SymposiumProceedings

ROADVERGES

THEIRFUNCTION & MANAGEMENT

Edited by,

l. M. Way.

TheCommonwealth Hall 16.20Craven Street, LondonWC2.

Fridayl4th March.1969

2ndlmpression 1975

MONKSWOOD EXPERII\IENTAL STATION (THENATURE CONSERVANCY) I I I I I I I I I t I I I I I I I I T I I I I SYMPOSIUIVICOMIVITTEE Chairman

Dr.J. M.WAY I MonksWood Experimental Station, (NatureConservancy) I l\,4embers l\4r.R. J. CHANCEL LOR WeedResearch Organisation (AgriculturalResearch Council)

T l\4r.IV. H. F. DAWSON Societyfor Promotionof NatureReserves t It4r.R, A. DOWNS Vice-President.County Surveyors Society Mr.A. P.DUNBALL Ministryof Transport I lvlr.H. C. MASON NationalFarmers Union Mr.N. E. WILLIAMS BritishCrop ProtectionCouncil t IVIISSD, E.WILLIS Instituteof LandscapeArchitects The interestand encouragementof N4r.J. D. FRYER and membersof the BritishWeed Control Council {now I amalgamatedinto the BritishCrop ProtectionCouncil) is gratefullyacknowledged, Thanksare due for invaluablesecretarial assistance from Mrs.R. DUFFEY and Mrs.M, HAAS.

Ordersfor extracopies of the collectedpapers should be sentto Dr. J. ftil.WAY, lvlonksWood ExperimentalStation, I Abbots Ripton,Huntingdon. Cost 50p percopy. * t -Revised addressfrom 1975: The lnstituteof TerrestrialEcology. l\4onksWood Experimental Station I Abbots Ripton Huntingdon Cambridgeshire.PE17 2LS I England I I I I I I

I I TABLE OF CONTENTS I l\4orningSession PAGENOS ..VERGEsAND THECOUNTRYSIDE" I Chairman: SIRGEORGE TAYLOR

I Openingaddress LORDN UGENT OF GUILDFORD 1 " Roadverges and Landscape" l\4.R. PORTER 2 t "The Botanica!importance of roadsideverges" F.H. PERRING 4 "Road verges-alocal responsibility for conservation" D. T. STREETER 8 I "Road vergesand the farmer" R. K. CORNWALLIS 1l " Roadverges-Hampshire N FU experience in 1968" R. ,|.WH ITE IJ " Roadverges-the agricultural significance I of weedsand wild plants" R. J.CHANCELLOR 16

I AfternoonSession ..VERGES I AND THE HIGHWAY" t Chairman: F. L. BROUGHTONESO. "Vergesand the highway" C. R. CHADWICK 20 "l\4anagementof verges" C. V. UNDERWOOD 26 I 'lRoad verges-experimentson the chemical controt of grassand weeds" A. J. WtLL|S 29 "Road verges-researchon managementfor I amenity and wildlife" J. r\4.WAY

I DtscusstoN

I SUMI\4INGUP t w. E. LANEESQ. I I I I

I I OPENINGADDRESS I THE LORDNUGENT OF GUILDFORD P.C.

How much do Road-sideVerges matter?Most people would say"not much"! In fact, their appearanceis takenfor t policyof chemicalspraying was applied grantedas oompletelyas the daylighiat dawn.But I haveno doubtthat if a universal iimilar to the iJSA whereu"rgir hnvea uniformly depressedlook, there would be an outcry frcm all over the country demandingthe restorationof the naturalbeauty of our verges. t of road-sideverge is found, from the flower-decked banks of Devon and In this srrall courtly almost every kind Cornwall to the flat gass vergesof East Anglia. The problem is to find methodsof maintenanceto control the vergegrowth acceptably in the inierests oi traffic, amenity and farming and within the limited financial resourcesavailable from the I alreadyoverburdened ratepayer. This Symposiumis designedto help Highway Authoities find the dght answerto this problem in their respectiveand varying localities: the Bdtish Crop Protection Council and Monks Wood ExperimentalStation of the Natule Conse ancy are to Le iongratulated on organisingit. The range of distinguished,expert speakersin the progtammewill ensu.ethe successof T this end. I believethat it will also attract the interest of the farming world from the practical viewpoint of crop husbandry managementand weed control, and the rural protection societies'interest from the point of view of the preservationof amenrty.

I The most powerful influence in our livesto-day is the phenomenallyrapid rate of change;load-side verges are subjectto this dynamic iofluencejust like the rest of liie. In the past decademajor changeshave beea takirg place"

l. The traditional method of maintenanceby the hand labour of a lengthsmanis aheady extinct in somecounties I others. and rapidily disappearingin

2. Mechanical and chemical methods, with inevitably different and sometimesdrastic ecologicalinfluences, are t replacingthetD. 3, lnrge scalemechanical farming has developedin all the most suitable parts of the country, and hasnecessitated the widespreadremoval of ditchesand hedgesin thoseateas,

I 4. The nation is well on the way to becoming 1007l' car-owningand is therefore increasinglydependent on the appearanceof roadsfor the amenity and recreation.

5. A brand new, national systemof motorways is in courseol developm€ntand itself presentsa completenew range t of road-sideverge Problems. The implications of theseand other factors will be examinedto-day by our team of expetts speakersin order to provide the most up-io-date scientific information on evety aspectof the subject. I am sure that Highway Authorities will lind this I objective approach helpful in gvolving their policies for copirg with the massivetask in their respectivecounties- We ajl have an interest in helping them to find the right answers. I I t I I I t I I BOADVERGES AND LANDSCAPE M, R.PORTER.F.I,L.A. I InndscapeAdviser, Departmehtof the Environment ThamesHouse (South), Millbank. Londor SWI I what do we mean by "Road verges and Landscape"?Verges in this context are taken to mean all the land, whether grassed planted, or between the road itself and the boundary ience, inctuding the earthworks.The gereFaltheme is the visual impact of these vergeson the drive!, and the extent to whiph their design and maintenance t ttolp to relate the road satisfactorilyto its surroundings,and thus achievethat stamp of inevitability which is one of the hallmalki"i. of good design.

Ideally, no part of the road except the carriagewayitself and the structureswould registerto the driver as something man-made.You should feel not that you are on a rlalfow im(dsoning tmck, cut off from the open cquntry by earthworks, I mown grass,consciously designedplalting and an obvious fonce, but rather that you ale moving uqimpeded through the countrysidewhich comesright up to you oo either side,so clospthat you can almost lean out and touch it.

This is an ideal and like most idealsit is rarely attainable.When it is apploached,even with many imperfections,there is I a feelingof harmony and of identification with the countrysidewhich can be exhilarating.

Nowadaysgood geometric design can be taken for grantpd on new major roads,This doesnot mean,of cource,that a line which fits the topogtaphy can alwaysbe devised,because invariably there are other limiting factorsto contend with, cost t and planning requiremgnts to name two of them. Whether qr not the chosen route fits the ground well, the vergeis the physical link between the road and its sufioundings,and it hasan important function to perform. It offers an opportunity, a last charce in fact, to unite the relatively inflexible road with the often wildly varying contours of the adjacentgound. I lf the treatment is crude, to the ddver the apparent eJidth of the road will be the road s\$face plus the verge and fences all the obviously "contructed" road. Add unsympatheticplanting, and his attentiton will be held within this coridor, so that concentmtion ofl the foreground view will soon lead tO boredom ard danger.At its best the rood will appearto stop at the back of the hard shoulder and the rest will be part of the countryside beyond, The road is the4just a narow ribbon t slippingsmoothly through the countrysideand the driver'sview is as wide as the horizon.

The road is inevitably a disruptive element in the landscape.Relating it satisfactorily to the cohplicated, small scale jigsaw of the typical tsnglishcountryside through which it cuts a narrow swathe is one of the major problems of road I landscaping.

The way in which the eafthworks are handled is of pamrnount importance, As a generalrule, tha moie smoothly they can be contoured the lessartificial they will look and the morb closelythe road will fit into the landsc4pe,but on€ must not I n ssopportunities for dramatic treatment in appropriateplaces, such as rock cuttings.

The cost of the earthworks is a substantialpart of the total cost of building a road, and flattenilg slopesfor aesthetic reasons,or with the object of returning them to agiculture, itvolves a heavy increasein capital costs.It is by no meanseasy I to guaranteethat a farmer will be willing to take back a small piece ofland over which there hasbeen a constantpassage of heavyvehicles, even though it has been fully reinstated. Fxtensive earthworks are unavoidableon a motorway, b€causeof the frequency of the bddgeswhich take it under oI t on the over every other road, every railway, dver, pipe line, etc., in its path. There are about five bridgesin etery two miles dossing points- This uu"iug", * tnut urr the timei profile must bi cLntrived which ehsuresthe necessaryvertical separationat partsof the continent. is one of the most imrnediatetyappaient Alfferences between motolways in Englandandin some road's €asyIelationship wherethey often run for considerab; distancesat ground level;with vely iew blidgis to interrupt the I with its sulloundings. \''helgverpossible, will be lessdistracting A smooth, flowifg fence line, inconspicuouslysited, and avoidingthe skyline achi€veif the earthworksare bmooth Not only the than one which jerks its way up a;d dow;the sloies, and it is easier;o I in most parts of the countrv may be uut tire tvpe oi i"n"e is important; the;tandard timber one which looks w€ll probably of slim metal pastsand wle, mav look ii7;"01i;;";;r;;;;;,"r*"..",, high'f;l;;h;r" u lighter, more open design, better. "; I withoutgoinginto(hemanyproblemsofglassmaintenance^andlheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofsplaylngol country with varying soil aod climatic that ir tn" gtule'J ut" f roor rigllt in different types of cutting, it is evident "ttg"' conditions, then maint€nancerequirements will vary' I Aswithplanting,gassshouldlookapprcpriatetoitssurloundingsCloselymowngrass'whichlooksentirelynaturalonin birch, gorseand -" gt;;;;;-i; g;"a; outside the fence,would look hopelesslyinappropriate the chalk downs where sheep within the fenceline cannot oJ tJt io orela.i." this, howev€r,_because soil and drainageconditio's bracken country. Natule the influence of the iound on the undisturbed'landoutside, and the fencea'lso eliminatos may be vastly dilferent from tirose be I is needed to achieve compatabillity, and it should farmer, his machines and n" gr"ri"g-""i;" akilled maintenance plan, A reasonableguide, to 4void a too tidv, too considered at the design *ug", u, i part of the overall lairdscape. with its suroundings. This wlll give a wide ranSeof sophisticatedappeamnce, i. to ret ln" !ta.s U" us_rougn as is.compitibie on the roadsidev€rges for their SuNival' habitatsfor the most hard-pressedJou", ilora und ta.rirawhich depend I the planting of any load the speedof the road and There are two particulalty impoTtant factors which mu$t influence the type of country through which it is passrng' I I I

The main difference I Taking speedtirst, let us tum for a moment to the slow, winding typically English minol load. was dictated' between it and, say, a mororway is that it is almost totally dominated by its sufoundings. Its_alignment low' and you do probably centudes;go, by the topography,--" not by a 70 *.p.h. de"ign speed'The en-gineerin€standards at€ planting, particularly after road not find the scars, because tft"r" no earthworks. tiere the-main object of any hedges,woods and so on, and I improvements,wilt be to preseNethe dominanceof the surroundings,th€ locaipattern of trees, ol the slow speeds.single trees bdng it right up to the road *ittto"i ini"i"piio". The scaleof pu-niine will be small because One is able, also. to appreciatethe can be appreciated,and even ;;; tiees, which woltd irritaie on a fast toad. "1.;;i; texture and quality of a mixed hedgeand small groupsof wild flowers' I road This is one end of the scate,Now what happensas speed in creases? lm mediatelylhe relationshipbetween the and itself m.oreand more on its irs surroundingschange. From being dominaledby its setting. the load beginsto impose now hasa more complicatedjob to do than ,r..riaG. ai it beco'mesless fl"*itl ifr" increa'ie.The planting t if," ri.ti.o"a. It has to reconcile,in effect,"nJ the"".tft*orks speedof the road with the landscape' "" being the two main factors To understandthis we must look at the type of country (this and the speedof the road influencing planting), to seehow the reconciliation can take place. I planting to heal the Among scatteredwoodlands it will be necessaryto balancethe successionof open and closedviews, torn edgesof the woods and keepingthe open stletchesclear. unnatural stdp of I Oo heath or moot there will be a chanceto use the local vegetationrather than grass,to avoid an bright geen on either side of the road' On the downs it may be a caseof not planting (how important it is to know when not to plant, when planting would be I mere decoration), but of shapingthe eafthworks to mergeas smoothly as possibleinto the flowing contou$. Here of cou6e the alignment must be faultless.ldeally the only planting ne€dedmight be a clump or two of beech in a stmtegicposition, almost cedainly off the road whete we do not own the land and cannot plant. To be realistic, though, some scars are I unavoidableand if they are conspicuousthey will needto be maskedby planting, Thesearc a few examples.Basically what we are still trying to do in eachcase is to bring the countryside,of whatever type, dght up to the road, asin the caseof the minor roads.Because we are viewing it at speed,however, the planting must be on a granderscale, still linking with the local planting pattern, framing the views, healing any unavoidablescars, but always bold enough for any desiredeffect to last long enoughto lnake its impact-groups of treeslather than singlespecimens, larget I gaps through which a view is to be seen,contrast in the texture of grassarising lrom varied maintenancetechniques rather than the interest of groupsof wild flowers,

Our greatest problem here is that we are limited to such a nalrow stip in which to plant, in which to try to I counterbalancethe linear effect ol the road. For this reasonany odd scrapsof land which we can acquirc beyo[d the normal boundary are doubly useful, so long as they are in a position where planting is appropriate.All the time we want to plant outwards to form a link with the surroundingcountryside, but alwayswe are pulled back by the fenceline. Road landscaping, so far as planting is concerned, is about 8070a matter for the local planning authority-we can only plant within our I boundary:they can plant wilhin the view.

Whateverthe type of country there is one fundamental rule-the plants selectedshould be nativesor those which have been with us long enough to be acceptedas native, and preferably thos€species actually growing in the locality. There is no I placeon tural roads for exotics, the cheries and labumums which scream"suburbia" wheneyertJrey burst into flower. each in its tum a gaudygatecrasher.

It is hoped that as the newly planted groups of trees become establishedit will be possibleto bring in the shrubsand I herbaceousplants which normally associatewith them, either by planting or by natural regenention encouraSedby careful maintenance,so that in time the largerstandS of trceswill become,in effect, areasof natural woodland.

One of the most striking features of the English countryside is the wide variety of sceneryand vegetation,several t dramatic changesoften succeedingone another within a short distance.A journey southwardsfrom London can take you from the London Basinacrcss Bagshot Sands, Chalk Downs,Greensand Ridges to the WealdenClay within 20 miles.

Landscaping,and planting in particular, which is in sympathy with the locality, helps to preseryeand emphasisethese I regionaldifferences, They in tum can be a sourceof great pleasureto any driver who has eyesto see. Unfortunately many people are peculiarly sensitiveto the sight of alything which is not conventionallybeautiful, and . would scrcenfrom sight most of the things which, although not attractive in themselves,give interest and depth to a view. We I are not living in Arcadia, and how dull it would be to drive through hundreds of miles of unrelievedprettiness. We are fofiulate that there is so much to s9e,towns, villages,churches, even power stations-the list is endless,not forgetting the infinite variety of the countryside itself. All can be brought into the road landscape.The only views to block out ate those which arc mean or depressing.Acres of back gardensare about the worst, followed by the clutter of factoriesseen from the I rear, and parked cals in quantity. For the rest the viewsshould be seenand enjoyed.If there is an occasionalshock, so much the better, The view of Luton frcrn the M1 is scarcelybeautiful, but it is a welcomesight and a milestoneon a long journey back to London. I In the long run the cost, engineeringdifficulties and technicalachievements ol roadbuilding are forgotten aod we shall judge our roads by the quality of our expedenceas we travel along them. I I THE BOTANICAL IMPORTAIIICEOF ROADSIDE VERGES I FJI. PERRING,M.4,, Ph.D., F.L.S., BiologicalRecords Centre. Monks Wood Experimenral Station, AbbotsRiptDn, Huntingdon pE17 2LS I INTRODUCTION I In this paper the roadside verge will be defined as the area of grasslandor tall herbage,ditch Fnd hedge,which lies between the made-up cariageway, and some other kind of fegetation beyond the lrighwaf boundariy,such is woodland, pasture or arable field. We arc not concernedhere with areaglike moolland and heaih where the roddsideis a Dart of the genenl vegetationof an area. I

ORIGIN

Roads and roadside vergeshave arisen in two ways. lihey have either evolved from "Natural1' tracks, or they are I "Man-made Roads" which have beet superimposedon the landscape.Natural tracks were not made, but grew as the need aiose.The earliestwere probably made by animalsand led frord grazingarea to watedng-place. Some of the ftst tracks used by man in Britain wele tracts rather than tradks. Tracts up to t/amilewide, like the I IcknieldWay. which ran alongthe dry and open country of rhe chalkridge from Wiltshireto Norfolk. The passageof men and their grazing flocks over a wide area,created and then maintainedan open, slightly disturbed chalk grasslandthroughout the varying width of this ancient route. t When first the Romansand later the Anglo-Saxonscams down frcm the high land and made cloarirgs for their villas and villagesin the forest, the communities were connectedby tracks which followed th€ zig-zagfield boundariesnear the houses,but straightgngdout to passover tha common grazing near the boundary of the "Parish". The coursesof rural roads in Eogland to-day are ia the majodty of cases,still those that odginated from these natural tracksi they are extremely I ancient,and so are the verg€swhich run besidethem.

