture. The literature of Horticulture becomes a special subject, 

 as, in fact, also does that of the Allotment. 1 



More suitable for purposes of observation, since also more varied, are 

 the minor urban allotments which have grown up in the immediate vicinity 

 of the town, as a new and probably increasingly important factor in 

 the rural economy. The consideration of their weeds constitutes a special 

 case of those of arable land ; the new factors being that (i) the crops may 

 be harvested at any time of the year, thus providing unoccupied ground for 

 germination at any month ; (a) the crops may follow with any rotation, 

 giving greater possibilities of mixture. The general weed-flora tends to be 

 restricted to a few ubiquitous plants, together with stray casuals which come 



1 The expression ' Allotments ' dates from the time when allotments were made to the labouring 

 poor at the general enclosing of common lands (1760-1845). Cf. Ashby (1917), Allotments and 

 Small Holdings in Oxfordshire, p. 1 3. ' Except as used for market-gardening or by expert poultry- 

 keepers, there is no method of culture which will carry a family on less than 30 acres.' 



The term is now commonly applied to plots of 10-40 poles rented to urban population as plots 

 of ground away from the house occupied, for the purpose of growing vegetables. As an institution 

 such town-allotments began about 1891, and the area under cultivation increased considerably during 

 the war, taking in Playing-fields, and (temporarily) Merton Meadow. The oldest allotments 

 (Cripley) are now under distinctly clean cultivation, with much garden flowers, roses and ramblers, 

 to conceal the rudimentary architecture of tool-houses, etc., which constitute a conspicuous, if not 

 always agreeable feature of the suburban landscape. 



For data of local crops, and typical scheme of management of such an allotment, cf. Elford and 

 Heaton (1919), The Cultivation of Allotments. 



