ROADSIDES AND HEDGES 



245 



ascertained, and the trees should in mapping 

 be put down accurately on squared paper, 

 ruled to a definite scale. What applies to the 

 trees also applies to the scrub. 



In surveying the ground flora it is not enough 

 to make a list of the plants found in the wood 

 in order of dominance, noting the relative fre- 

 quency of each, but attention should be paid 

 to the form of association, and to the relative 

 position of certain types which occur in a 



definite connection with each other. As there 

 are early and late flowering periods, surveys 

 should be made at different seasons of the 

 year, in order to get a full and accurate idea 

 of the whole formation. The conditions of 

 light, moisture, height, soil, &c., must also 

 be noted in each case, so that a connected idea 

 may be formed of the full nature of the en- 

 vironment and its influence upon the woodland 

 flora. 



SECTION VI 



ROADSIDES AND HEDGES 



Accessibility of the Roadside. One of the 

 features that the roadsides possess in common 

 with meadows and pastures, or fields, for the 

 botanist commencing to study plants in the 

 field, is their accessibility. There is, in fact, 

 no law of trespass applicable to roadsides. It 

 is advisable to respect the rights of those who 

 rent the grass strips on each side of the road 

 during the summer for the grass which is laid 

 to hay. This ought not to be promiscuously 

 trampled down. Other points to notice are 

 the necessity of avoiding the breaking down 

 of weak fences, or the damaging of trees or 

 hedges, by making gaps. 



Diversified Character of the Roadsides. The 

 roads or highways are essentially diversified. 

 One of their main features is their continuity, 

 which causes the flora to be exceptionally 

 varied. Thus we may pass from a road in 

 the west amongst ancient rocks of a sandy or 

 siliceous character to others in the Pennines 

 where limestone predominates, and the change 

 in the flora will be most marked. 



Moreover, roads exhibit a great variation 

 in form. Some roads, especially the Roman 

 roads, are remarkably straight, and the aspect 

 is thus essentially the same, whereas other 

 roads are extremely winding in character, and 

 we may thus have the opposite aspects upon 

 the same side of the road. 



Then there are upland and lowland roads, 

 the former more ancient. The plants of the 

 one differ from those of the other. Frequently 

 a road will exhibit repeated undulations as it 

 crosses transversely a series of valleys, and 

 this will give the flora a diversified character, 

 introducing alternate wet and dry conditions. 



Artificial and Modern Character of Roads. 

 A road is essentially artificial in character. 

 But in spite of this fact there are even from the 

 natural point of view some features of interest, 



e.g. the dispersal of certain groups of plants 

 by their agency, and the juxtaposition of three 

 or four types of vegetation that make it of 

 particular interest, as the sward, hedge, and 

 ditch. 



Moreover, it is really chiefly the macadam- 

 ized part that is entirely artificial and of no 

 especial interest, though even this has its 

 special features, as the predilection of certain 

 plants for macadam borders, e.g. Silverweed, 

 and especially some mosses that are rarely 

 found (though naturally they do exist) else- 

 where, e.g. Pottia bryoides, dependent upon 

 the dispersal of nitrogenous matter in manure, 

 &c. 



Then, again, roads, especially primitive un- 

 fenced roads, or the roadsides, are actually 

 parts of ancient pasture or meadow, or even 

 woodland in many cases. 



As a whole, roads, however, are modern, and 

 it is only a question of degree in each case. 

 The ancient roads naturally are likely to have 

 a more varied flora, made up of plants that 

 have been carried along them by human 

 agency or otherwise, and the more modern 

 roads will necessarily be more uniform. 



Enclosure of Roads. As a general rule, 

 roads, especially main roads, are bounded by 

 hedgerows or walls, and where necessary and 

 possible by ditches. But very often in country 

 districts the road, which is in such cases inter- 

 sected at each field boundary by gates, is not 

 enclosed at all, but is simply a macadamized 

 track through fields, often arable. 



This, moreover, is very largely the case in 

 hilly districts, where there are large tracts of 

 heather or furze which may or may not be 

 common land. It was at the time of the en- 

 closure of the common lands that the majority 

 of the roads now fenced in were also enclosed, 

 so that the enclosing portions, hedgerows and 



