ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



11 



Leguminos^ — 

 Trifolium repens 



pratense 



Lotus corniculatus 

 Lathyrus pratensis 



Other Plants — 



Ranunculus acris 1 



bulbosus y. 



repens J 



Poterium Sanguisorba . . 

 Conopodium denudatum 

 Centaurea nigra 

 Achillea Millefolium 

 Leoiitodon hispidus 

 Plantago lanceolata 

 Rumex Acetosa ... 



All othei' Species 



Per cent. 



Per cent. 



in 1862. 



in 1903. 



0-5 



0-15 



4-5 



1-5 



2 



3-64 



1-3 



2-5 



001 



13 



1 



1 



0-3 



4 



1-5 



2-5 



0-06 



6 



7-34 



2 



1-5 



2-2 



5 



6-5 



Almost all the plants are perennial, very few annual, 

 and the hay crop has been cut before many of them 

 have been able to ripen seeds. Some of these differences 

 are difficult to account for. The plants that naturally 

 survive are those that seed themselves early and before 

 cutting, as may be the case with Yorkshire Fog. Some 

 of the stronger rooted plants may have died out during 

 these years from their plant food being used up, and in 

 the mild climate of Rothamsted some have the power of 

 throwing up seed stems in the aftermath, accounting in all 

 probability for the increase of Sheep's Fescue and Quaking 

 Grass, as well as of the Bird's-foot Trefoil and Meadow 

 Vetchling. Some plants have the power of procuring 

 plant food even under most adverse conditions, which 

 may account for the increase in such plants as Burnet, 

 Hawk-bit, and Knap-weed, which now form about 50 per 

 cent, of the whole herbage. 