Few new roads were createdbetween Saxon times and the middle of the eighteenthcentury. The "Op€n Field" system continued, but gadually, and particulady following the Enclo6ureActs of 1750-1850,hedges were planted which separated I the highway aIId its verge from the surounding vegetation.Ultil that time the verg€had been a palt of the original native vegetation somewhat modified by disturbancefrom driven cAttle, galloping horses,and, from the ldth Century onwards, peiiodic cutting up and rutting by wheeledvehicles, Aftel Enplosureof the neighbouringfields the velge lemained but the surroundinggrassland, of which it had once beena part, flequeftly went under the plough, I The first "Man-made Roads" in Britain of lasting significancewere those buitt by the Romarls.Their construction createdlocal disturbance,but the main constituentsof the turf which re-€stablisheditself with the pass4geof time and under the influence of glazinganimals was derivedfrcm the grasslaodwhich stretchedaway on either side, t Some new roads wete createdby tha Enclosurc Acts. These"Awarded" roadswere over 40 feet in width. They occur, for example,on the CambridgeshireChalk, whele they are notdworthy for their wide verges.They were bommonly laid aqoss heath sheep.walk similar in vegetation to that found on neanby Newmafket and Royston Heaths to-day. I

It is only in this contury, and largelyin the last 20 years;that there havebeen further plannedro{ds in rural areas.The from it. The network of by-passesand mototways ihich is now creepingmile by mile over the landscapehas not evolved lbter perelnial species ur" mun--aa" and develop from sown gnssesand herbs and a mixture of initially annual aod I "arg".which havesuvived the upheavalof the road making operation$. Ev1erywidening scheme, distinction between the vergesof "Natural" and "Made" roads is graduallybein8_eroded. Tfte broadleaved herbs bend destrcys arr-lia verg" and feplaceslt with a new. Every kill by herbicidesbf I new' "n"ryO"o'""r"t "ir"lgnt"n"a t[" nu.i"ty of the old vergeand push;s it towards the relative monotony of the I I I I t I T I IMPORTANCE I i. General The generalbotanical impodance of rcadsideverges is at its geatest in lowland arableEngland. In many areasthe verge representsthe last vestigeof the grasslaodswhich existedbefote the modelnisationof agticulture.Pelmanent pastule lemains I only where the plough and the dlagline cannot reach, and both reach fudher yearly. [n this settingthe roadsideverge which crossesall the geologicalformations, runs up hill and down dale,is wet and dry, flat or sloping,sunny or sheltered,provides a complete picture of the native grasslandvegetation of the country. Destloy this and we destroy part of ou! heritage,as i.rrep-laceableas the ParishChurch or the village stocks. ln mauy parts of lowland England the lich pasturesofthe past,gay I with Buttercupsand OxeyeDaisies can only live on now alongroadsides which are unploughedand unsprayed. ii. Particular

Roadsideverg€s have always differed somewhat from the surounding vegetationbecause of the disturbancefactors I glasslandherbaceous species causedby passingtiaffic referred to earlier. There are in the British flora a number of restricted which are iound outside our islandsmainly in centraland southernEruope, whgre thef natural habitat is dry, open grassland. They migrated to Britain after the retreat of the ice 10,000 years ago when an open, treeless,grassland was our natural vegeiation, but, when the climate here chancedand the land becamecovered in forest, thesesptcies were only qble,to s:lvj:: I not dominate.There they remaineduntrl the n.irililv in open siteslike cliJi-facesand river-banks,which the treescould recreate,artifically, the advent of Neolithic man who began, by his nomadic way of life, to disturb the chalk ddges and to spreadfurthel and has conditions there which thesespecres needed for survival.Man, the road-user,allowed the species I goneon maintainingthese open conditions until the preseotday. (Linum reachesits Three examplesof thesespecies occur on roadsidesin Cambaidgeshte.The PerennialFlax anslicum)- hills besideanother Roman southein limit on a verge ol th; lcknield Way nea! Hinxton, but it alsooccurs on the Gog Magog with Roman roads' I ioad, the Via Devana.Further oorth in Liniolnshire it is entirely a roadsideplant, once more associated of a species-whichis native in drv' open' The Spring Cinquefoil G9!"tglg-g!9lt"emo!gnt) is a good example ol a c road near west wrattins This r-ertone and ,rhi"h1iiffi6-i-ifri?ii?iiiiiilireated conditionso] the verge sassti.ro, its length' i, ui*o.t a very ancient Natural Road which forms a Parishboundary throughout I "irtultrtv ThespanishCatchflyrsileneotites)isalarespeciesofsandy-openhabitatsconfinedtotheBreck]andofEastA'tglia. ploughing: the only site for the plant The heaths on which it or,". gr"*16-undontly in tirat area are being destroyedby I remainingin Cambridgeshfeis a roadsidebank on a C road near Chippenham' Theprimalyimportanceofvergesaslelicsofnativegrassla.ndhasbeenstressed,butthisisnottheironlybotanical of Nature Reserves,9maior classesof interest. ln a recording ,"n"a" r"""nii' aeuiseator the Soiiety for- the Promotioil Grassland,Moss-dominated areas' Open habitat were recognisedn fowfand iiriiairu Forest, Scrub, Tali Herb, Reed-beds, (Scrub, Herb, Grassland,oper habitats and Aquatic I habitats, Aquatic habitats and agtl."it"i"i'rt"uitotJ: five of these Tall a hedgeand a ditch. elementsof habitats, Fig I ) can occur on an iaeai roalside where the velge is backed by ,Furthermore, of presentor former woodla',,d,elements of a farest three others may frequengy occut, t"t *it"i" tn"O"d verges-paisthe.sites out into the grassland;(b) where farm tracks crossthe flora, pimroses and Wood vi.r"tr,' in"-.t"t spill ""JC.i"'tOiit* (c) in the Fens of eastelnEngland the wide dlainage I vergethe specialflora of wet ruts and trampled ground establishei.itself; maintenancecvcle ;i;;"J" ihe roadsidedevelop into reed-bedsatl hte stageof their I Fie. l. Habirats representedon an ordinary road verge I I I [\ t I I I I Man as a road-usernot only created habitats for existing native speciesto survive,but he brought specieswith him which have added to our flora. Many of them have been with]u$ so long that we fail to realisethefu alien oligin. The White Dead-nettle (!am@-elbum) may have been introduced by the Romans, It is a familiar plant of waysidesand walls in England,but painstakingwork by MissAnn Conolly hasshown rthat ill Walesit is almost entirely confincd to rcadsides. I Many roadside treasuresodginated as plants in gardenstvhich have long since disappeared.Theqce came Elecampane (Ilgla lglgnlym) and the Dusky cranesbill (Sglggig_p!q9!g)i This great variety ol native species,supplemented by speciesfrom alien soulces,means that rqadsideverges are the I richest single habitat for wild plant speciesin the country. Inla county like Cambridgeshirewith a total flora of floweiing plaots and ferns of 1,260 species,52O (41%)t'al{e beenrecorded giowing within the !o.id vergeregion, in the btoad seose.

During the period I 9 54-l 962 the Botanical Society of tte Bdtish Isles(8. S.B.I.) caried out a schemeto map the flora t of the British lsles.The basisof the work wasthe presenceor Ebsenceof eachof our 1,700British speqies of higherplants in the l0 km squaresof the national gdd, The results were putilished in The Attas of the British Flora (Pefling and Walters. 1962). The work was so complete that, particularly for the less aommon species,it is possibleto stqte in objective terms which are the rarest speciesin Creat Bdtain. During the lastj2 yea$ the staff of the Biological RecordsCeltle at Monks I Wood. with the assistanceof the County recordersof the B,S.B.I.,have been carrying out a more detailFdstudy of the rarest 300 ioeciesso that we know their exactlocalities, the sizesof their populationsand the natureof the hFbitatwhere they are to be found in the majodty of cases. I The study hasrevealed that at least27 of the 300 rarestspecies occur on roadsideverges (Table I ).

TABI,E I I Very rare plants occurring on rcadsideverges. For speciosunderlined vergesare the main, and id somecases the only, habital. I Allium babingtonii Hypochaedsmaculata Aristolochia clematitis Artemisia campestds Asarumeuropaeum I Betatrievna Glples!{n-fcle4lslq) Carexfiliformii Carexmontana I Cyrloglossumgermanicum Epipogiumaphyllum Erica ciliaris Sileneotites Herniadaglabm StachYsgermaniaa I Himantoglossumhircinum Tetragonolobusmaritimus Verba$cumpulverulentum Each of these speciesoccuts, on the average,in only l0localities throughout the British Istes.Thusit can be seenthat I even if only one of the roadsideverge populations of one ol these specieswere lost, it would represenlta high percentageof habitat,for this ihe totot poputationof that speciesir c;eat Bdtain. In the taseof Buplelrum fa.lcatuTi! {tl-th.:,only *ni"l'gt"* on one roadside in Essex,became €xtinct in Britain-aEer-roaa works in 1955. We must hope that the oUnt no [".*f"jn. of the whereaboutsof the sites of particular rari]tieson the part of responsibleauthorities will ensurethat T similar loises occur in the futule. THE POTENTIALIMPORTANCE OF MADE ROADS Roads,particularly I The .Made Roads,of the past have already been mentioned: the Roman Roadsand the EnclosUr€ vergeswhioh have not yet been the former, now have verges of considerableimportance. But there are other roadside vergesof the irux foads' the railways' In"rrtion"J *ni"ir were made little over a hundred and twenty yearsago; thesewere the Age' Naturalistshare long appreciated Their embankmentswere the geatesi earirrworts built in B;i6in sinie the Early lron ple-saxon Devil's and Fleam Dvkes are the I the importance of prehistodc in -ambridgeshirei fo! example. the "u.til;J;; as Sitesof SpecialScibntific Interest' ln the most important sitesfor chalk grassionJptu.tt in ttt" lioth u,e designated ""l"nty, railway embanl(mentsand.cuttings, and are acquiring last few yea6 naturalists nun" o"eu;-lJ ;ppreciate the vatuo of the thef ;ich vadety of plant and animal life As Dony stretchesof abandonedl.uit*uv uni" u. Uli.,i" n bepause.of ".".u"r, known as stanbrook summit and the baulk covering I .953) wrote about a Bedfordshi."'""iting;ifr" r"tg. raiiwa$^cutting etsewhetein the countv". Will another author 100 vears );;]ilJ;;ffi t. tt p."-a" pr"* iot to belfound "rr?"i"ii.". lwhich parellelto Stanbrook Summit onlv a dozen miles to hencebe wdting in gre sameterms aiouiifr" tu"r.-rrr. tne rvrI runs "f prevailedin creatinqsuch variety oh railwavbanks. some the south-west?Not unless*" i""p'-iu"" u,hich "un "onoiiion. I o{ theseconditions were: I I I I 1. At the time of theh construction the railways passedthrough a landscapein which natulal vegetationwas mole plants to new fi"q.,"ttt ttrun it is today. There was ample opportunity for the spread of qropagulesof wild I babitats. by seed mixtures for sowing gmbankments,if they were used at all, wele of native grassesand wele adulterated the seedsof many wild speciesof brcadleavedplants. sward and I 3. The embankmentswere fenced lrom cattle but were grazed by rabbits, which maintained a short createddisturbance by burrowing, until their populationswere severelyreduced by myxomatosis' from passing steam 4. The embankments were periodically burned either by design, or by chance sparks. I locomotives. l he burnrngwas unevenand thereby producedvadety in the developmentof the vegetation' (accident) produced the In sum, these conditions allowed the establishmentof a native flora and, by variety of treatment I richnessin specieswhich madethem most interestingand dive$e today is The conditions prevailing in the establishmentof motorway vergescannot be thg same as fal as the landscape but we can surely concemed,neither can we, nor ivould we wish to, bring back the rabbit asan uncontrolled grazingmachine, natuml seedand' do somethingabout the mixturcs we sow and the ma-nagementwhich follows we should seek soulcesof and frequency of when it has been sown, ensurea vadety of treatment with the machinery availableby_ varying.the timing I and botanical operation. Above all we must get awa; from the idea ol a loadside n"tge as u lawnl that way lies monotony seedmixtules purgatory. lf we wish to makethe mosi of our opportunities for the vergesof the future we must seek the dght I andthe dght managementnow. I REFERENCES DONY,l. C. ( 1953) Floraof Bedfordshire,Luton Museum,Luton.

PHRRING,F. H. & WALTERS,S. M. (1962)Atlas ofthe BritishFlora. I ThomasNelson & SonsLtd, London aod Edinburgh. I I I I I I I I I I I I ROAD VERGES-A LOCAL RESPONSIBILITYFOR CONSERVATION D.T.STREETER, B.Sc., Schoolof BiologicalSciences, University of Sussex, t BrightongSussex I Dr Perringhas emphasisedthe importanceaild valueof rDadsideverges in the conservationof wild flowers. Largely as a lesult of the rapid changesin local geology and variations in past land-usepatterns in the British Isles,the biologicalinterest of roadsideverges often differs very matkedly both from county to county and also within the sameadministrative area. For this reasonit is important that the managem€ntof rcad vergesghould be basedolr soundknowledge of local conditions,if the I maximum benefit from the poitt of view of wildlife conservatidnis to be attained.

The principal local voluntary bodies concemed with the consgrvationof nature and landsqapeare the County ConseNationor NaturalistsTrusts. Over the last ten years the number of County Trustshas increasedto the point at which now t the existing 37 cover the whole of England,Wales and Sdotland.In the majodty of casesa Trust ooversa singleCounty but in some,such as the WestMidlands Trust, the Lake District Trust and the WestWales Trust, two or tihreecounties may be covered by a single organisation.In these casesthe Trusts have county branchesoperatiog in each cdnstituent county, ln Scotland the Scottish Wildlife Trust also has a oumber of local branches.Conversely a single Trulst may cover several I administrative counties such as in Lincolnshfue,East and west Sussexand the Ridingsof Yorkshire.

The Trusts, which arc incorporated,non-profit making rolultary bgdies,are concernedwith all aspectsof conseryatlon, including land-useplanning and environmentaleducation as w4ll asthe managementand establishmentbtf naturc rese es.At the present time they own or manageabout 400 nature res€ryestotalling some 35,000 acres. Each Trust works in close I co-oteration with other statutory and voluntary organisationsconcerned with conservationin its area such as the Forestry Commission.National Trust, National Farme$ Union and ar0enity societies.Particularly close co-operationis maintained with the staffs of the Nature Conservancy'sRegionat Offices, whoseadvice and assistanceale alwaysreadily available. I The Trusts are rcpresentednationally by the County TbustsCommittee of the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves(S.P.N.R.). This committee,established in 1958 at thErequest of the 6 Truststhen in existencp,acts as the lational mouthpiece of the County Tflrst organisation and maintaint a small permanent secretariat.It is filrther selviced by an Advisoiy Croup on Administration and Finance,and also by the S.P.N.R,'sConservation Liaison Comrlittee on which all the I main conservationbodies in the country arerepresented.

The extent to which th€ value of County Trusts is acceptedand recognisedby local authorities is indicatedby the fact that they are now rcpresentedon sevenof the nine County CduntrysideCommittees, and on nine of the sixteenCountryside I Sub-Committeesso far estabtishedby County Councils.

The generalpolicy of road vetge managementas well as the conservationof stretchesof vergeof specialinterest is of purti"rrhr Jon""tnio the Coulty Trusts, and successfulagreerhents have already beennegotiated by se'teralTrusts with their I local authorities on both theseaspects of velge management. splays,lrr Most of the early agreementson generalverge management policy were aimedat limiting the use 0f herbicide Min"istryof Trans-portand Civil Aviationls ciicular of August 1955, restdcting the useof phenoxyacetic T ora", io ,elnior"" the l5 agleementsof this fr"rti"lO".-uu"."- to trunk and classI roais and to certain dangorouscorners on classlI roads. At least meansof ""iJ between Trusts and local authodties, but with the now almost universaluse of mechanical tira n"g.ti"ted Ministry's have O""n'i""a"r"a iargely unneces$ary.'hydrazide.Nevettheless, the Trusts would like to seethe vergs mairtenance these matasementof vergesis liiir-Jir"i,i iiiliaJJ L-""""i n".ti"ia"t, in-"t,iaingmalcic so far asthe s€neral I with the concirned,conservation interests "rifavour a policy that achieve$a degreeoJ ecologicaldiversity that iscommensurate incompatiblehas HighwayAuthority's duty to ensuresafety and maintainthe carriageway.That thesetwo arefar from beinq beensuccessfully demonstrated in a numbero{ counties' I 'three-tieJ' vergemanagement. A system.involving Latet contributors will deal with the medts of the differbnt types of wider belt cut in mid-summerand early autumn with a strir, 3ft-5ft wide nearestto tne io;J and cut regularly, backedby a has already been suggesteduv authols includins ir,"'"i-.i",r.11 i.i""re lh. h",lg" noi cui untit thi early aulumn, I permlts":tllil and tosether with This is a satisfactoryairangement *here the nature oithe verge il;";"ifi;; ;;?"ihgi is6;r. gener&lmanagement policy divers" habitai comp[x that is likely to be achieved-,A hedge and ditch it results ln tn".nr..i operation about ,,r"li a, west Sussex,'andaltogether there are now in similar to this has atready been h,;;;; ;;;;cour,ties , and minor .l.rusts limiting the timin! and frequency of.:ulJing ten agreementsbetween aJto"ui ur.thorittes 91T:ondarv conditions I procedureof ltris kini a"rethat on moit soils it create$-ecological roads. Additional advantagesor a management prevents the mo$t species-scheduledin the weeds Act,(1959);it are genefally unfavouruble inJ a"u"top-"r,t of that -to il is aestheticallypleasing' endoachment of woody pelennrarspecies onto the vergeand I I I t I I Whereroadside verges ate of particular conservationinterest, they requile sp€cialmanagement in order to maintain and enhancetheir value. It is suggestedthat in every administrativearea, where this has not yet aheady been done, the Local I Authority and the County Truit should now co-operatein the production of schedulesof Yergesof interest with ptoposalsfor their management.

