Suggestions for Beginning Survey Work. 97 
SUGGESTIONS FOR BEGINNING SURVEY WORK 
ON VEGETATION. 
V EGETATION-SURVEY, i.e. a systematic record of vegetation 
on ecological lines, differs from the records collected in local 
and general “floras” (floristic records) as associated in Great 
Britain largely with the names of Bentham, Babington, and 
Hooker, in that its scope is broader and its method of attack quite dif¬ 
ferent. The experience gained during a “ laboratory phase ” of botany 
is brought to bear on our native plants in their natural surroundings, 
while data derived from meteorology, geology, agriculture, and 
forestry are called in to aid. The movement is not confined to Britain, 
but is general throughout Europe and America. The English trans¬ 
lation of Schimper’s “ Pla'nt-Geography,” and other works are 
available for reference regarding general principles, while a recent 
statement on the “Problems of Ecology” in this journal (October, 
1904) reviewed some of the various aspects of the subject. The 
present “suggestions” are a response to inquiries regarding methods 
of work. The aim is merely to give hints, for organized instruction 
is impossible in a branch of science which is still in rather a tenta¬ 
tive stage, and of which a working knowledge can only be acquired 
by careful and prolonged observation. A somewhat similar 
instruction is issued by the Zurich school (Professor C. Schroeter) 
with a title (“ Fragenschema fur Beobachtungen fiber pflanzen- 
geographische u. wirtschaftliche Verhaltnisse,”) which indicates 
that the asking of questions and the noting of observations are 
important items in the work. The recently organised Committee 
for the Survey and Study of British Vegetation 1 have come to 
some conclusions regarding methods of survey, and these are 
given here for the general benefit. 
The central idea of the work is that groups of individual 
plants, belonging to one or to several species, growing under 
common conditions of life, must be studied as units, in relation to 
those conditions, in order to obtain a complete knowledge of plant- 
life in its natural surroundings. This is the meaning of the study 
of vegetation as opposed to floristic study which aims merely at 
recording the occurrence of species in various localities. The 
simplest vegetation-unit we call a plant-association. Larger units, 
including groups of associations, we call plant-formations (see below). 
As the study of associations proceeds it becomes more evident how 
many plants of our flora are bound up into definite communities, 
although all do not thus fall into distinct groups. 
Within recent years a series of botanical surveys, illustrated 
by maps, have been issued. These afford a primary analysis of 
vegetation only, include areas many miles in extent, and deal mainly 
with formations. There are also studies which have been limited 
to a single wood or pasture (see New Phytologist, January, 1905). 
The narrow “study” of an association or small group of associa¬ 
tions, or the wider “survey” of formations grade imperceptibly into 
each other, for the study of a single wood or heath leads to com¬ 
parison with other woods and heaths; while the general survey 
requires attention to the vegetation of single woods and other 
1 New Phytologist, Jan. 1905, p. 23. 
