26 ODD HOURS WITH NATURE 



by a single vigorous chickweed plant, which has 

 appropriated to itself a square foot of earth by its 

 plan of squatting upon it and subjecting rivals 

 to light starvation. It is unlikely that it is far, 

 if any, behind the cod's, for its seed capsules are 

 to be counted in hundreds, and each contains its 

 dozen or score of seed. A dock plant is almost 

 equally prolific, and the more pestilent of the 

 weeds of the composite order, such as the 

 groundsel, probably beat both. For a groundsel 

 plant begins to flower in an open January, and 

 many of the family flower in an open December. 

 They may be said to be puffing out seeds for 

 ten months of the year, and even pulling out by 

 the roots only discourages and does not stop their 

 efforts to inherit the earth. For a groundsel will 

 continue to throw seed after it has been cast on 

 the dungheap, turning up its head to the sunshine 

 when its root is shrivelled. The outcome of all 

 this seed production is that the ground is full of 

 seeds, all biding their time. There is much more 

 than earth in the brown fields which the plough 

 has passed over, and a handful of earth examined 

 with a lens would be found well stocked with 

 dormant plant life. 



All this is excellent for the birds. On a piece 

 of dug ground in front of me several sparrows, 

 two or three greenfinches, and many chaffinches, 

 have been busy at intervals all day. They are 

 coming and going, but the " break " is never 

 without some feathered labourers. They are peck- 

 ing as busily as chickens in a fowl-run, and 

 apparently always getting something, and always 