The lirst stageshould be for the County Trust to draw up detailedschedules of the vergesof interest in the County that I are consideredof sufficientimoortance to Warrantspecial protection, not only of plant species,but of insects,birds and mammalsas well. Theseschedules should include: I l detailsof the locality, including parish,gdd reference,side of the road and its class, 2. the length of the vergeand its mean width, I 3. the nature of the interest, 4. possiblethreats to the site, I 5. presentmanagement, 6. proposedmanagement

The position of the vergesshould also be marked on large scalemaps. Th€ Trust should then discusswith the County I Suweyor ihe schedules together with the management proposals,and, when these have been agleed the division of responsibility for the managementof the veryesshould be decided. Most Trusts now operate their own conseryatloncolps ani eventhose without a lormal corps can always call upon voluntary labour to carry out conservationmanagement tasks. Whether or not the entire manag"-"nt of the protected vergesis left to the Trust or whether this is shatedwith the County I Surveyot's Department or calried out entirely by the local Authodty must be a mattel to be decidedby thoseimmediately involved. What is important is that the division of responsibility should be clearly defined. The designof marker posts and who is responsiblef;r their installatior also needsto be decided.Orce the sitesand their managementhave been agreedwith the County Sufleyol it is then necessaryto establish close liaison between the Trust and the various District Surveyo$ staff. [n the I involved, and for the pmctical managementproblems to be discussedon the ground with the Highway Arrthority the caseof ihose counties fodunate en"oughto possessCounty Countryside Committee with non-Council representation, will undeltake the initiative for the vergessuryey and ln"iug"-"nt may well come flom that Committee,The County Trust is being adequately task of periodically visiting the schedulei vergesin order to ensurethat the agreedmanagement -policy in the management I canieo out, to assessthe iffectiveness of thJ managementand to advise accordingly on any changes progressof rhat seemindicated. piri.a* -""tingr L"etweenttre Highway Authority and.the Trust to review the ;;;r".ip;;; it e,(ists,the County the scheme will also ensure that any difficultiis that arise are rapidiy ironed out. ^Again,-where scheme' T i.rrttyriA" C.--ittee ptovidesthe oivious medium for ensudngthe smooth running of the At the present time about 21 Highway Authorities have some form of agreementwith their County Trust on the yeats managementof stretchesof roadsideverge of specialinterest. In Lincolnshirefor examplethe Trust hashad for sevelal very iuccesslul agreementsin operation with both the Lindsey and Kest€venCountryside and Highway Committees.The of the siteswhich I Trust produced,in collaboration with the Regional staff of the Natule conseryancy,maps and schedules part set oui details of location, interest, cufent management,possible thlgats and proposed management On their the Highways Department have agreedto consult the Tiust and the Regional Officer ol the Nature Conservancyin the event of all thele are now ur-r!."h"-". th"t might affect the vergesand to erect markel poststo identify the velgeson the ground. In not only someof I 24verges protectedin Lincolnshire byihese agreements,I4 in iindsay ard l0 in Kestevenand they include British breedingcolony of the most noftherly sites in Britain fo; many limestonespecies of plants but also the most northern opelation The Berkshile' the chalkhill Blue butterfly, l-vsattaru Many other counties have similal schemesin "orloon su,rvevoras long ago as ij""r.inehu-rrtir" ana oxtordihfiTfiiiTSiiiTed an agreementwith the Buckinghamshirccountv The SussexNaturalistsTrust have I 1964 and more recentlyhas a similarschemJin Oxfordshire(Southam, 196?). has a'Verges Officer'to ;g;";;;; with the County"o-plet"d Sur""vo^ .it.ift iast and We"t S^ussex.Here the Trust appointed 'watching brief' over the.scheduledverges in co-ordinatethe activities of the Trusi representativesresponsible for keeping a Surveyors'InSussex there ale 57 different parts of the County, and m be lesponsiblefoi liaisonwith the variousDistrict '".tg" protectedroadside I p.. tu t, 30 in Eastand 27 in WestSussex, giving a total length of l0' 1 miles of "i"i of plants on roadside vergesto the In Scotland the Scottish Wildlife Trust submitted a paper on the conseNation to co-operateas fully aspossible with County Surveyo$ Society (ScottishTiu""itj i" fqOl. as a resuit the Society hasagreed providesthe vadous County Surveyorswith the I the Trust over the management.i .i special interest if the Tlust ""tg"t necessaryschedules of important sites. the Tlusts depend-son adequateliaison with The ultimate successof these agleementsbetween county surveyols and mainteoancewolk of what is required' County I the Distdct Surveyorsand an understin4ing by the men ca ying-tiu-i."n out the verye provide the necessaryadvice' as their rcgional Trusts are particularly .""1 pruc"i-iJ-"uriv out ttti. titta ot and to th; Trust's Scientific or ConservationOfficen' In representativespossesstne necessai ilc"itlo*i"ag" U*t"d.by advicefrom leport progressat eachsite' I addition it meansthat there are people more or les; constantly on the spot to I I I countryside that is becomiig progresslvelymore intensively used is now indisputable.Theoretical ecolosists ltained that one of the inevitableand fundamental cancomitants of a land policy, that resuits in decreasing Recentlythe basisof this concepthas uee" lo';;r;;;;r;;;;;;;;;;i;;i;;.;;tiffi';ilfiir,U;;i;t, "uujecteJ I (1965), It now s€emsclear that two of the most impoltant constituentsof ecosystemstability are a maximal number of links in the community food web and a high biomass,In generalrboth these fcatules are reduced with incrcasingagdcultural intensity and in this situation the importance of maintaining adequateand divcrseedge habitats, inclirding toadsideverges, assumesspecnl slgnulcance, I The corect managementof roadside vergesis an aspect of countryside plannlng of high ihportance, Details of managementwill inevitably differ from district to district a d close co-operationbdtween Highway Authorities and local organisations,such as the County Trusts, will ensure that ncanagementpolicies will be arrived at tnost appropriate and I benificial to the particular area. Edge habitats, such ashedgerbws and roadsideIerges, should be regatdednot only simply as refugesfor our fast dimirshing wildtife but also as a feature essentialfor the maintenanceof an accpptableand necessary degreeof stability in the countrysideas a whole. I REFERE[rtCES I

LEIGH, E.G. (196s) On the rclation betwqenthe productivity, biomass,diversity, and stability of a community. I Proc.Nat. Acad.Sci. t3,777-83.

MOORE,N.W. (t96',7) Nature Consgrvationand roadsideverges. Paper to the Conference 'Roadsin the Landsc4pe' I Ministryof Transportand the BritishRoads Fedemtion, July 1967.

PERRING,F.H. (1967) Vergesare vital - a botanist looks at our loadsides.J. Instn Highw. Engrs lj | 3-l6. I SOUTHAM,M. (196',7) Conservationof roadsideflora. J. DevonTrust 12,487-89 I I I I I I I I I I t I ROADVERGES AND THE FARMER I R.K. CORNWALLIS (BleasbyGrange, Market Rasen,Lincs.)

I .... And over the hedgefrom the road vergethere is, usually,a farmer. This farmer's legal rights on the verge are vadable. In all modern road developmentsthgy are small, for highway authorities invadably purchasethe land from hedgerowto hedgerow.But on older roads he may actually own, or be tenant I of, the velge, eachfrontager's rights sometimesextending even to the middle point of the metalled cariageway. Alternatively ownershipmay be vestedin the Parish,the earlierhighway authority, dependingon the Parishaward'

In the past this was of some importance, for the road vergehetd a distinct, if minor, placein the rural economy. The t herbageof thi road verge could be halvestedeither by the owning farmer or by a lesseeof the padshauthority, ahtays eager to augmentits slgnderrevenues.

This harvestingnormally consistedin taking one or more cuts of hay, or in gazing. Occasionallyone hearsof lessusual I exploitations such as the 'geese-lettings'in the Lincolnshire fenland, the parishesthere letting the right to Srazeflocks of geeseduring their long cross-countrywaddle to market.

Grazingrights could be of someimportance especially in a time of drought. Their managementpresented few problems I in those days. There waslittle disturbance a few local cartsand waggons,the carrier two or three times a week, local farmen in their gigs,and occasionallythe squire or the parson in his carriage.And control of the animalscould be securedby "an o]]ld boy to tent 'em" at the cost of a few pencea day. T Nowadaysall this has been changed,like so many other aspectsof our lives,by the coming of the internal combustion engine.All legaland tladitional /ights on the road vergeshave been over-riddenby the demandsof road-safety.

No longer can the flow of traffic be impededby cattle wandedngall over the place,though the grazierstill hasthe dght I to drove cattle along the roads. I have noticed in my own villagethat one small farmer, who hasparcels of land a mile apart, seemsto take a great deal longer to move his dairy herd flom one to the other in a dry time, than he doeswhen there is a good growth of gtrass!-anddroving them nowadaysis not done by an 'ould boy'(who in any casewould be too expensive) but by the farmer himself at the wheel of his motor-car. Nor is it any looger good enough to rely on a successionof I independentfrontageN to keep down tall gowth on the velgesand so give clearvision aheadto motol traffic. Managementof the road verge has therefore been taken over by the highway authorities.But the frontagersstill make usd ol the vergesin severalways. If the strict legality of what they do were ever gone into, it is probable that they would I often be judged to be exceedingtheir legal rights. But in the splendid spidt of British compromiseworking taleranceshave been aohievedwhich, though they might not standup in a court of law, leaveeverybody teasonably happy. Many farmers,for example, when weather and a lull in thg genelal work of the farm allow, make somerough and not very valuablehay of the gass left by the council's cutte$. Probably they are guilty of theft from somebody,but at least the verge is tidied up and I nobody complains.In districts where sugarbeet is grown it is common practiceto clamp the roots on the roadsideafter they are carted off the fields, awaiting permits to go to the factory for processing.This is becoming lessconmon asmechrnical systemsof loading th€ lorries are developed,and growers are finding it necessaryto lay down rafts of concrete to savethe machines fiom sinking into the mud. But it is still not uncommon to see these clamps and it is done in a spirit of give-and-take.The iarmer has no legalright to site his clampson the road verges,but in my own county of Lindsey, provided I so vision of he keeps the edge of his clamp thrce feet from the cariageriay, does not site it near a corner asto obscurethe oncoming traffic, clears up the mud that inevitably falls on the adjacentroad surface,puts up "MUD ON ROAD" notices while clampingis going on, and tidies up th€ site after the beet hasall beensent to the factory, the highway authority looks way (though l|ot without sidewaysglances to seethat he doesall thesethings properly). Finally the farmer has,of the other 'booning' I course,access across the vergeto the gatesof his roadsidefields, any ngcessaly with stonebeing tolerated.

As well as dghts, or at least permissions,the frontager has obligations. Almost invariably he is responsiblefor the roadsidehedge, with any trees standingin it, and its accornpanyingditch. Wherethe vergeis narlow, an overgrowt hedgeor I the lower branchesof trees may erctoach on the highway and become a hazard to passingvehicles. He must keep them tdmmed back and keep the hedge low near cornersto allow good vision ahead lf he usesa mechanicalhedge-trimmer or ditch-diggerhe may work it on the road verge,but is responsiblefor clearingaway the thorns and for spreadingthe spoil from the ditch so that there is no hazardto road-safety.OftJn, where there is a traffic hazard,frontagers give piecesof land to the providing fencing. I couocil to allow the hedgeto be set further back on a corner, the council planting a new length of hedgeor (many a Becausehe has these obligations, the farmer often keeps a sharp took-out conservationiststhink too shalp desilable.I look-out) on the obligations of the highway authoity and demandsmore velge managementthan is biologically hasits roots in I ,l"ii pr.l"ufv be dtu-mmedo.rt ot ttri N.p.u. for saying this, but I wonder sometimeswhether this attitude they were farmer's feeling of his own shortcomings. In the past farmers took pride in the tidiness of their farmsi the year. ;hedge-proud'and iere often compelled by the terms of their tenanciesto trim every yard of hedgeevery layer them ( and 20'000 ."u"ntt year, and keep atl their ditches grassedout annually ln these daysof greatly reduc€dlarm stalfs I "u".ireguiar vrorkeis a year areieaving the land) ihesestandards are Lrecomingmore and more difficult. indeedimpossible, to he doesn't seewhy everyoneelse maintain. But even if he himself is slipping flom Fathel's and Glandfathe!'s standalds' if he's going to make a bit of should not be kept up to scmtch, or the m-otivemay simply be the more mundane one that, ."'gr'r'"vofftheroadvelge,hemightaswellmakeadecentquantityfromthefullwidthlathelthanjustabitfloma I narrow strip alongsidethe tarmac I I t I paper.Although of course,no farmerwould tolerate a healthvlbedof of conflictthat loomsvery largein the farmer'smind, I Finally, a whole new set of problems has arisen from the greater accessibilityof the countryside to the modern townsman.lt is interestingto reflecthow recentthese problems are, Up till the recentpast the countfysidewas really very inaccessiblelt was possiblefor the villagerto go with the commoncarrier to the localtown and get back home the same I night But the other way round was extremelydifficult withbut an overnightstay, except for the tiny minority who had their own transport.For therewas no publicservice in thosedavs except along main routes.

Nowadays,as privateownership of carsand moror-cycldsspreads down throughoutthe population,many thousahds I of townspeoplelike to visit the countryside.When they get therc they find that they are barredfrom mostof it by private ownership.So perforcethey makeuse of the roadsideverges for picnickingand so on, and inevitablythby leavebehind them the detritusof their invasion.The bottle thrown carelesslyovdr the hedgeto breakand cut the feet of stockin the adjacent I field. The plasticbag that blowsaway and stops up the gut of sbmeunfortunate cow. The pieceof metalor wire that is baled up alongwith the hay and either breaksthe baler or is eatenthe followingwinter bv a bullock.Th6 improperlydamped picnic-fireor carelesslythrown away cigarettethat catchesthe roadsidehedge on fire. All theseare ver\y' real problems to the I roadsidefarmer and their only solutionlies in greaterpublic aw4reness of the dangers. t I I I t I I I I I I I I I2 I I ROADVERGES-HAMPSHIRE N.F'U. EXPERIENCE IN 1968

R' J' WHITE I 1968Chairman Hampshire County N.F U Tiebddge Farm, Houghton, Stockbridge,Hants I Historical Background N.F.U. as a result of The problem of the uncut vergesin the County fir6t officially cameto the notice of the Hampshire on televisionwith the County a Resolutioll from the petersfieldg".an"h, fite backgroundto the Resolutionwas an intetview I how it was to be implemented and Suryeyor, when the inte iewer p"."J'qol.iio"r o" ihe Council's Verge Cutting Policy, weaponssuch as televisionit was no what eflects it would have. Knowing the ttemendousimmediate reaction to mais media decisionnot to cut vergeswas a County one' ..,rp.i." tfrut ifr" matter cameup thai sameevening at an N.F,U. meeting.As the discussthe matter with the authorities. t ;il;;;;;'*;;,ight and propei th;; i;;'a;r;;t ;;n"i, oi trr" N.p.u. ihoutd Meetingwith HampshireCounty Council andinlorm him of the concern The N.F.U. Secretaryand l, as Chairman,were deputed to meetthe County Surveyor I . a responsi!l:-b_.-11 countv felt by the agriculturalpopulation. irvlneio ;" ,"u.""abie and fairand represeoting 1"-^.u"d,he probGm which we as farmers, and the N F U as a Council what had been decided u"i''"fi'. ,q..money is an eternal with part of our questionfirst! It seemedthat the voluntary organisationare all too fu,nlfiui, -" g.,essedthe answerto the.econd a fate suffered by manv other local Hampshire county council nao teen toia to- trim their budget quite ruthleisly, I were to bearaheavy section ol authorities.and it certainlyappeared to us that the Roadsand Bridgesdeparlment -r€quired. wherethe budgetshould have been cut back' this cut-backin expenditure,althou;h w; are not competentto saylow ind in the Budget. lt would appear to us as The situation seemed to be turtnei aggravatedby c;rtain measulescontained sightedin the extreme. The loul main points at I ratepayers,that the decision to cut dowi on cedain expenditr:'e was short issuewere decision!

