72 Plant-life of the Oxford District 



acris, Chrysanthemum Lezicanthemum, Rumex acetosa, Crepis tar ax- 

 acifolia). 



(3) More xerophytic types, flowering after the hay-harvest, in the dry 

 summer when the grass is perennating {Centaur ea nigra> Knautia 

 arvensis, Achillaea Millefolium^ Leontodon autumnale}. 

 A few types will flower in the damp aftermath-period of September, 

 but the fields are characteristically floriferous only in May and June. 1 



The character of the weed-flora also varies with the nature of the soil 

 and the water-content : 



(1) Damper alluvial pastures with great range of type, and clay pastures 



above the flood-level, produce spring-flowering Cowslip, Orchis Morio, 

 Saxifraga granulata, Cardamine pratensis ; later with the Hay-grasses 

 Ajuga reptans, Lychnis Flos-cucidi, Rhinanthus Crista-galli ; and in 

 summer Silaus pratensis, Scabiosa sttccisa, Sanguisorba officinalis ; 

 together with grasses of subaquatic habit \-Glyceria fltdtans, Poa 

 trivialis, several forms of Carex (io),as C.glauca, C. rip aria, C. hirta, 

 and Juncus-forms increasingly abundant on more waterlogged soils 

 (J.glauczis). 



(2) On high pastures with sandy soils, more particularly of the Corallian 



series, a drier xerophytic flora predominates, grading to hill-pastures 

 which afford no appreciable crop of hay; characteristic forms are 

 Carduus nutans, C. eriophorus, C. acaulis, Ononis spinosa^ and on 

 exposed areas Helianthemum vulgare, Lotus cornictdatus, and Echium 

 vidgare. 



(3) Of the larger perennial forms only kept down by rigorous mowing, 



the more striking are Heracleum Sphondylium, Angelica sylvestris, 

 Spiraea Ulmaria, Carduus arvensis, C.lanceolatus, and often C.palus- 

 tris and intrusive Equiseta. 



(4) As an interesting special case may be included ' Goose Pasture ', as 



seen at Medley, Binsey, and Port Meadow ; characterized by a fine 



turf, close-cropped, highly manured, with abundant miniature forms 



of subaquatic habit, I inch or so high, and flowering at this size 



(Myosotis palustris. Stum angustifoliuni,Hippuris> Veronica Anagallis, 



Apium nodiflorum> Ranunculus Flammula, Potentilla anserina. 



It is so far evident that the biology of the pastures presents a wide field 



for systematic ecological study, as each area requires to be taken on its own 



merits ; the possibilities of climatic, edaphic, and cultural conditions are 



so varied, and the last liable to change in successive years. In past time, 



for centuries, the greater part of the hay-producing area has been left largely 



to the chances of nature, with little return, except from flood-water and the 



dung of grazing cattle, and mown at midsummer by manual labour. Owing 



to the slow rate of mowing by scythe, and the risk of bad weather when the 



crop is lying on the ground, the older expression of ' saving ' the hay, thus 



obtained from natural causes, becomes significant. The time for cutting 



followed the exigencies of labour, and implied further risk. A man with 



a modern reaper and pair-horse team can cut 10 acres in a short day's work, 



as compared with the older style of scythe-work, in which good men 



averaged an acre per day. 2 



" ! The damper levels give the greatest floral display. Fields on clay and alluvium give stretches 

 golden-yellow in May, with Ranunculus acris ; sandy and gravel pastures are later white with 

 Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum. The floral display commonly diminishes with the growth and 

 dominance of the taller grasses, and such fields may show dull-red with fruiting Rumex acetosa. 

 The finest floral effect has been noted in water-meadows of which the cutting has been delayed by 

 rain until late July (Oxey Mead), when Spiraea Ulmaria and Sanguisorba officinalis become pre- 

 ponderant. 



2 Mowing was done by piece-work, the men working in gangs, with scythe ; a 6 ft. man cutting 

 a 6 ft. swathe. A good man is recorded, within living memory, as working from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m., 



