ON THE MIXED HERBAGE OE PERMANENT MEADOW. 
1301 
reduced on plot 3 ; increasing in the second and third years on plot 12, but going down 
to less in the fourth year, however, than on plot 3. 
Trifolium pratense has, in each year, and on each plot, occurred in considerably 
larger amount than T. ■ repens , still the quantity of it has been small on both plots; 
decreasing almost regularly on plot 3, but less so on plot 12. 
The only leguminous plant which has, in a marked degree, gained ground on the 
unmanured plots is the deep-rooting, drought-resisting Lotus corniculatus ; and 
although not without exception in this respect, it has, perhaps, increased with more 
regular progression, though occurring in less average amount, on the poorer plot 3 
than on the les3 exhausted plot 12. 
Lastly, Lathyrus pratensis has yielded a fluctuating but considerably smaller per¬ 
centage and actual amount than Lotus corniculatus. It will be seen further on 
that this plant is very dependent upon superficial supply of certain constituents; 
and, in accordance with this, we find the percentage, and the yield of it, the higher on 
the richer of the two plots, 12. 
Thus, of the. leguminous plants occurring on the unmanured plots, the only one 
which has improved its position in the struggle is Lotus corniculatus; which has a 
deeply-penetrating, thick, fleshy root, by virtue of which it must be supposed that it 
is less dependent on the superficial layers of the soil for either food or moisture, and is 
able to store up material so as the better to withstand drought or exhaustion of the 
surface-soil. By these means it maintains its position when many of its associates 
fail. 
In the early separation, in 1858, Plantago lanceolata was by far the most prominent 
of the miscellaneous plants on the unmanured plots, where it contributed nearly 11 per 
cent, of the mixed herbage. No other species yielded 2 per cent., and those which 
were at all prominent at that time were so in the following order : Conopodium 
denudatum, Achillea Millefolium , Rumex Acetosa [Lychnis Flos-cucul i*), and various 
species of Ranunculus. The more recent and more complete separations show that in 
most cases there is very great irregularity in the occurrence .of the different miscellaneous 
species from year to year, dependent on the characters of the seasons, and doubtless on 
the degree of intensity of the competition engendered accordingly. Without manure, 
Plantago lanceolata may still be considered the most prominent weed, at any rate on 
the poorer of the two unmanured plots (3) ; but on both plots it was in considerably 
less amount in the two later, than in the two earlier separations. The plants which, 
in proportion to the total herbage, have shown the most marked tendency to increase 
under the conditions of exhaustion are the several species of Ranunculus , and next, 
perhaps, in this respect, comes the undesirable, and poverty-indicating, Luzula cam - 
pestris. In less and very variable proportions and amounts, but still in some seasons 
very prominent, and some of them increasing, are Conopodium denudatum, Pimpinella 
* This, though not included in any sample, is said to have been found on this plot in 1858, but has 
never been seen since, although it occurs in a plantation within 100 yards of the plot. 
MDCCCLXXXII. S D 
