102 PLANT LIFE ON THE FARM. 



when that substance is used in due proportions as a manure, 

 and always diminished when it is omitted. In illustration 

 it may be added, that on the plot where the manurial con- 

 ditions are most favourable to Leguminosse, the weight 

 per cent, of the whole crop was as follows : 65 per cent. 

 grasses, 20 per cent, leguminous, and 15 per cent, miscel- 

 laneous. The per-centage by weight on the unmanured 

 plot was, 68 grasses, 9 leguminous, and 23 miscellaneous. 

 Taking the other extreme where a large quantity of nitro- 

 genous manure was employed, the figures are 95 per cent, 

 grasses and 5 per cent, miscellaneous, the Leguminosse 

 being all but absent (O'Ol per cent.) 



Of the Leguminosae of pasture-land Lathyrus pratensis 

 seems to be able to hold its own under adverse conditions 

 much better than its fellows, the clovers or the Lotus. Its 

 long straggling root and scrambling habit added to its 

 hardihood may be the source of these advantages. 



miscellaneous plants. In spite of the large number 

 and varied habits of growth of the miscellaneous species 

 found on the plots, their importance as factors in the 

 struggle is less than that of the grasses and of the legu- 

 minous plants. The proportion in which they occur on 

 the several manured plots is always less than that of the 

 grasses, and they never really attain any very great degree 

 of prominence, except in cases where from seasonal or 

 manurial causes the grasses are prevented from attaining 

 their full development. Those species which, like Eumex 

 Acetosa, have a powerful underground development, and 

 abundant capacity for collecting and storing water, &c., of 

 course have an advantage especially when it so happens 

 that they can avail themselves of unoccupied territory, 



