PRACTICAL WORK 209 



autumn tints of the Heather, the Bog Asphodel, and the Purple 

 Molinia Grass. 



2. The time of flowering of the different plants in a given area 

 may be accurately recorded and compared with that of the same 

 plants growing a few hundred feet higher in an exposed situation. 

 The season is later on hills than in the valleys beneath. 



3. Observations on Plant Associations. The best way of be- 

 ginning is to fix on some common, or other natural area, within 

 easy reach of the school or the children's homes. Too large an 

 area should not be selected at first. Every plant growing in this 

 area should be recorded from the months of February to October. 

 Those that flower at the same time should be arranged together 

 in the same list ; those that belong to the drier portion of the 

 area together ; those that are found in marshy ground in another 

 list ; and so on. 



It should be noted each season which plant is dominant, and 

 whether there are any well-marked sub-dominant species associated 

 with it. A map of the area selected may be drawn to scale, and 

 the two or three plants inserted in it. Supposing that in a little 

 bit of common the Gorse and the Heather are the two chief plants, 

 the exact position of each should be indicated on the map, and 

 the following year it should be noticed whether one seems to have 

 encroached on the other. 



The plants which grow in the same habitat may be compared 

 with each other, to see whether they resemble each other in any 

 particular character ; such as the succulence of their leaves, 

 or the reduction of the leaf-surface, or the development of thorns, 

 or their low growth. In this way it will be possible to form 

 some idea of the characteristics of the vegetation of different 

 natural areas. 



This observation of Plant Associations is comparatively new 

 work in this country. It is therefore wise not to generalise too 

 hastily, but to compare one's own observations with those of 

 others. At the present time, vegetation maps of different parts 

 of England are being prepared, and will be found helpful. 



4. The distribution of any common wild flower is often very 

 interesting. In the neighbourhood of Cambridge, for instance, 

 the exact places in which the Oxlip is found ; or in the Yorkshire 



VOL. IV. 14 