a.Nottocutroa(lvelgesinthecountythismeantthatthecutting,whenitwasdone,wo.uldcostconsiderabl]/ be cut' I more. due to the extra amount of deadgrowth, overgro$n bramble etc that would need to in 1969' b. No new whrtelines or catseyes thisjust meantthat twiceas much wouldneed to be done I c. No rlew sigt posts similar answerto (b) above. 'Keep pub-licto rlse litter bins and d. No litter collections-surely a retrogradestep Everyonehas been imploring the Bdtain Tidy'. Now it appearedthat someof the accumulatedlitter would not be collected' I aspectswhich we as farmersand laymen could not understand' Returnins to the financial background,there were two w" *"." ilr,iiiJ n!: i iiirri . tiing ieryes a considerablenumber of men would becomeredundant. was this so? was ".t """ any HampshireCounty Council"f road workir p;t out of his job? In one casein particular we know of stafi being taken on not take placeand wereany lossesmerely-normaI retirement Certainlvwe did Dii the suggestedtedundancy 1lg,Y1tj:q:i oI I the fiampshire County Council for putting thdr employeesoul ol the Employees'Organisations-criticising not hear any -iru"tot.,.grass cutlers, ditching machineryand point concerrrsthe Hampshirecounty council *u"trina.y workl rhe second an annual figure fol depreciation' was owned by a farmer ot a contlactor he woutd traveto aitow the like. If this machinery to^u.sthat the Hampshirecounty wasused or not. FrLm the information *" ."r" giu"n, it would.appeal whether the machine wear out: I allowancefor any machinethat might rust out rathe! than i:o*."ii -ua".o depreciation

The Farmers'Concern

I Why were the farmers' concerned,just how genuine was this concern and now that the decisionis out of the political cockpit,what lessonscan be leamed? I The farmers' concerncan genuinelybe said to coverthe following: a. Filst and foremostSAFFTY

The one word 'Safety' covers a multitude of different aspects the safety of small children wali(ing to school on I overgrown vergeswhere it was possiblethat they might be unseenby traffic; the safety of farmersand farm worke$ using the narrow lanesmade narrower by the ovcrgrowngrasa; the dangersoi driving stock along theseovergrown lanesi the dangersof warning signsbeing hidden by weed growlh. Sight lines on bendswere certainly much lessuseful as a result of interferenceof vlsion by Ihe weeds. We know of one ,rh"r" the Coroner saw fit to criticise the Authorities on the grounds that the I overgrown vergeswere a contributory hazard"us" in a fatal accident We do not know the facts of the caseso we are not rn a positionto comment-but whatwe would sayis that the Coroner'stemarks were indicative of the dangers. I b. GOODHUSBANDRY The uncut Hampshire verges will leave their mark on Hampshire Farming for many ycars to come-one year's seeds seve, ye.ar'sweeds it may rlot be cornpletely true today wjth modern weed kitlers but tJle amount of weed seed,in particular dock and ragwort, will surely make their presencefelt in many unwanted placesduring 1969 and a number of t subsequentyears too. By allowingthese noxious Weeds to seed-andthe 1959Weeds Act definesnoxious weeds as docks. thistlesand ragwort-the County Councilwere of cou6ebreaking the law.We found the Ministryof Agriculturereluctant to use their powers under thF WeedsAct. Many farmersfelt strongly on this matter-they felt that the Ministry would willingly take on some poor strugglingpeasant farmer but they did not relish a brush with such a powerful body as the Hampshire I County Council. ln the long run, on the Fawley by-passI trelievethe County Council did cut someof the seedingdocks but by the time they took action most of the seedwas ripe and cutting merely servedto shakeout the remainingseed, I l3 I T DRAINAGE I The unparalleledwet autumn and winter of 196g, and the ruIl off irom all the roads made heavy demandson roadside ditches Many of these were quite incapable of dealing with the sudace water they were required to carry for the simple reason that their sides were overgtown with vegetatiol and the actua] capacity for water carrying was considerably reduced. This causcd widespread flooding of farm land and whilst we recognise that the abnoimally w; wirlter would have led to I flooding anyway, I submit that this was aggavated by the uncared lor state of roadside ditihes. I saw, again with concern, that the Corcner in an adjoining county saw fit to criticise the Authorities there because their ditches were unkempt; this in turn had led to flooding on a road which, said the Coroner, was a contributory factor to another fatal accident. How often can I and must I stress that Safety was the biggest worry of thellarming community. I The Legal Position The legal position regarding ownership of roadsid€ vergps segms very much to be lost in the mists of antiquity and I I believe that if you went to half a dozen leading Counsel for Nheir opinions on this vexed subject you might well get half a dozen different answersl I think that the fairest way of looking at it is to say that County Counclls can be regarded as 'Occupiers' of the vergesas part of the road system which enablesthe Subjectsof her Majesty The Queen to travel ftom point gas, A to point B. County Couniits are all too ready to grant various public bodies the rights to lay such things as telephones, seismic^surveys.su-rely,they would not be so I water, sewelageetc. in the vergesand to allow such actions as shot blasting for lf I may just touch on a liberai with tieir powers if thiy did not think that they w6re the dghtful owners of the verges? fol particularly thorny subject-in 1965 the farming commuflity felt that they wele being singled out by the covernment posters.Hampshire treaiment. palt of our answe-rwas a maisive public relatiorls campaign which included roadside unfair placed staff were quickly on tho scene to conliscate the stdkes and the posten ot the I county coulrcil Roads and Bridges a favoulable position that it can verges,which they claimed had bein erectedon their pioperty. Is the county council in such that the position will be clarified in choose to own or not to own the verges-alwil lust as ii suits the'? I think not. I think to our memben where new roads are made or where widening opelations ate carded out, since we are sugggsting th" ir,u." a with them fo! the purchases of land necessaly, the falmel coflcerned should make I it ot rt th€ County Council contracts full responsibility for the care and condition"r-, of the sale a clause to the effect that the County Council will assume maintenanceof the vergesof the new road. I Where do we qo from here? ol moncy on cutting lqhq lhe Hdmpshire(ounl! Council.we are told. are proposinglo spendlhr-same.'mounl ln that with the t am not an economist but as a pl;ctising farmer I would like.tO suggest roadside vergesas they spent in 196?, prepared of the work will come within the budget provisions l am well I fall in the purchasing power of the f oniy fO%-.aSZ" tobeprovcdwrongwithmyguesstimate!Anothellactortobelemembere.listhatthevelgestobecutinl969willhaveacutte! and add season'sgrowth This must impede the progressof.the ycar's gowth to be cut rn-addrtron io ttt" ,'o'-ol lhat where the countj council hrve cut odd slretche\lhev admil t'onsiderablyto Ihe costsol cuf ng any parricular-;;;"rpona"n""stretch. we with the Countv council in the summer and autumn I thef costs have inoreased "..rid:;;iy:-i; savesnrtle ' made this point on the basis of'a stitch in time "oniinualv Reaction from the General Public I by verY reluctantly' that little good would be achieved the Hampshire N'F U' Executivc acrcepted' albeit ln the summel our tactics and in letters to the rtress we oo ,n, *"uio. - isis. \ir'e tirerefore ciange,l pressing the Council to lo.ensurelhat provision was made in 'n"r,l";; "ritr,u r" io"u."t on iii"it. or"iv iiuncillors succesredrhar rural dwelrers speakingin general lhe responsewas to allow";";;:;:, for a return to 163d5iflg.veree uLltting I county council hudger people wno lh.' l,Jba Hurfuttaty we madi There were a few *lifr',fr"'iui"iy alrU.Cooa flourish' sympathetic and very much.in to allow"ui. for nalulalflord and faunato "**"".""i *re"iir;.ut publiJ look rhe extremeoooor,," u,"*^,,i.'r';;;;;;.;;";i;rtrarlo" that therearc plenly of .lo und cooa Husbandryrn"r,_..ti"iitu.i*outJnt.o.uy wnose lhese we wouro ruy 'ir"'nna"" whire the rnleresrsof thore feople "rffi *lvr.-counirvria" Prtil: ;.;;it;;;;tc.. I footfalhs across farm tand. 0,"",', lor quite adequately rt" n..a and fauna can be catered ".""!it. I I I I I t4 I I I THE LAW ON INJURIOUSWEEDS

Legislation on injuious weeds dates from the Corn Production Acts of l9l7 and 1920 and further provisions were provisions I intioduced unde! a number of subsequentActs, In July 1959 the previousenactments were repealedand all the consolidatedin the weedsAct, t 959. The injurious weodsto which the WeedsAct appliesare:

cisium wlsare (SpearTh istle) I Cirsium aryense (Creepingor field Thistle) Rumex clispus (CurledDock) Rumex obtusifolius (Broad-leavedDock) I Senecioiacobaea (Ragwort) and additional weedsmay be prescribedby regulations.

The Minister has power under the Act to servenotice on an occupier of land requhing him, within the time specifiedin I the notice, to take such action as may be necessaryto prevent the injurious weeds from spreading.An occupier who unreasonablyfails to comply with the requirementsof such a notice is liable, oll summary conviction, to a fine oot exceeding t'75, or fot a secold or subsequentoffence, not exceeding0150; the Minister may also enter on the land and take the I necessatyaction to prevent the weedsfrom spreading,recovering the cost of doing so ftom the occupier' Since 1939, there have been changesin the delegation of the Minister's powers. At presentthe councils of county boroughsexercise the delegatedpowers on non-agriculturalland within their arcas,the Minister's diYisionalexecutive officers the powe$ on non-agricultunl land outside the county boroughs, and the county agdcultural executive committees on I agdcultural land within thefuareas.

I From the WEED CONTROL HANDBOOK, 5th edition 1958, Eds.J. D, Fryer & S. A, Evans,Volume 1 (Principles).Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford and Edinbrirgh. With I acknowledgements. I I I I I I t I I I I ROADVERGES - THEAGRICULTURAL STGNIFICANCE OF WEEDSAND WILDPLANTS T R.J. CHANCELLOR. M.A., The WeedResearch Organisation, Begbroke Hill, yarnton. Oxford I

Roadside^oausrue vergesvgrges havenave a richncn and variedvaned flora.flora, whilch is derived in palt from the plants that inhabited the orlce extersive marginal ateas of scrub and rough grassland separating cultivated iandland from forest. The gradual expansion of I agriculture over the yeals combined with the f;[ing of foiesls ha'sresulted in many of these plantsi bping confined to less extensivehabitats, such as roadsides,where they can find condixionssuitable to their iequiremenis.A rnutnber ofo{ these species lj:.?f::l*i, l.^1,_c_.L,li':.'-"-{te+!lryl--:eggl,. GarlicMustard !4t!sg_esliel@, Roughchervil (chaerophylrum remulenrum).harins a life-spanoTiio-lEii6ifrEiil is incomparible-iiE-Gi;E;;rffi" *""a'*J irr.-L;iffiitiii I pasture weeds. However, there are on toadsides other species of plants,plants. of various life-spans,life-sDans. that have weedyweedv charactedsticscharacferistjcs and that are weedsof varying agicultuml importance. It is the purposeof this paperto ionsider whethor theseweedy plants constitute a threat to agricultureor whether, like the relic biennialsthat grow with them, they are seekingsanctuary from the ever-incfeasingdemands of man upon the countryside. t In order to assessthe agricultural significanceof roadsideplants it is necessaryto determine first what speciesoccur there that are potentially weedsof farm land, then their capability of spreadinginto adjacentagdculturdl land and thirdly, if they can spreadin, how important they are as weeds,To find out which wgedy speciesoccur in roadsidea surveywas carried I out by the Botany Sectionof the WeedResearch Organisation. Because time waslimited only two localitjleswere investigated; Oxford (mixed farming and wetter) and Chelmsford, Essex(inore arable and d!ye!), Within a 2o-milb circle around each centre, 50 lengths of roadside were assessedby recording the damesand degee of abundanceof all weedy plants.Only sites (selectedat random) where the soil had not recently been disturbed wererecorded, because disturbed soil encouragesplants I that do not persistin and are not characteristicof establishedroadside verges. Each site was 20 yards long, but vaded in width to includethe wholeverge. The Oxfordshircsites were assessed in Augustand the Essexones in October1968. To avoidbias in selecting plants for listing, it was decided that it would bq easiestand fairest to record too many rather than too few speciesand to include 'weeds' of all man-managedsituations and not only agricultulal weeds.However, illthough theseplants pest, I all have weedy charactedsticsto a greateror lesserextent, their importanceas weeds,implying a statushs an economic variesconsiderably. a. llVeedspresent in the road3ides I The resultsof the suryeyare givenin Table l, which showsthe percentageoccurrence of speciesin eachlocality and as a percentageof the occurrences,the numberof timesthat eachspecies was common to abundant.The commonestspecies were lrequent in both localities, but vergesin other pads of the country may of cor]rsediffer greatly, dependingon soil, I ctmate and other elvironmentlacto.s. b. Methodsol spreadof weedsfound in the roadsides Although methodsof plant dispersalare frequently listed in botanicalworks it is difficult to obtain any data on the t degreeof successobtained through different methods.Over a quarterof the plantsin Table 1 aredispersed by wind to a to the seed,which enablesit to be greareror lesserdegree. Dandelion [!lgI39!I_91!9il9]_g) has a pappusof hairs attached blown to any distance(Small, 1918; Ridley,1930). However,Seeds with a pappusdo not alwaystravel indefinite distances. jacobaea) I One experimentin New Zealand(Poole & Cairns,1940) showedthat few seedsof Ragwort(Senecio travelled perhaps further than 40 yards.Other speciesmerely have flattened fruitts, eg Hogweed(Heracleum sphondyliunl), which are blown a few feet, while others,eg Broomrap"(94gI!E ,jlgd haveno wind-catchingadaptation, but the seedsare carried a long way becausethey are so light and are carried like dust in air cur(ents T Birdstoo undoubtedlyplay a pa in seeddispersat. It wasonce thought that finchesand other blrdswere very useful that becausethey ate and destroy;dthe seedsof cornfieldweeds, hut it hasbeen shown (Collinge, quoted by Ridley' 1930) have someseeds lscape digestion and passthough the birdsuninjured and so aredistribut€d by them.Pigeons, for instance, and Knotgrass I uatr" weeas-eeds, eg charlock(Sinipis arvensis), Docks,(Rumex. speciesl. cleavers {calium ap-4lin€) vi"iJea somebirds' ( Polveonumaviculare). trom therr aropiin-lifFitGll'i6 30t. A feiG? siedscan then passinhirmed t hidugh Wffi;ffiAEmFTeposit theseseedsf The question of whethet seed-eatingbirds excreteduring llight is apparently not very then thereis a good very well known. It is suggested(Ridley, l93b) that theydo, especiallyif startled lf they do so normally pelched on a bfanchthen the chancesate I un"" tfrut the seedswili be dropped into a field, but if they evacuateonly when agiculture.However, it hasbeen that"t the seedswill be dgpositedin a hedgerow,where they would be of little importanceto by the concentrationsof wild oats ..t"Jii."g, 1968) that overheadpo*"i linet'"utt serveis su-bstitute.branches, as shown be of someimportance in dispe$ing ;;;;r-8 ;'d;. in"-, una theseliries do of coursepass over fiblds. Bkds may therefore I someweeds. worst weedsof agdcultule' and weeds can also spreadby their own unaidedefforts. creeping pelennialsare amongthe of spreadva.ies, eg couch Grass th*" ;;; to sfecies oi plants in Table I that sprcadby creepin' roots or stems,The distance year(Raleigh al, 1962)'while CreepingThistle (Cirsium I (Aeropvronrepens) can ,rp ,o io f""t rb in. irra et ?rvgnse) from roadsideswill de0endupon whether a tir"dffi,5-i;'f,;'y;;;iR"g;, "t""p 1909). The dangerof theseplants spreading ditch may prove an in$uperableobstacle to ditch or other barrier is presentbetween the weed and the field or not. A deep weedswithsubtertaneano""p,,,g'pu,t"suchasPerennialsowthistle(.s"l"t'"g*g:!9'buttoothe$thatcleeplalge I distanoesabove ground, such as Bellbine (Calystegiasepium), it may not' can catch on clothing' animal fuf or wool and so get A few weeds have hooked truits,-seedsor flower heads,which disDersed.ThemainexampleinTable,lisCleavers(Galiumap4rine),whichhashookedbristlesonitsseeds.Although that there mav be.differcnt of the plant, I irjii'""i}'iiiai"i'it t, irt"t common in fieras,TEicfiE-rgnt sugsest .races alsotrue of Arrhenatherum eldius (Oat-grass)and some of which are incapable"J "riof surviv-i-ng'u.un utJi" *""a; tfrig is-possib-li (Onion variety. its-?iil--,nit bulbosum Couch) brief survey of dispersalmethods it appearspossible that seedsor vegetativeparts of weedscan and T undoubtedly do get into fields from roadsideverges, It requiresof courseonly one seedof a self-fertileweed or one rhizome of a perennialto start an infestatio I I I TABLEI I Theoccurrence and frequency of weedsin roadsideverges around Oxford and Chelmsford Species PercentageOccurrence Percentageof Siteswhere frequent t OXFORD CHELI\4S'D OXFORD CHELI\45'D t. Arrhenatherumelatius 94 86 56 34 2. Urticadioica 88 92 62 80 I 3. Heracleumsphondylium 88 88 30 32 4. Taraxacumofficinale 82 68 6 6 5. Agropyronrepens 80 86 36 50 28 52 I 6. Anthriscussylvestris 78 90 '16 7. Trifolium repens 76 16 8. Rubusspp. 64 16 20 9. Achilleamillefoliu m 62 62 12 12 I 10. Cirsiumarvense 62 14 24 18 I. Galiumaparine 20 18 '10 12. Convolvulus arvensis 56 30 2 13. Plantagolanceolata )z 38 10 12 t 14. Ranunculusrepens 50 2 16 15. Plantagomajor 50 24 2 6 16. Rumexcrispus 34 14 I 17. Lamiumalbum 34 16 4 8 18. Holcuslanatus 32 24 2 14 19. Rumexobtusifolius 30 30 2 2 20. Ranunculusacris 26 64 44 I 21. l\4atricariamatricarioides 20 2 22. Glechomahederacea 20 12 2 4 23. Medicagolupulina 18 Sonchusasper 18 10 2 I 25. Tragopogonpratensis 16 2 26. Polygonumaviculare 16 2 27. Epilobiumhirsurum l4 44 6 l8 T 28. Cirsiumvulgare 14 29. Artcmisiavulgaris 14 4 30. Ceranium pratense 12 't0 31. Poaannua 56 4 I 32. Silenealba 10 6 33. Agrostisstolonifera 10 28 12 Picrisechioides 8 12 2 35. Chamacnerionangustifolium 8 2 I 36. Carduusacanthoides 8 2 37. Papaverrhoeas 8 38. Avenafatua 6 I 39. Calystcgiasepiu m 6 40. Sonchusarvensis 6 41. Cerastiumholosteoides 6 t Tripleurospermuminodorum 6 Pastinacasativa 4 44. Sisymbriumofficinale 4 +). Lapsanacommunis 4 10 I 46. Arctiumminus 4 2 Equisetumarvense 4 6 48. Arctium lappa 2 T 49. Orobancheminor 2 50. Ononisrepens 2 51. Geraniumdissectum 2 I 52. Deschampsiacaespitosa 2 53. Juncusinflexus 2 I 54. Armoraciarusticana 2 t t I TABLEI (Qontinued) Species PercentageOccur(ence Percentageof LSiteswhere frequent t OXFORD CHELI\4S'D OXFORD CHELI\4S'D 55. Pteridiumaquillnum 2 56. Silenevulgaris 2 I 51. Seneciovulgaris 2 58. Raphanusraphanistrum 2 59. Papaverdubium 2 I 60. Alliumvineale 2 61. Rumexacetosa 14 62. Ranunculusbulbosus 12 63. luncuseffusus 6 t 64. Angelicasylvestris 6 65. Cirsiumpalustre 4 66. Sinapisarvensis 2 procera t 67. Utmus 2 68. Stellariamedia 2 69. Seneciojacobaea 2 I

