COMPETITION OF PLANTS IN GKASS LAND 153 



deep or shallow root system will determine to which manure 

 the grass will respond. The aspect of any meadow represents 

 the results of severe competition among the various species 

 represented ; the dominant species are those most suited to 

 their environment, i.e., to the amount and nature of the plant 



TABLE LVIII. Average produce of Hay per acre over the six successive 

 \Q-year periods from 1856 to 1915. First crops only. 



Including Potash, first 6 years. 



t Seven years only (1859-65). 



t Bight years only (1858-65). 



food in the soil, the water supply, the texture of the soil, 

 and other factors. If any of these factors be altered, as 

 is done in the case of the Eothamsted plots by manuring in 

 different fashions, the original equilibrium between the con- 

 tending species is disturbed; some species are favoured, and 

 increase at the expense of the others until a new equilibrium 

 is attained, and the general character of the herbage from 

 the botanical point of view is completely altered. It thus 

 becomes important to ascertain the nature of the plants 



