RELATIONS OF PLANTS TO EACH OTHER 205 



with an upland forest in all the above particu- 

 lars. 



244. Meadows. Natural meadows will not be 

 easy to find in the regions accessible to most readers 

 of this book. All have been mowed, or pastured 

 by grazing animals to such extent that the origi- 

 nal arrangement of the various members of the 

 community has been very much disturbed. Noth- 

 ing makes this more apparent than to find a 

 meadow that has been allowed to run to weeds. 

 This does not mean that the meadow returns to 

 its natural state. But, as soon as man ceases to 

 protect the plants he wishes to cultivate and to re- 

 new them by additions of seed brought from else- 

 where, they come into competition with vigorously 

 growing species which overtop them and partially 

 crowd them out, resulting in a new meadow. It 

 may be seen that the chief members in a meadow 

 are low grasses, clovers, small creepers, a few stray 

 mosses and liverworts, and a large number of peren- 

 nial herbs which form rosettes of leaves on the sur- 

 face and send up tall flowering stalks, like the 

 thistle, ironweed, mullein, joe-pye, and many others. 

 Perhaps the most natural meadows will be offered 