The a$iculturil importance of weedEfound on roadrides Of the arableweeds Couch Grass (Agropyron repens) is probablythe most importart, By competitionit canreduce t 'take crop yields(Bandeen &Buchhollz , 196'l) andit is an alternalivehost to Ophiobolusgaminis, the all' diseaseof whoat, It is virtually ubiquitous in agricultural land, which is due in somemeasure to its rhizomescoming in at field maryins.Othcr importantrrable weeds.eg Knotgrass(Polygonum aviculare), Corrr Poppy (Papaver rhoeas), Wild OatslAvcna fatua,, Si('ntless\4ayweed { Tripleurospermum ffifiiimum sspfi;A;umr, wild RadisFTR-iihanu-iriFfi'anistrum r. Chfil5iRSiiii'is l alvenslsr,(,rounoser ()enecro vutgans, ano (nlcKwecd(Ste alra meorar,altnougn o en commonon newly-sownroaosloe GilEi?nd for one or tVo-Te sowing.arc in f reqifiTo-i-Tn-dlliGbed well-establishedones.

Of grasslandweeds, Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arven!e)is the most frequent and of greatestimportance. Its far- creepilrg I roots can easilyinvade fields, especiallycuJtir-itdii-6iiElTt-ii easily controlled by herbicidesin arableland, but posesproblems in grassland.Being dioecious(ie. having separatemale and female flower plants) it only occasionallypfoduces seed, and for somereason the pappusoften separatesfrom the seedin the headand blowsaway alone, so coltrary to popularbelief the \eedsarr nor wind-dispersed.Other importanl weeds of grassland.eg Rushes(Juncus species). Bracken (_tsfgj".jjjf]]l!Il) I anJ Ragworl(Senecio jacobaeaj. were uncommon in the surveyedroadsides (Table l): but arelocally important elsewhere. Broadleaved O.ak@!131!!!5) is, however, frequent and can invade grassland,Successful invasion of established gassland is encouragi?-T6i-i6iT1[-iE by poor managemen!:Ragwort, for example,is consideredto be symptomatic of neglect(Fryer & Chancellor,1956). Woody plants from thf hedgescan also invadegrassland, although any significant I establishmentof theseplants in agriculturalland would invariably be dueto poor management.

Thele arc two additionalweeds which are worth mentioningalthough not occurdngin Table l. CoitsfootGg$!bgg- farfara)is a common rhizomatousweed that frequentlycoloniEes grit heapson roadsides.lt produceswind'borne seed and is I 6Tiii-a problem in arable land. JapaneseKnotweed q9_Lyg$Ig_gg!p!4!@ is also rhizomatous, but lar lesscommon. [t grows mainly in Walesand the south-westof England,but occurs widely elsewhereas well. lts ae al stems,which grow to 8 feet,are potentially a nuisanceon roadsides. I To find a road vergewith a greatdensitv o{ weedsand an adjacentfield containingthe samewqeds in lesserdensity would constitute the only evidenceof roadsideweeds invading agricultural land. This situation was looked for, but proved very hard to find. A field of barley was found where there \rele Wild Oats (Avena fatua) both in the fi€ld and on the'rorBe; but there were many Wild Oats in the field and very few on the verge.It was therefore almost certaih that the weed was I spteadingoutwards from the lield and not inwardsfrom the verge.No other evidenceof movementin eitherdirection was obseryed:but this doesnot of coulserule out its occuffence. It appea6then that althougha numberof weedsof agriculturalimpo.tance do occurin roadsidds,and someare very T frequent, they do not in general constitute a serious threat to agiculture. Neverthelessthey are a potentlal source of infestationshould local conditionsbecome favoumble to theh establishmentand spread.The greatestdanger perhaps is presentedby creepingperennial weedsthat have wind-borne sded,eg. PerennialSowthistle (Sonchus arlvensis) and Coltsfoot (!q$44g9 &43Ig). Sonchusaryensis, from the Survey data, occurs at a density of about live plants per mile of roadside I uftiiilTa o,,tora at.to;ota-fiiTFffiia Ch€lmsford.However, the most frequently quoted danger-thistledown from Creeping Thistle is invariably harmlessfor the seedsare left behind in the flowering head. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I Acknowledgementis madeto Mr T,W.Cox and Miss14J,Taylor for their help in carrying out the roadsidesurveys. I I I t BIBLIOGRAPHY

BANDEEN,J.D and BUCHHOLTZ.K P (1967) Competitiveeffects of quackgrassupon corn asmodified by fertilisation. l Weeds!L 220-4. FRYFR. J D and Chancellor,R J (1956)Ragwort and its control. t Agriculture,Lond, 63, 65-9 LONC, E ( 1968)The wild oat bogymoves south-west. Frms Wkly.!! ( I I ), 90.

POOLE.A L and CAIRNS. D ( 1940)Botanical aspects of Ragwort(Senecio jacobaea L) control.Bull. Dept.Sci. indust. I Res.\. Z. \o.8 2. RALF.lcH, S M., FLANAGAN, T R and VEATCH,C (1962) Life historystudies as related to weedcontrol in the northeast: I 4-Quackgrass.Univ. of Rhodelsland Agric. Exptl St. Bull.,No 365 RIDLF,Y,H N ( 1930)The dispersalof plantsthroughout the world. L Reeve& Co..Ltd.. Ashford.Kent. t ROCERS(1909) Colorado Agric. Coll. Exptl Sta.Bull., No. 348. I SMALL, J ( I 9l 8) Theodgin and developmentof the Compositae.New Phytol. I 7, 200-30 I t I I I I I I t T I I t I VERGESAND THE HIGHWAY I C. R.CHADWICK, Fi.t.C.E,, M.t.Mun.E., CountySurveyor of Wiltshire,County Hall, Trowbddgq, Wilts. I

1. The highllray

For severalcentudes public have eojoyed, I the under Co8mon Law, rights over the highway, whi6h hasbeen described as "a perpetualright of passagefor the Queenand all her subjects", This description is importalt becauseI think there is a geat deal of misunderstandiflgas to what a highway is and what the powen and dutiesof a highway authodty are.The public highway is in a sensean abstraction;the descdption makesnq asse ion as to ownership and no publid rights subsistexcept the right of passageas a generalmle. It is, neverless,a most idportalt right, evenif it hasbeen somewhatmodified in recent t years by legislation and orders ptescribing limitatiofls as to tle manner ol its use, such as, for example,by the making of traffic rcgulation orders,in order to meet the requirementsof the motot age.

2. Different categoriesof public highways I

Public highwaysmay be divided into six principal categotles,viz.:-

a. Motorways: Theseroads are generallythe responsibllityof the Minister of Transport and Civll Aviation who is the t highway authority. They are a special classof highway and dilfer in severalimportant relpects from all other classesof road, particularly as to the types of tmffic permitted to use them, eg cyclists,pedestdans and animals on foot are specificallyprohibited from usingmotorways. The maintenanceof motorv,/aysis generallycaffied out by the County Councilsthrough whoseareas they firn, as agentsfor the Minister. I

b. Trunk Roads: Theseare national (lo[g distance)routes which, like the motorways, are th€ responsibilityof the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation as the highway authority. Improvemeotsto and maintenanceof trunk roads arc, however,generally carried out by Couniy Councils(or County Borough and in sdmecases Borough or I Urban District Councils)as agentsfor the Minister. most part under the c. pdncipal and Non-pdncipal Roads; These are the classifiedand unclassifiedroads for the powels (esponsibilitiesof the contr;l of County Coun;ils as highway authoities. (ln some urban aleasthe and I of road upon highway authorities devolveuporiCounty Borough Councilsand in somecases and for som6classes predominantly rural nJroug-hand Urban District Councils, but as we ale concernedhere with what I think is a p*lf"-^ f tftun confine my remarksto roadsunder the control of county Councils.) I public of pasbagefor vehiclesbut d. Non-maintainedhighways: These are highways over which there ale dghts which neverthelesshave not beentaken over as publicty repairableroads' ridels' e. Bridle roads: These,as the nameimplies, are dghts of passagefor ho$es and their I

f.Footpaths:Heretherightofpassageis,ofcourso,'onfootbutitshouldbenotedthatapublicfootpathmay- existenceof a major right with a v-ehicutairiehl tt inouta abo be noted that at common Law the .privale. rights of passage,viz. asa bridle wav and "o'*ittof passage, oy u"rrr"ri"",-i-tutri.rr". tr."-"r,i"t"roe of all other minor I footway, along"g. that highway.

TheCountlysideAct,l968,hasintfoducedsomechzngesinthelawconcelningdghtsofway'notablybyestablishinga think we ne€d be coocernedh€re' "tvruv;u, uli"* but with which I do not I "iassificaiion, 3. Principalfeatures of a public highlwy t Generallyspeaking,thehighwayqompdsesametalledway..(thecarriageway),oneoltwofootwaysolvelgesanda from the metalledway or piped drainsand gulleys' or of surface water o.urnug" lv-ni*n, oi a;t"tt"t uno otflets svstem "iiitJt variouscombinations of eachof thesefeatures' illugtratedin Fig' I which I accordingto its layout: typical casesare The extent of the highway, i.e. its boundaries,vaies right of way' ,t o*, tii" verles in relation"to the rcmainderof the I I I I 2Q I I I I I TYPICAL HIGHWAYBOUNDARIES I I t I I I I T I I I I

I FrG.t. I I I I

In this connexion it should be noted that the right of passageextends over the entire width betweenboundades. Any I ditchesand bourdary hedgesdo not, except in rare cases,form pa of the highway. The ditches,even where they assistinthe drainageof the highway aro, in general,the responsibility of the owner or occupier of th€ adjoining land, and not of the highway authority. I Similarly, the common presumption is that the soil dver which the highway runs is (except where it has been speciiically conveyed to the highwdy 4uthodty) the property of tho owne! o.! the adjoining land up to the centre of- the highway.This fact, which underlinesthe conceptionof the highway as a dght of passage,is often the causEof misunderstanding amongstthe generalpublic and not infrequently with the owrlersof adjoining lands,but is of considerdbleimpottanca when I considelingthe powers and responsibilitiesof the highway auljhority. Of these,the most important is the preservationof the passagearld the prevention of its obstruction or closurc to such use. In this connexion it should be noted that no right of 'bus obstructioncan be permittedwithout specificstatutory authority-stuctures such as roadsideseats arid sheltersbeing exceptionsconditionally permitted bV statute. Statutory urldertakings,i.e. the electricity.gas and water broads,P.O. t Telephonesand sewglageauthorities have,however, statutory powen ior the placing and maintenanceof their apparitus in the highway.

4, Maintenanceof verges t

The principal requirementsof a v€rgemaintenance policy are:

a. to ensurethe proper surfacewater drainageof the highway; I

b. to provide a footwalk or refuge for pedestmins(not necessarilypaved);

c, to preventobstruction by overhangi{gtlees or hedges,both within the width of the highway and for visibility; I

d, to provide visibility at bendsand junctions;

e. to controlthose weeds listed in the WeedsAct, 1959; t

f. to preserveand where possibleto improve the amenitiesof the road and the adjoining countlyside. cenerally speaking,these objects are achievedby the 4nnual siding out of the edgesof the cariageway to prevent I herbaceouseneroachment on to the metalled sudace; by keeping drainageofflets open; by the regulal cutting of the grass (generally three or four times bgtween April and October); by endeavouringto ensure that the owne$ or occupierc of adjoining lands trim or prune their hedggsor trees on the boundadesof the highway; by spraying noxious weeds with seiectivJ weed killers, generally 2,4-D formulations, where ndcessary;and by the planting of trees and shrubsin suitable I posirioncin the roadsideverges.

As mentioned in 3 above, the highway authoity is undei a duty to ensurethat the highway is kept lree of obstruction. Whilst this presentsfew difficulties in the caseof motorways, trunk and county roads, the lack of use of many of our old I greenlanes iometimes necessitateslarge-scale clearance of brushwoodand saplings,often over consideratle areas,and can be a iery expensiveoperation whether caried out by mechanicaldutting rlone or by cutting and spiaying with 2,4,5-T or similar order to eliminate euite apart from the obstruction causedby such growth, its clearanceis often necessafyin land. cover"frJrni"ut..and breeding ground for rabbits alld other pestsin the intelests of good husbandtyof the adjoinlng I qf the Houseof Lords The duties of a higlway authority io the maintenance its roadsare well defined in a decisiol of in 1915,acting in itsjudicial capacity, which states:-

,,lt is the duty of road authoritiesto keep their public highwaysin- a statefit to accommodatP.the. ordinary traffic changelin chalacterso must which passesor may be expect€d to pu., uiong them. As thi oldina* tlaffia expandsor the nature of the maintenanceand repaiI of the highway alter to suit th€ change"' I pel annud-it may well double Road-ttte traffic in thascountry is currently increasingat bdtween 57a and 8Vacompound vehicle,- necessitates in -rr-""Jiigrrtrit*ana tn is, *itt the vast]vimgroved performa nce of the modern motdr witt lr"o radius ctrrves'wider vergesoo "e"i-oeciJe ^i"ou t"lJ,, i"nltiont una on u.rtical iurves. This requireslarger increasein the ratio of grais to metalledareas' Some typical layouts the".r;ii".rrrt inside of bends and at junctions"Jnd un appi""Utfe I applicableto main loads are shown in Figs 2a and 2b'

I I I t I I I I I H !"gYi.' MrNra?iY oF rFANsrlin1 6TArlO\ROt vt6r6rlrry p.r^Nct6 (r{oFEoN.r^L I !€f]1car)- I 0E5!6N MIJ'MVM sraaD ovtRtAxrNj 910rrr(l M c H (sM!E c/*t (s66rvsrr! c,r,{a, gso 60 t40c o!o' t 60 L2oo' 4aa & aao toat 30 200 ?5 - rl0' I 20 - ]|o T Ftc . 2 (b) VISICILITY AT JUNCTIONS. WPICAL LAIOUT I NOI ro 6saLE I I I I t I I I 23 l I I

t think it will generally be ageed that it would be very foolish to spend considerable sums of rBotey on the engineedrg works involyed in achievingthese standardswithout a1 the sametime making the necessaryarrangemehts for thes€standards I to be maintain€d by Foper vergemanagement. This meansthat trees or shrubs which would interfero with visibility should not be planted within th€ desigled sightlinesand that any hffbage must bc kept sufficiently low by riowing over the entire width concerned.On straight sectionsof road theseconsiderations do not, of course,apply and in such casesit will genelally be sufficient to cut one swathewidth of $ass adioiningthe kehbor chalnel for the convenieoceof pedestrians.lt will alsobe I possibleto plant trees and shrubs,having due regard to their future gowth and spreadand to the pos$ibility of a falling leaf problem and associatedrisk of skidding accidentsin the autumn.

