WILD PLANTS. 23 



three or four years we shall find the natural her- 

 bage of the country spring up, dispute, and acquire 

 in part possession of the soil, in despite of the ray- 

 grass sown : in the deep soil, the predominant crop 

 will probably consist of pose, cockfoot, meadow- 

 fescue, holcus, phleum, foxtail, &c. ; in the dry 

 soil it will be dogstail, quaking grass, agrostis_, &c., 

 not one species of which was ever sown by us. It 

 appears that the herbage of our poor, thin clay lands 

 is the natural produce of the soil, for every fixed 

 soil will produce something, and would without 

 care always exclude better herbage. Attention and 

 manures, a kind of armed force, would certainly 

 support other vegetation, alien introductions, for a 

 time, but the profit would not always be adequate. 

 In a piece of land of this nature I have suppressed 

 the natural produce, by altering the soil with drain- 

 ing, sheep-feeding, stocking up, and composting : 

 and scabious, carnation grass, mat grass, and their 

 companions, no longer thrive ; but if I should remit 

 this treatment, they would again predominate, and 

 constitute the crop. 



Most counties seem to have some individual or 

 species of wild plants predominating in their soil, 

 which may be scarce, or only locally found in ano- 

 ther ; this is chiefly manifested in the corn-lands 

 for aquatic or alpine districts, and some other pecu- 

 liarities,, must form exceptions. This may be in 

 some measure occasioned by treatment or manure, 

 but commonly must be attributed to the chemical 

 composition of the soil, as most plants have organs 



