10
THE RE-AFFORESTATION OF HAINHAULT.
which can thrive under such conditions. On the wet plastic
clay along the brow of the hill further north, these plants are
replaced by Common Bugle (Ajuga), Moneywort (Lysimachia
nummularia), Wood-sedge (Lusula), Lousewort (Pedicularis
sylvatica), Wild-Strawberry and Dog-violet, with Fiorin (Agrostis
alba) as the prevailing grass, all of them plants with shallow
roots and (with the exception of Wood-sedge) creeping stems.
Further on, on Cabin Hill, and also on Dogkennel Hill, the
vegetation again becomes characteristic of gravel or sand, but of
gravel or sand' of considerable depth, so that, there being no
water near the surface, deep-rooted plants such as Plantain,
Yarrow, and Hawkweed predominate, together with Bracken,
whose rhizomes are deep enough to withstand nearly fifty years
of ploughing. On the London-clay in the hollow the most
characteristic plant is Couch-grass (Agropyrum repens), which
grows along the banks of the ditches, and comes up in masses in
fields under the plough when the underground stems are not
removed by harrowing. In wet places along the outcrop of the
London-clay under the Gravel of Dogkennel Hill and Hog Hill
its place is taken by the surface rooted stoloniferous Fiorin
(Agrostis alba), and by Coltsfoot (Tussilago) and Horsetail
(Equisetum), whose underground stems are so deep as to penetrate
to the subsoil beneath the wet surface. Fiorin, and not
Couch-grass, is also naturally present on the slopes of plastic
clay soil beneath the Boulder-clay of "Ethelston's Forest."
Agricultural methods. When the farm was taken over it
had been in arable cultivation for nearly fifty years, and its
general condition was foul and "run out." The problem was
how best to lay it down to grass in the allotted time, and it had
to be considered (1) whether the land should first be fallowed
to clean it from weeds which might smother the young grass
seedlings; (2) whether lime should then be applied to sweeten
the lighter land and improve the texture of the heavy land; (3)
what mixture of seeds should be sown and how; (4) what
manures, if any, should be applied; and (5) whether the young
grass should be mown or grazed.
Fallowing was resorted to on some of the foulest fields—the
11 acres and 30 acres on the slope of Dog-kennel Hill in 1903,
and Forest-Flat and Cottage-Field in 1904. The 11 acres and