It should be noted that trees and hcrbage naturally g.rowingon the highway belong to the owner of the soil, ie the planted I owner of the adjoining land, up to the c€ntre line of th€ highway. This doesnot, of course,apply to fte€so! sfuubs by the highway authority under the statutory powersand whioh remain in their ownership. 5. The extent of the Problem I Therc are npp(oximately 120,OOOmiles of surfacedpublic highwaysi!! the English countiesand I estimatethat there are about 300,OOtr acresof roadside verge under the contrOl of the highway authoriti€s. Although no official figures are guid€ availablefor the cost of verge maintenancefor the country 4s a whole, taking the figures for my own county as a I gMl'5 arrdtM3 per annum' This probably represents I tf.ut this will be of the order of f5 to f l0 per acrc,ol betw€en geological i"iii"".iir*t" sn ar,d l57o of the total cost of generalmaintenanpe according to the classof road' As, however, and and ;[matic cooditions-palticularly rainfall-yaly so much over tb.ecountry, thesefigures must be trcated with someresefle are given simply as someindication of the prcportions of the problem. I post yeals The necessityto reduce costson maintenanceand the considetablyreduced labour foroe availabloin th9 war have stimulated the mechanisationof this work, and have rosulted in the virtual disappearanceof the l€ngthsmanand his rcplacemelt by specialpurpose machines and mobile mainteriancegangs. Whilst I do not think that there can be any doubt Lrrt tft"t tf," ;ld; lage-lengthsmanrespoffible for his own three or four miles of road-which he often treated as his own I personal property!-was a-most effective method of maintenance,the post-war situation has made this system quite i.po.*itfi to maintain €xcept in certain areas,Whilst acknowledgingthe inevitability of this developrnent,I would like to yeal take this oppottunity of paying tribute to the men who did this job in all weathels thloughoul the and whose dirupp"ut"n"i from the rural icene is, I am sure,a matter of reFet to many of us. The improved machinpsand methods which I traveieen developedfor this work in rece[t years have, howcver, ensuredthat essentialmaintenance has not beenneglected and, from a purely technical point of view, haspossibly been irFproved .

6. Amenities t The preservationand improvement of amenitiesin relalion to highway maintenanceis a subj_ecton.which very diverse havereferred tends opinions aie held. on the one hand, the maintenanceof the l'built-in" engineeringstandards to-which I pieservethe verge in a iJ'wu.ar un urban neatnesswhich will be anathemato some, whilst on the other hand the wish to I can ploduce seriousproblems ;t aiuiaf" rtute with wayside plants allowed to -examplegrow, flower. and seedwithout interference, which monopolises.considerable areas of t o* it" .oua safety point of view, an obvious belng the Cow Parsely and at junctions. wtlatevel one's pelsonal ,ouo*a" u"tg" in the spring and which seriouslyinterferes witllvisibility on bends right of passage-andimplicitly a saferight views on this, one must bearin mrnd the fundamentalpuryose of the highway asa I then this is road use$. If we can at the sameiim; prer"ru" whire possibleenhance its appearance' .t "ni cleirly""r**"-iii a most desilable"U objective. indeed considerationslefefied to in 4 above apply to all roads,it is cleally uinecessary,and Although the engineenng traffic' o'' a minor t stanJarisiequired on a main.,roadcarrying a considerablevolume of.{ast undesirable,to adopt the same providqd the motodst adjusts provioeJ lue ieglarAis paid to visibility at junciions and bends,and countty lane. ln such cases, be given a hea\y (whr"n .. al' a justifipble-assumption),amenity should, in my view' his speedto th€ conditions t*V a matter of on th"r"".ti" rond, orgbnisedtowards ihat end''This is' I sugge't' largely weighting and the system o, r"-i"nin"" or interestinglocal I meritslby paying.dueattention to any unique commonsense and ot dealrngwrtn eactrcase tor alea)on its orsanis4tionsinteresred in the countrysrde. ;;;;;;;;;il";;-operatioriwith local naturalistsand Highamongstameoityconsidelationsisthequestionotroadsideplanting,forwhichtheprincisallequirementsar€:.t a. Amenity: i.scle€ningunattmctivefeatures,andinsomecasesmollifyingtheinevitablegeometryofroaddesign. T 'framing' ii. attfactive viewsand features' iii. providing contrast and relievingboredom' I iv. noiseabatement' I t 24 I I I I b. Safety: i. the prevention of dazzlecaused by headlampsby night and on east/westroads by the rising and setting sun, I ii. the provisionof soow and wind breaks. iii, planting to indicate summltsand bendsfrom a distance.

iv. planting of hedgesin lhe centralreserve of dual cafiiagewaysand asballiels at the tops of €mbankments.

I v. stabilisationof banksand cuttingsby root action.

c. Pointsto be avoided:

I i. obstruction of sight lines

ii. hazardscaused by falling leavesor branches. I iii. icy patches causedby shading, padicularly ftom the south side of the road (particularly important on east/westroads). I iv. damageto the metalledsurlace and d&inageof the road by tree roots, eg Poplars. v. interferencewith overheadand undergroundse ices(see 3 above).

Whilst it is now common practiceto incorporatetree and shrub planting schemeson major road improvements,there is I in my view considerablescope, and much to be said, for planting oo existing roadsideverges, provided this is done with due rcgardto the prevailingvegetation of the area,and to satisfactoryarrangements being madefor maintenance.

ln my own county, a policy of tree planting wasadopted four yearsago with the object of encouragingParish Councils I to plant and maintain trces on the highway (for which they have the necessarypowels undet Section 82 ol the Highways Act), subject to the consent of the County Counail and of the owner of the adjoining land. Under this schemethe Parish Council may either themselvesprovide and plant trees or sponsora private individual who wishesto do so, subjectto their acceptingresponsibility for planting, protection and future maintenanceand to the types and positions of thesetrees being T ageed with me beforehand. Whilst it might be arguedthat this is somethingwhich the highway authority itself ought to do, I think there is a very rcal advantagein leavingthis kind of enterpriseto ParishCouncils who, even if their meansare slender,are possibly in the I best position to exercisea proprietorship and trterest in the appearanceof their own locality, plovided some control is retainedfrom the engineeringand aestheticpoints of view,

In this paper I have attempted to describethe problem of vergemaintenance from the point of view of the highway I authority and have suggestedin very generalterms the basisof a policy of vergemaintenance and management.The detailsof such a poLicy and its implementation are, of cou$e, a matter for each individual authority in the light of its resourcesof I money, men and machinesand the importance which it attachesto the yariousfactqrs outlined above. I I I I I I I

MANAGEMENTOF VERGES I C,V. UNDERWOOD,M.l.Mun.E., M.lnst.H.E., SeniorAssistant County Surveyor, Leicesterlihte County Council, Glenfield, Leicesten. I . (1975. CountySuveyor, Derbyshird County Coutcil, Matlock, Derby)

we havealready hearC details of the interestsof landsca!,earchitects, conservationists and farmersin the management of road vergevegetation, and it is my view that these interestsarc not incompatible with those of the 4ngineerand, indeed, I must be reconciledif the valuableheritage of our countrysideis to be maintained.

During the last five or six yearsthere hasbeen a rapid reappraisalof the whole concept of vergem{intenance which has rcsulted from: I a. Mechanisation(caused by the lossin the availablem0n-power). b. The economieseffected by the useof mechanicaleqluipment. I c. A considerablereductiofl in the funds now availablefor highway maintenanceof all types] and a new senseof cost effectivenessin the minds of thoseresponsible for highway expelditure. I Highway vergesin this countiy consistof three main types, (a) new vergessuch asthose associatedwith motorways, (b) well establishedv€rges and (c) vergesin urban areas.Clearly thele is a need to adopt different standardsfbr thesethree groups from severa.lview points but thcy havethe following engineedngfunctions in common:- t l. To maintain the stability of the road structure, th4t is by cnsudng that slopesand cuttingqare not subjectedto erosion or "slips". To prevent vegetation from encroachingon the carriagewayor obscirring kerb lines and intedering with passingpedestrians and vehicles. t 2. To provide adequatevisibility at bendsand junctiont.

3. To allow light and air to the road surfacethus avoidingdetedoration from continuous dam$ness,and preventing icy conditions during periodsof sub-zerod€gee (C) temperatur€in the winter. I Let us then consider the engineelingconsiderations in more detail for each of the three group$ of roads previously mentioned. I _!!g!glgqE are consfucted with gentle gadients and for this reasonthere are mary cuttingsand embankments,Even wherelhe route has been carefully located from the visualaspect, newly constructedbanks are a scarod the landscapeand it is, therefore, vital to achievca rapid growth of vegetationto plevent erosionby wind and rain and to plpvent the occulrcnce of bank "slips". As motorways are not always constructedat lhe best time of year for grasssowing, it lias becomenecessary some artificial means of achieving a quick grqwth of grass and in recent years the method known as t to devise "hydroseeding" has been widely used. The exponents of this method claim that the adYantagesinblude a considemble extensionof the times in a year in which seedingmay take pla€, that there is no need to provide a layel of top-soil on which to sow the seed,that broadleaved vegetation is retarded untll the grasshas becomeestablished and fl1at the total cost of seedingis reduced. The method employed is to apply a mixtufe of grassseed and fertiliser in a jet of lwatersplayed on the I slopeslo be treated, followed by the application of a layer pf straw or glassfibre made tacky with a-small quantity of bitumen emulsion. The cost of this work is apploximately 6d. per squareyard, which comparesfavourlably with the cost of providing top-soil and seedingto the Ministry of Transpod sp$cificationat approximately ls. 2d. per sduareyard, or 2s. 6d. p.. rqu"-t" yard for the provision of tud. The choice of seedsin the hydroseedingmixtule is mado with regard to the I indig"no.rr gra..". of the areaand the n€edto achievea strong tirrf to stabilisethe bank.

Whilst the need to considerlocal conditions has been acknowledgedby the Minister's adviseNinlthe past, the current Ministry of Transport'sspecification for grassseed (Ministry of Transport, 1963) statesthat "untessoiherwise specified the t mixture shall consistof the following:-

Perennialry€ grass,S.23 60lbs Redfescue, S.59 20 lbs I Smooth stalkedmeadow gmss lO lbs Cresteddogs tail 12lbs Whiteclover, S.100 10 lbs I Total I l2 lbs" I plants Tire SOohof rye grassincluded in this mixture givesvery little charce to the shortergrowing gmfsesor to other and seates and unnecessarygass cutting problem for the maintenanceengineer. Ofher specificationsof shorter gowing" "ontid"iubl" grasseshave been used quite successfullyby lhy Council at lower costs and one won{ers why the Ministry I clingsto this outdated formula. I I I New verges,particulally those on slopes,cannot be cut by tractor mouflted equipment for the first two or three seasons without damageto the verye or dangerto the plant operator. As a result of experiencegained in this problem when the Ml Motorway was constructedthrough Leicestershhein 1964, it would seemthat lightweight mowersusing either the rotating T blade or flail principle of widths up to 50" are most suitablefor this task, Cylinder mowerswere found to suffer considerably from the presenceof s_toneson newly constructedverges with the resultthat overallcosts were unreasonablyhigh due to rdpair bitls and a high incidence of standing time due to breakdowns.The costs of grasscutting by rotating blade and pedestdanflail mowers were in the region of f,5 per acre.Once the grassslopes have become stable with the establishmentof I a good tud, it is possibleto useheavier, more powerful and wider cutting equipment with reducedunit costs.An agricultuml tractor suitably modified using a rea! mounted flail mower has been found most succ€ssfulresulting in a unit cost of approximately 50s. 0d. per acre/percut.

Gmss on its own is, of course, only patt of the la dscapingof a new motorway; engineershave fol many years T took the undedaken tree planting schemesas part of new highway construction work. In the early 1930's this sometimes form of ornam€ntaltrees and shrubsmore suitablefor Sardensthan for the open country and olten quite out of keepingwith the natural arbodculture and flora of the arca.This kind of planting tendsto highlight the existenceol the engineedngworks whereasboth engineersand landscapealchitects try to blend the highway into the suroundings. Whilst this form of planting I years hasotten Deenon an is now rarely adopted, many eminent enginee$ agreethat tree planting on motorways in recent gnnecessarilylargi scile and out of keeping with the arbodculture of the area.The distinguishedlandscape architect, Mr gOl), Ctough Williams-Ellis(Williams-Ellis, t auttror ol the Ministry of Transpo publication "Roads _in the Landscape", describesand illustrates a number of tree planting schemesincluding the M1 at Lutterworth in Leicestelshire,and commends I it as an example to others. This type of seiectedplanting in groupsat random is both acceptableto the maintenanceengineer and inexpensive.

On the Ml, the massplanting of motorway vergesto forestry plantation scaleis practisedeven in the open countryside I of Leiceste$hire,in fact on the 38 milesof motorwaythrough the County,over 125,000trees have been planted, which is very neaily two trees fo! every yard of the motorway. I fear that the effects of this scaleof planting will be vely sedousin yea15to come from the highway engineedngconsiderations of shadow,wet leaves,fire risk, and accidentalcollision.

I ln addition to the establishmentof trees, carclul thought is being given in collaboration with the LeicesterTrust for Nature Conseryationand the Nature Conservancyto the introduction of certain speciesof indigenouswild plants onto the motorway banks, As this matter is stitl in its early stagesof discussionand hasonly the approi,alin pdnciple of the Ministry I of Transport'sDivisional Road Engineer,I am not able to give any further detailson this matter at the presenttime. of "well established " forms the Here the engineer has to maintain what already exNts, area". The engineeringand financial considerations suggesthigher standardsfor trunk roads carrying healy volumes of traffic than for nartow, lightly traificked countly lanes, I and for this reason,the foltowing policy hasbeen adopted by my county surveyor as from the spdlg of 1968.

l. Trurk and Principal roads, The fi$t 6 loot width of verge shall be cut thrce times per season(approximately April, June and August) wider cuts to take place for visibility purposes.The remainingwidth of vergelying betweena hedge I of ditch and the 6 foot referred to aboveto be cut everysecond year somstimeafter the end of June, 2. Class l l roads (non-pdncipal) and more heavily trafficked Classl1l roads, the first 6 foot width of verge to be cut twice per seasonunless necessary lor visibility purposes,the remainingwidth to be cut once every secondyear after the I end of June. 3. All other roads, the first 6 foot width of vergeto be cut once per seasonunless necessary for visibility purposes,the t remainingarea of vergeto be cut once every third year. This policy does not meet with unqualified approval from all directionsi some sectionsof the community seekhigher standards.it tulit, oi course,take severalyears for ihe effects of this strategy to take full effect and this-isa matter of great interest to us in ihe County, The adoption of the standardhas to someextent predet€rminedthe type of cutting equipment year, l to be used,in as much as we shall haveto deal with grassand vegetationranging from that which is cut three times each io onceevery three years, and I am ot the opinionthat the flail moweris the only machineavailable to usat the presenttame, that iscapable of this taskat an economiccost. EnSineers Dr F. H. Perdng (Perring, 196?) of the Nature conseNancy, in an addlessgiven to the lnstitute of Highway I of the Ieciprocating and reprinted in the iournal ;f the lnstitution in December,1967, makeslefelence to the disadvantages more finely cut grasswith .t type mower and conversely,to the advantagesof flail mowing in that it achievesa mower is often not more"gri"rit"t"f even distribution of the grasscuttinls. Furthermore, iwould like to point out that the reciprocating into great diffioulty I capable of cutting vegetationin o"" purr-"t the height of the growing seison and would certainly run cutting vergesonly once every thlee yeaN. 62s 6d per mile Back The cost of mowinga 6 lbot (two swath)width by side^mountedtracto! flail is approximately t vergemowing is, of course,more expenslve and costsaboul luus.per acre. in Leicestershirewas of the order In 1968, the percentageof highway maintenancemoney spent on grasscutting 'ly"X. predeterminedroutes worked out for ot Ineuuork *u, cirried out by tractor mounted equiiment working on I maxiumefficiency by Work Study personnel. I I

This brings me to the chemicalcontrol of roadsidevegetation. There are three types of chemicalused-total herbicides, selectiveherbicides (including brushwoodkille$) and grassgrowth-retarding compounds. t

Total herbicidesfor such tasks as sprayingkerb lines to kill vegetationthat would otherwise obsoureth€ edgeof the catliageway can be either the root absorbedor foliage absorbedvariety. In practice, it is usual to use the root absorb€d variety, applied in solution or water suspe4sionusing large droplets as a precautionagainst "drift", The cbst of this treatment I is approximately f,4 per mile and hassome degrce of pelsistencenot obtained with fouageabsorbed chem[cals.

