THE BATTLE OF LIFE. - $9 
which are observed in the manured plots are as obviously 
brought about, partly by the manures and partly by cli- 
matal changes. The produce of hay at Rothamsted, 
without’ manure, has varied from eight hundred and 
ninety-six pounds, to four thousand three hundred and 
sixty-eight pounds, the average for twenty-five years 
having been, as before stated, two thousand five hundred 
and seventy-six pounds per acre. This hay is made up - 
on the average of forty-nine different species in different 
proportions, as determined by rigid comparative scrutiny. 
Of the forty-nine plants, seventeen are grasses, four legu- 
minous plants, and the remaining twenty-eight are pas- 
ture weeds of various orders, and roughly classified as 
miscellaneous plants. By weight, grasses furnished sixty- 
nine per cent, Leguminose eight, and miscellaneous 
plants twenty-three per cent of the total produce. 
The general appearance of the unmanured plots is one 
of even growth, with no special luxuriance of any par- 
ticular plant. The herbage is very mixed, the crop 
scanty, the color yellowish-green, in fact a sort of trades- 
union equality is produced, between the different mem- 
bers of the community, no one kind being specially 
favored. Festuca ovina usually predominates among the 
grasses. Briza media is more abundant on these plots 
than on most others. Among the leguminous plants, 
Lotus corniculatus is more prevalent than Lathyrus pra- 
tensis, as is usually found to be the case when there is 
soil exhaustion and a deficiency of potash. The miscel- 
laneous plants are generally very abundant, such as the 
buttercups. Plantago lanceolata, Centaurea nigra, Agri- 
monia Eupatoria, Scabiosa arvensis, Leontodon hispidus, 
Prunella vulgaris, Achillea Millefolium, Conopodium de- 
nudatum, Rumez: Acetosa, Luzula campestris, and Galium 
verum. The contrast in early summer: between the 
scanty yellowish-green herbage, profusion of flowers of 
the various weeds, and the almost total absence of flowers 
