GRASS-LAND WEEDS 185 



found. Here again the prostrate habit of the surviving grasses 

 is noticeable. These may include Yorkshire fog, cocksfoot, 

 and ryegrass, as well as rough meadow-grass, and of these the 

 last-named is one of the first to resume the upright habit. 

 The effect of a manure heap on the herbage that eventually 

 clothes its site is very persistent. After eighteen years, in 

 one case at Tortworth Park, the position was still marked by 

 the super-luxuriant growth of the grass, which lodged badly 

 even when the rest of the field is not at all laid. 



On the sites of old ricks arable weeds are not so usually 

 found, but strong growths of broad dock, dandelions, and nettles 

 are often seen, and these are sometimes surrounded by a ring of 

 cocksfoot associated with sorrel (Rumex acetosa). Field brome 

 (Bromus arvensis) is also rather fond of such situations and 

 was found dominant at Berkeley on the site of an old heap of 

 grips (seconds lime) that had been spread on the ground. 



In the shadow of trees the herbage takes on a distinc- 

 tive character, particular species growing in definite associa- 

 tion. Three marked species are cocksfoot, foxtail, and rough 

 meadow-grass, but even these are divided amongst themselves. 

 In the Gloucestershire fields cocksfoot was to be found in 

 abundance under almost every tree, sometimes dominating the 

 situation, sometimes with either foxtail or rough meadow-grass 

 sharing the pre-eminence. The density of shadow influences 

 the distribution considerably. Under big trees which cast 

 very dense shade, cocksfoot and foxtail may often be found 

 dominant towards the outer edge of the shade ring, whereas 

 in the dense shadow near the bole they may be replaced by 

 rough meadow-grass and sometimes by smooth meadow-grass 

 (Poapratensis). Less frequently under big trees rough meadow- 

 grass and foxtail share dominance, with cocksfoot only occur- 

 ring occasionally. 



In some cases, where the hedges are high enough to cast 

 a real shade, resembling the partial shade under the smaller 

 trees, cocksfoot and foxtail grow most luxuriantly along the 

 edges of the fields, forming bands many feet broad which cease 

 abruptly towards the edge of the shade line. Comparatively 

 few other species occur in any quantity in the shadow of 

 trees, and usually only one or two of these are at all conspicu- 

 ous in each instance. Tall and bulbous buttercups, wild 

 chervil (Anthriscus sylvestris), sharp dock and broad dock, 

 sorrel, pignut (Conopodium denudatum), and field brome prac- 

 tically sum up the colonists, though occasionally creeping 