Selectiveherbicides such as MCPA and others dcsignedspccifically to conttol noxious weedshave, in my view, little use for generalapplication on roadsideverges and are normally confihed to small aleasinfested with the weedlslisted in the Weeds I Act, 1959. The cost of this type of treatment is in the order df f,4 per acre, but can be more than double this figurc if the chemicalis applied by hand lanceunder awkward conditions. Brushwoodkillers such as 2,4,5:f are also selectiveand oanbe usedeconomically for such tasksa$ clearing green lanes I andbridleways of scrubgroMh (Chadwick,l96l).

Cmss lrowth-retarding chemicalssuch as MaleicHydrazide (MH) havebeen consideredin great detdil for roadsideverge control purposes, and the expedment at Bibury in cloucestershireis the best documented study of the effect of these I chemicals.This experiment will be referred to in detail by Dr Willis, the next speaker,but s€ealso Yemrmand Willis (1962), Willis and Yemm (1966). The cost of using growth-retardingchemicals is approximately gl5 per acre if applied by tractor mounted equipment. lt must be appreciatedthat the weather conditions at the time of spraying and for approximately l8 hours after spraying are cdtical. However, in spite ol the high cost, this treatment can be economic fdr such areasas high I banks too steip ior mechanicalmowing, but up to now it hasbeen necessaryto add selectiveweed killerSto the grassgrowth- retarding ageni MH. lt must be rememberedthat the stabitty of steep banks can be adv€Nely affected if deep rooted vegetationis eradicated,which may occur asa result of the useof the selectiveweed killers. I The ethics of chemical control ol roadsideverges must also be considered,and I suggestthat the long term effect of thesechemicals on both the indigenousflora and fauna of the vffges is to a certain extent unknown, and in Leicestershire,the policy is to restrict the useof chemicalsto control noxious weeds,ln general,the useof helbicidesfor thF control of roadside u"g"t"tio.t was the subject of a Ministry of Transport Circular (No 718 of 3l August, 1955) addressedto councils for the t g.,idance of Highway Authodties. This document, which had been agreed with the Nature ConservancY,as a result of ixperiments ma-rleby them, the Agxicultural ResearchCouncil and the Road ResearchLabolatory, laid down a number of co;ditions that Highway Authodties were askedto observein the useof spmyson road vetges. I The lait caleqglJof, v,erqergferre4,to is tbe urbanYeJ89 H,ere. there is a needfor higherstanda'rds and this' in turn usuallyreqlires a differenttype ol machineand more regularcutting. Mowing in urban areais, of course,a very different problem to mowing in rural areasas vergesare usually narowqr, there are more obstructions in the fofm ofroad signs,bus itopi ,na other striet furniture, and foithjs reasonsmaller aquipment of lighter weight similar,to that irseddudng the early I stagesof grassmaint€nanc€ on new motorways is used.As, however,these verg€s are establishedand gederallyfree of stones, cutting at thJuse oi the cylinder mower becomesan economicalproposition at between02 and 02 10s.per acre,for regular mowings. intervalsof three or fow weekswhen the grassis not allowed to exceed6 inchesin height betweensuccegsive to my Ch-ief,Mr R R W' Grigson' for his advice in the I ln conclusion, I would like to record my appreciatioli preparationof this paper,and for his permissiooto take palt in this Symposium' REFERENCES t

CHADWICK,C.R, (1961) Local Govermmentapproach to the prcblem of weed control. Irdustrial WdedControl Symposium-British WeedControl I CouncilJun6 1961.

MINISTRYOF TRANSPORT (1963) Road Specificationfor roadsand bridgeworks. 3rd ed.,Clarlse 2952. t PERRING,F.H. (t961) V€rgesare vital-a botanist looks at our roadsides. J. Inst Highw.Engrs 1d 13-16. T WILLIAMS-ELLIS,C, (t96'7) Roadsin the landscape. Ministry of Transport Publn, StationeryOffice, 55/437. WILLIS, A.J.and YEMM, E.W. (1966) Sprayingof foadsideverges: long'term effects of 2,4-D T and maleichydrazide. Proc. 8th Br. WeedControl Conf. ? s0s-10. YEMM, E.W.and WILLIS, A.J. (t962) The effectsof maleichydrazide and 2, 4-dichlorophetoxyacetic I acid on roadbidevegetation, Weed Research a 2440, t T 28 I I ROADVERGES-EXPERIMENTS ON THECHEMICAL CONTROL OF GRASSAND WEEDS T A, J. WlLLlS, Ph.D,,D.Sc., F.L.S., Departmentof Botany, University of Bristo-l.Bris,tol (1975: Departmentof Botany,Unive$ity of Sheffield,Sheffield) I lnlrcduction With advancein knowledgeof the elfects on vegetationof grouth-retardingand herbicidal substances,improvements in the folmulation of these chemicals,and the rising costs of maintaining roadsideverges by traditional cutting procedures, chemical spray techniques have been progressivelyadopted for the effective and economic control of plant growth along I roadsides.tfre neeOtoi good visibility for the road-usercan be met by meansof growth-retarderswhich restdct the height of the vegetation,and weeds can be reduced or eliminated by selectiveweed-kille$. Of particular value for the control of roadsid"evegetation is the combination of the growth-retarder maleic hydrazide (MH) with the selectiveherbicide 2, l-dichloropienoxyacetic acid (2 4-D); a mixed spray of this composition applied annually leadsto a grassysward which is I largely weed-freeand remainsshort throughout the Srowingseason.

The use of chemical spraysraises many important considerations:among these ale the elfectivenessof the treatment; the effect of the application; the effect of aifferent spray constituents on plant growth; the duration of the effects of t spraying:and, oi particular significancewith regardto nature conservation,the long-termeffe.ts of spray treatmentson the ecoiogy of verges,many ol which form important and distinctive habitatslor plant and animal life, A sequenceof progressive changl resultsfrom long-continued spraying, and a new community structure, olten of contrastgd nature to the former semlnatural vegetation,is gradually developed.Of considerableinterest are the degreeof permanenceof the new community t structutesresulting from the spraysand the rate at which former vegetationcan re-establishon cessationof spraying. lnformation on these aspectsis availablefrom study ol the vegetationon vergesnear Bibury, Gloucestenhire.ln this experimentalsite closely controlled sprayinghas beenundertaken over a considerablenumber ol yearsand detailedrecoJds of I the vegetationmade from 1958 to the present,A summaryof the main findingsis presentedhere: fuller accounts of earlier obseryationshave already been given (Yemm andWillis, I 962;Willis and Yemm, 1966). I ExperimentalProcedure A sequenceof 28 plots, each about 22 yds long and 3-5 yds wide, was establishedin fairly uniform vegetation developedon the Oolite of the Cotswoldsalong the wide vergeof Akeman Street,near Bibury, Gloucestershire,Records were made once a year (in July) or three times annually (spring, summer and autumn) of height and flowering, and subjective I assessmentswere made of the relativebulk of the differentcomponents of the vegetationof the wholeplots, and of quadrats permanentlymarked within them (Yemm andWillis, 1962).

Eight plots not sprayedseNed as controls;the remainingplots werespnyed with MH only,2,4-D only or MH + 2,4-D I oncea year in earlyApril, mic April or early May. After treatmentsuccessively for four years('1958-61), certain plots were not subsequentlysprayed so that reversionof the vegetationcould be studied.

Commercialpreparations of MH ('Rsgul61')and 2,4-D('Vergemaster') were used. MH wasapplied at 5lb aminesalt ln I 80 gal water/acre,and 2,4-D was applied asan acid-in-oilemulsion of the oilin-water type at 3 gal(of 12.5o/.wt/vol 2,4-D) in 80 gal water/acre(about lTamilesof a 6ft width of verge).The combinedIVH + 2,4-D spray was a mixture of the two preparationsat the rates given. For spraying,a boom with cone-typenozzles for high volume application at low pressurewas T employed, The Vegetationof the verges

ln the expedmentalsite the vegetationof the untreatedverges normally forms a fairly complete coverand is dominated l by coarse grassesand tall herbaceousplants such as Hogweed (Hgg_glgln_-l!!gl_qy!!I1) and Cow Parsley(Anthriscus sylveslrist.The compositionof this vegetarionvaries only little from-yeaitolFiiTi?1rc- and broadleavedplanrs-isiaii! conTJibuteabout equally to the bulk of the vegetation.All of the dominant plants flower freely, the tall forms reachingover 4 ft in July, whenthe averageheight of the vegetationis approximately3 ft, TableI showsthat in 1968the vegetationof the I unsprayed plots was fairly diverse (averaging 27 species/plot), but that False Oat grass (Arrhenatherum elatiui) and Umbellifers(Hogweed and Cow Parsley)made up overtwo-fifths of the bulk of the vegetation.

The effects of maleic hydrazide t (Festuca Areas sprayed with MH only developedat first a fairly short Srassysward with abundant CreepingFescuc Ig_&) and Meadowsrass t J9g_pl3lgl!j!); the large tufted FalseOat and to someextent cocksfoot -(lgggll:gplllglglg) were t reE"iced.Althoueh MH haslimited herbicidal powers.Umbellifers were adverselyaffected and considerablyreduced. I I I 29 I

Table 1 I

The effects of a rangeof spray treatmentson the compositionof tho vegetationof roadsideverges at Bibury.

The figures give percentagetelative bulk (averagevalues) of the chief componentsof the vegetationin mid July 196g, and are t basedon assessmentsof the whole plots. Vergestreated with MH or y and MH + 2,4-D were sprayed once annuaily from 1958 to the present,ard with only 2,zl-Donly from 1959 onwards.Reversion plots were spnyed anngally with the MH + Z,-D from 1958-61inclusive, but havenot heenspnyed since 1951. I I

Control Treatment t\4H 2, 4-D IVH+ MH+ 2, 4-D (unsprayed) only only 2,4-D [henreversion I Numberof plots 8 2 v 6 3 t G"ass(Agropyron 't2.5 repens) 7.5 11.2 2.2 5.8 F alse Oat (Arrhenatherum I elatius) 15.6 t.J 3.8 0.9 12.5

Cockslool (Doctylis glomeroto) 5.6 5.0 6.3 5.2 I

Creeping Fescue ( Festuco rubro) 3.4 20.0 25.0 8.3 0.3 I Meadow Grass (Poa protensis) 7.2 6.3 JO.J 14.2 1.4 I AII grasses 43.'l 45.0 96.2 91.3 t Cow Parsley(Anthriscus sylvestris 11.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 1.5 I Hogweed (Heracleum 't sphondylium) 4.1 0.5 0.6 0.1 10.8

Plantain (Plontago I lanceoloto) 0.1 20.0 0 0 0 All broad-leavedplants 56.9 55.0 3.8 8.7 63.3 I Averagenumber of species 29 15 14 18 Averageheight of I vegetation(ins) 29.3 12.5 17.5 7.8 35.0 t t I I 30 I I l Flowedng of grasseswas almost completely suppressed,and vegetativegrowth held substantially in check. After spray treatment for 3-4 yeats, FalseOat becamea minor component of the vegetation,Creeping Fescue increased further at the expense of Meadow grass, and several low-growing dicotyledonous herbs became plentiful, notably Ribwort Plantain I {PlanLasolanceolata). Crosswort (Calium cruciata)and CreepinsThistle (Cirsiumarvense). In 1968,as shownin Tdble l. C.eening-Fes.uea"d Plantain(which wasuery sparse in lhe other plols)dorninated the vegetation. which strongly contrasted and wai rather more diverse than that originally present. A number of low-growing annuals,eg. Buxbaum's Speedwell I Gtlqaica-pglt.lld, Chickweed(Steliaria media),inraded the sprayedareas. The effects of 2,4-D

Repeatedannual spraysol 2,4-D only resulted in th€ progressivereduction and extinction of broad-leavedplants and I the developmentof a more uniform and shorter vegetationthao that of the unsptayedplots, Dicotyledonsresistant to 2,4-D such as the Field Scabiousq@glilgEJ persisted.but grassesbecame very strorg dominants. However, important gradual changesoccurred in tfrGFi6iii6i6nts; Meadow grassand CreepingFescue increased v^ery substantially wheleas Fabe Oat wis much diminished(Table 1). Flowedngof the grasseswas somewhat reduced; this feature,coupled with the I declineof FalseOat and tall Umbellifers,accounted to a largeextent for the shorter vegetation. The effects of MH combined with 2,4-D l When MH and 2,4-D were used together, their effects supplementedand reinforced one another. A very short and uniform grassysward rcsulted, from which somedicotyledonous plants were completely eliminated;othe$, such asHogweed and Cow palsley, wete teduced to negligibleproportions. Good contlol was given of troublesomeagricultural weedssuch as (Urtica wellas of annuals. CreepirgThistle, Sow Thistles@, spp.),Docks (Rumex spp.) and StingingNettle dioica),as I Of the broadleavedplants, only-Bindwe-ed(ConvolvuliiiiE-nsis), which developssufficiEn [IyTaTi-in tFe seasonto escapethe major effects of thi spray, pe$isted in oii?ffi5F-dfiiifiil Spraying led to the progressivespread and overwhelmins dominanceof Meadowgass, which constitutid aboutthrce-quarters of the vegetationin 1968(Table 1), in someareas being almost the only cornpoient. CreepingFescue, which like Meadowgrass has undergroundrhizomes, increased to someextent, I but was usually of minor import ance ielative to the Meadowgrass which formed a thick mat. FaiseOat was rcduced nearly to were the poirt of extinction, beingseverely diminished eveo by the first spraytreatment, Also adverselyaffected by the spray often iloo"f, g*r (Agropyron re-pens),which has shown a decline in recent years, artd Cocksfoot; the latter, however, ,""ou"r"d f.ofr-ifiiET?EiiliT-iI" spray and made appreciablegrowth towards the end of the season.Flowering was almost I entirely suppressed,and the vegetatiorrrdmainedquiie short thr;ughout the year (it was only about one-quarterof the heiSht of the vegetationol the untreatedareas in July 1968). T Reversionof sprayedareas Cessationof the MH only spray treatment let to gradual changesin the vegetation in the direction of its former progressive composition, Loss of Creeping F"rir" to some extent paralleledby an increasein FalseOat,. a.nd with the "ou. re-esiablishmentof tall vegetation,including large umbellife$, many of the low-growingplants_which colonized and become in Plantain and successfulunder the spray lcglme *"." sippr""sr"d or eliminated. In particular, considerablereduction t once.mote made up (as in the Crosswod was evident. Alter reversiot for sevenyears FalseOat, Hogweed,and Cow Parsley plots where theseplants control plots) over two-fifths of the bulk of the vegetation;in striking contrast were the MH-treated wasstopped, and constituied only one-fiftieth of the total (Table 1). Most of the ptants flowered well in the year spraying l madegood gtowth in height then, although the veggtationwas somewhat sholtel than that of unsprayedareas, t community dominatedby Meadowgrass developed undel the influenceof the combinedMH 2'4-D reverted The plots. grasswas graduaily, on cessationof spray tr;atment, tol vegetation quite similar to that of the contlol Meadow of the unsoravedareas (see Table l) and FalseOat increased i.opg""#"ty reduced to a relative abundancesimilar to that I grass showed some increase,whereas.Creeping Fescue declined' fairly uniformly to become tne Oominant plant. Couch also. shorter, finer-leavedspeoies and in an increase The large changesrn the grass a lossof the "ont"quentl/involved some maioly from seed and some mainly by in the taller, coarser forms. ui"otiteaono","o-po"""tt pia"is gtaauauv re-eslablished, years after spray treatment ceised that Hogweedand vegctativesprea6 from uajoining uleur. io*"u'"i it Ju, not until five I parsley more, and even afte,. y"uri th" u"getation of the revertedareas was substantially Cow becamewidespread once "u"n vegetationof the reversionplots aft er five diversethan that of the control areas(fable I ). Apart from this feature,the less year in which sprayingwas stopped and' years was like that formerly pr"r"nt.-lur-unyoiirt" plants flowered quite freely in the soon bicame similar to that of the unspraved T il; ;;;;;r;;;; of.i, .i tfr" VH only series,the height of the vesetatio; areas.

The effects of time of spray plots werctreated in the I of the time of sprayingwith MH only and with MH + 2,4-Dsome To investigatethe influence later in early May. only small effects of time ol week in April, some a tortnrghi later, and otheri a iurther t*o-*"ets first brought about by thesprays ln all ol th€ found with ,"g".d ;;;:;;g;s-in cornposirionof the vegetation spraying were areastreated with MH + 2,4-D the plots Fescue-"r"ur"o- -uit"ary and Falseoat declin;. similarly in MH only creeping of Meadowgrass was I ini"p"rra"nt of time ol spraying;in all the plotsa pronouncedincrease seouenceof changewas tu.g"ty of FalseOat' I fountl.and also a decrease I I

The most obvious differenc€sresulting from time of ssray treatmeflt were seenin the height of the vegetatiol; the differenceswere found to deperd appreciably on the lcason t and weather conditions during spiaying. Usually only lit e growth had occurred by the time of the €arliestspraying but, $atticularly in someseasons, substantial giowth can havetaken place by early May, the latest sptaying date investigated.The effect ofthe spraywas to hold the vegetatlonin checkfrom the time of its application for a considerableperiod. Consequentlyby €ady June the height of the vegetationof the eaily sprayed plots was often only about 4 inches, comparedwith about l0 inchesfor the late sprayedplots, much bf this growth having T been made before spray application. Later in the season,diffetences in h€ight evenedout, becauseresufnption of growth set in fhst in the early spnyed aleaswhilst the vegctatior of the l4ter spruyedplots wasstill held substantidllyin check. In all of the spray treatment$,however, the height of the vegetationat th9 end of the seasonwas only about hdlf that of the control (unsprayed)areas (Table 2). t

Table 2 The effect of time of application of the combin€d splay MH + 2,4-D on the height of roadSide I vegetationat Bibury, The figuresgive averageheights, in inches,based on three seriesof plots in 1960. I Mean height on: 12 Jnly 26 September T Date of spraying 4 April 4.2 I 1.5 t3.7 I

I 9 April 4.3 8.3 t2.o 2 M^y 3.5 9.5 t2.3 I Not sprayed 6.4 26.6 24.6 The managementof road vergesby meansof spray treatmGnt I The use of chemical sprays to restdct the height of rdadside vegetation and to eliminate nox[ous weedscompares favourably with other methods of vergemainteiance, all of which must inevitably result in somedepaiture from the normal herbicide 2,4-D are flora and fauna of the untreated verie. Fortunately the widely usedgroMh-retarder_ MH and.selective I affected bv changes '."r"il"iv ,..-t.*i" to animals(cf. thJ destructiyeaition of flaii machines),although the fauna is in time .piuv tr""t-"nt. cood. cont-rolof plant glowrh..on vers€scan bd a_chievedbv a sinsle ;;'l;; ;"g;i;;; brought auoui tv _ permissible)' rr.lri i'2,+:n i" ipting (as.indicated above, somJ flexibility in time of sptavins is co-6ination vision is much "ppri""tl.'" "iirr" a band O ft wiae is aa'equite (a greater width may be requircd on bends Where Genemlly treatment of sward(cf' the high I is about 95 per mile ol 6lft restricted), and at standardrates ot apptcation tfre'cost oi tie mixed materiali is also nee6ed)'lfa very high qtaldard of control of labour costsinvolved in cutting sev€raltimes a year, especiaUylf carryinj u-lt may be applied 12-14 weekrslater than the first lensth of qrassis rcquired g,r."gr,."i-1n" v"ir, a recona ipray of aoplicafionof the combinedmaterials in the spring' I Conditions at the time of spraying influence its effectiveness.As the substancesinvolved are dbsorbedby the plant largely through the shoot system,ind especiallyby the leaves,penetration is extensivein spring wh€n new growth beginsand yoiini leaues'unfola. I moderatety humid atmosphereand 4oist soil favour absorption, but heavy rdin tends to wash the t which are ip-*v -"i"ri.rr .fiihe plants. However,recent advancesin formulation have led to the developmentof materials volume application J""1,"i pro.r to a considerable sitong winds increagethe hazardsof drift, although the high "*t"ni. recommendedminimizes this dangel. I As discussedabove, verge tleatment with MH + 2,4-D teadsto a short gassy swald of pleasantappearance in which the fine-leavedrhizomatous Creeping Fescue and Meadow grassare prominent, and the lalger tussock fbrme$ False Oat and Cocksfoot are diminished. Several factors may be involved in the differential susceptibility of the grassesto the spray materials.The geater sensitivity of the taller, tufted grassesmhy result partly flom their tussockhabit dnd wide leaveswhich I catch and absoib the matedalsextensively and also partly frorn the greaterexposure ol buds to the spray as comparedwith those of specieswith rhizomes.

The action of MH is to stop flow€ring and to check vegetativegrowth, suppressingcell diyision Ft the growing points; I grassesremain short and only rurely flower. The findings detbil€d aboye indicate that MH, used alono, leadsat first to the developmentof a sward with much CreepingFescue, the nanow waxy leavesof which are not easily wetted. However,the combined spray (MH t 2,4-D) results in a vegetation dominhted by Meadow gass, which, with rep$atedspray treatment continuesto increasein abundanceover a considerablenumbtr of yea$. There are someindications that Cr€epingFescue is I more sensitiveto 2,4-D than Meadowgrass, and the somewhatquicker recoveryof the latt€r from the effgcts of the combined spny may promote its more rapid spreadinto bareareas resulting from the lossof dicotyledonousplant$ and the reduction of other glasses.The development,under the influence of MH + 2,4-D, of a short grassyturf largely flee from broad-leaved plants, and in which Meadow glassand CreepingFescue are abundant,is of widely spreadoccurrence it Great Britain (where t 6oth grassesare common and genemlly distributed) anC also On the Continent; there the more droughl-resistantFescue may be preient in somolocalities (eg in Belgium,Gerirany, Austria) in geater proPortion than found at BibUiy. I 32 I I I

The ecological effects of spray treatment are of substantial interest. The roadsides and the diminishing hedgerows I support chatacteristic assemblagesof plants and animals which strongly merit conservation. For this reason the width of the spiayed u"rge shoLrld not be greater than that compatible with the need for visibility; then the original, usually more diverse, gradation fiora and fauna can penist in the unsprayed part of the verge immediately adjoiniog the hedge. Fudhe-rmore the of which may height from the low treated sward to the tali vegetation of the ditch and hedgebank creates a range of_conditions can ultimatelv I fav6ur some organisms and enhance their succesi. While the herbicidal action of MH is small, and MH.alone such as |\'4CPAand Mecoprop adversely result in grearer diversity of ttre roadiiOe nori, Z,q-O ind other selectiveherbicides support a plants, some of which may be rarities, However, where a stretch of verge.is-knownto affect manv dictovledonous precludedatthe particularsite' J.""iiliill" ttt" i"i"-.p""i"r rii"iiur i.rung"^"nli io. piJ.".ation maybe sougittand spraying I effect ol MH The.djrect Another important ecoiogcal consideration is the persistence of the effects of spray treatment. t-o_its odginal status is, and 2,4-D on gowth and floweiing is essentially for a single season, but the reversion of the vegetation number of years fhe Meadow grass like the changes in vegetation composition which arise from spraying, spread over a influence of MH + 2,4-D, is difficult for other sward, especially when purc and th;k, which is gradually a",retoped ,riaei ttre T poor. to re-establish are germination Quickest species to invade, especially tV tnorr'*ito." ."!O-p..Ji.ti.t is limited and which survive spray treatmenr' iirose plants, such as ialse (iat, which spread from the very small quantities

contlolofwoodyglowthonvelsesisrequiredlromtimetotime.Folthispurposetheherbicide I two parts of 2,4.5'T to one part of 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid is effectiveiand may be usedas an emulsion conraining treated with this brushwood spray in February, 2,4-D lowvolatile ester, lJ bushesare cut during the winter. and the stumps I l\4archor April, regrowth is prevented Ad

larnouchindebtedtoProfessolE.wYemmfolcollabolationthroughouttherecoldinsofth€vegetatiooofthe and iurt, Boulton & Haywood Ltd. who supplied t Bibury plots, to Mr V. F.. Woodham who undertook the spray treatment the materials. l References

I WlLLlS, A. J. & YElvllvl,E. W. ('1966)Sprayingof roadside verges: long-term effects of 2'4'D and maleichydrazide Proc 8th Br. WeedControl Conf. 2, 505'10 I yEtvll\4,E. w. & wlLLls, A. J. (1962) The effecrsof maleichydrazide and 2.4-dichlorophenoxyaceticacid on roadside vegetation.Weed Research 2, 24'40. I I T I t I I I I ROAD VERGES_RESEARCHON MANAGqMENT FOR AMENITY AND WILbLIFE I J. M. WAY,T.Dl, M.Sc., Ph.D., Toxic Chemicalsand Wildlife Division, Monks WoOd Expedmantal Station, Abbots Ripton, Hunts. t

The vegetation of road verges has got to be managed,not only for highway engineeringieasons but also for conse ation and amenity rcasons.If they are not managedthe grassverges will turn to scmb, or whore squb and hedges already grow I exist they will out of control and cettainly lose tlteir amenity if not their conservationvahle. Although we hive been considelingiI! the other paperspresented at the symposiuh all kinds ol vegetationbetween the edgeof the ro;d and the highway boundary, the major managementproblgm in most garts of the country at the plesent time ls the control of the glowth of gass, tall growing herbaceousplants and noxious weeds. I From a conseryationpoint of view the aim is diversity of habitat in order to encoulagethe gehtest vadety of wild animalsand plants. However, in any one place once a suitableform of maoagementhas been evolyed,it will be impoda[t to try to apply the samemanagement from year to year. Many plants and animalshave quite stdct requiromentsfor a placeto live, and a community that has beenbuilt up over a period of yearsunder one form of managementcan quickly be destroyed t by another. The commuoities of wild plants of grassvetges that exist now, and whose conseflation i$ so important, have evolvedunder particular forms of managemelt over many year$.We can try to simulatethese forms of ilanagementwith the powerful machinesand gowth active chemicalsthat are now rEplacinghand labour, glazingand hay ma{ing. We can also use these new tools to qeate differert conditions and oew corsmunities of plants and animals. In addition we have the I opportunity on the new vergesto managethem io such a way thFt they contribute somethingreal to the oountryside.

Amenity is not only visual but also includes tracks and paths for riding and walking, areasfor pilcnickingand similar activities. lt is a common expedencethat areasthat look ilLkempt attract vandalismand dumping of drbbish. Nature when t left to helself is rarely tidy and not necessarilyattractiye. Fdr instance, densestands of once atiractive flowedng plants becomewithered and brown as the seedsdevelop and lipen, NEverthelessif the plants are cut as soon as the flowers go over! there will be no seedfor succeedinggenerations. To cut the plbnts at this time might be good amenity but it would be bad conseryation.The visual aspectsof amenity are subjectivebut in any given situation many people v,lill agree on what is I acceptableand certainly o1rwhat is not.

Maoagementfor amenity and conseNationhas got to be designedwithin the fnmework of the edonomicsol highway maintonance,the capabilitiesof machines,the weather, time and labour available.Management of vdrgesis an expensive I businessand frcm a stdctly economic standpoint shows no leturn. lt will therefore be desirableto evolve management proposalsthat make the minimum demandson highway authbrities and yet which provide the gr€ate$tvadety of wildlife habitats of acceptableamenity standards.Within this broad framework)howeve., there are likely to be somesituations where geater expenseand effort is required than highway authoritips would normally be preparedto consider.Some economic I 'valuecan be put on the conservationol palticular plants and animals, or in presgrvingplaces of espocialbeauty, and we should be (and often are) prcparedto pay lor this. Likewise in the interestsof conseryationwe should be preparedfor limited periodsol time to put up with reducedamenity in order to enableplants to seedor birds to [est. I The Nature Cooservancyis supported by Govemment funds and is officially respousible for giving advice at a National level on the conservationof wild life. It hasbeen invohred in the questiol of managementof road verges,particularly in respect of the use of chemicalweedkillers, since the early 1950's.Early Conseryanaywork was publishedby Balme( 1954, 1956); co-operationbetween the Conservancy,the A,R.C. Unit of Agronomy at Oxford and the Road ResearchLaboratory I resulted in the productioa in 1955 of the Ministly of Transport's Ckcular 718, for the guidanceof Highway Authodties about the use of weedkillersin controuing roadsidevegetation. It is hoped that th€ researchwork now being undertakenby the Conse ancy and other organisationswill lead to a revisionof this leaflgt, to take account of developmentsin machinery and chemicalssince that. time. I The $'ork by the Conservancyon roadsideverges now falls under three headings i, Managementexpedments l ii. Surveywork on the physicalstructure and cons€rvat[onvalue of verges ni, Through Naturalists' Trusts, the Botanical Society of the British lsles (B.S.B.I.) and othQr organisations,the I cataloguingof road vergesites of particular conservationimportance. Managementexpeliments t A. Country RoadsTwo experimentshave been in progresson the effectsof a rangeof managementpractibes since 1965. This year (1969) the plots are about to be treated in the sameway for the fifth year running. The treatmentsare listed below. (Table I ). I I I 34 t I TABLE 1 Trcatmentsapplied to experimentalplots on road verges I in Cambridgeshireand Huotirgdonshile

I Operationin thlrd weekof: April May June Julv August September

I L Untreated 2. Untreated t 3. l\4aleichydrazide spray 4. llaleichydrazide and cut later spray cut 5. l\4aleichydrazide and 2, 4-D spray 6. Malcichydrazide and 2,4-D; I cut later spray cul 7. 2,4-D spray I 8. 2,4-D and cut later spray cut 9. Flailtwice cut cut 10. Flailfive times cut cut cut cut cut I 11. Haymowertwice, cuttings raked cut cut 12. Haymower5 times,cuttings raked cut cut cut cut 13. Haymowertwice, cuttings NOT raked cut cut I 14. Haymowerfive times,cuttings NOT raked cut cut cut cut cut l 15. Rotarymower twice cut cut 16. Rotarymower five times cut cut cut cut cut 17. Haymoweronce cut I 18. Haymoweronce cut 19. Spare T 20. Spare

Eachtreatment plot is 6 ft wideand 20 yds long,and is repeatedfou! timesin a statisticallayout. One expgriment is on I Oxford clay itr Huntingdonshireand th€ other on a chalk soil southeastof Cambddge.The botanical composition of the swardsat the two placesis different, and the chalk site is naturally richer in herbaceousplants. Recordsare taken monthly of the mean height of the vegetationand of the speciesof plants in flower, including grasses.In July/August assessmentsare madeof the relativeabundanca of the plant speciesby meansof presence/absencerecording in forty l5 cm squarequadrats t per plot. In additionphoto$aphic records are madeand alsosubjective assessments of the amenity('attractiveness') of each plot, Theseexperiments are of a long term nature,and althoughgross differences between the differenttreatments are now 'settled becomingapparcnt, the vegetationhas not yet down'to a more or lessstable situation, in the way that the plotsat T Bibury may now be assumedto havedone after ten yearsof the sametreatment, There has not been the well marked decline in tall tufted grasseso! increasein rhizomatous grassesas a result of applicationof maleichydtazide (MH), that wasdescribed by Yemm & Willis( I 962) overa similarperiod of time at Bibury. MH has consistentlyreduced flowerilg in grassesand in growth of the culm (flowering stem) but effects on the generalheight I of the vegetation(see below) have worn off in mostseasons six to eightweeks after treatment. Effects of 2,4-Dhave been to reducethe numberof broadleavedflowering plants. The haymowerhas generally not cut so evenlyor so closelyas either the flail or rotary cutter. Both the latter machinesalrd especiallythe flail have sometimescreated bare patches.These have, however,usually been rapidly colonisgdby low-growingcreeping plants. In generalthere are quite obviousvisible differences t betweenmany of the treatmentsbut, becauseit is the growth of the plantsthat hasbeen affected rather than the actual composition of the flora, especiallythe dominant grasses,it is difficult to descdbe these differencesin precisebotanical terms. Nevertheless,as one might expect, certain speciesor groups of plants with particular ecological prefercncesare becomingmore common in sometreatmelts comparedto others.Thus low growingplants such as CreepingButtercup (Ranunculusrepens), Birdsfoot-trefoil (Lotus corniculatus),White Clover(Trifolium !epens),Hop Trefoil (T. campestre)have t plots bt6'iiF-fr6iE-io-fr?non in rhe w-Ee-iFTf-er:f,ifion is kepr shoritiT66-ulliliTThe season. In tFTiIIFiTl6G rhe (Knautia CompositesHardheads (Centaurea nigra) and GreaterKnapweed G.:gg!'ortt, the Field Scabious arvensis),the umbellifersCow Parsley{Anthriscus sylvestris) and Hogweedtl:t9glggLThglgylg!) have been favoured.lt is worth I noting that the umbelli{ersand compositesare usuallyvery valuablefood plantsfor a wide rangeof insectsincluding bees and also for somebirds-eg Goldfinches and Linnets,whilst other birdsfeed on the insects.In the completelyunmanaged plots the agriculturalweeds Creeping Thistje {Cirsjumarvense) and Bindweed(Convolvulus arvensis) have become common- I The heisht of the vegetationin selectedtiiifili66iG ca^b.idg".hi" iiE-iiTD67iElfr6i^ in Flss I and 2.

J:' Fie 1. Meanheight of vegetationln salectedtteatmelrts sprayed with MIt ard 23-D, Cambridgeshhe196?

MH+Cut 2,4-D+Cut

36 Fig 2. Mean height of vegetation in selecled treatments cut with a haymower and the cuttings raked off. Cambridge 196 7.

tr

\ I I t I t \o

B I

E I I I C) I t I

{ a I (il I o-

(N t (N I

€{c{ €o{o{ I .rl e, E I I I I I I In both figures the curvesfor the untreated plots are the sameand show growth to a maximum height in the middle of the seasonfollowed by a gradual collapsemainly caus€dby wind and rain. Of the chemical treatments (Fig l) maleic I hydrazidedepressed gowth for 6-8 weeksafter which there was someresumptioni howeverif the MH trcatment was followed by a cut 8 weeks after application there was little further growth. In theseexpeiments there wasno eflect on growth from 2.4-D (or additional effect where it was combiled with MH) and the effects of cutting 8 weeks after application of 2,4-D werethe sameas cutting oncein June(Fig 2). With thesetwo treatm€ntsand the si[glecut in July (ie Treatments8, l7 and I 8) no further cDt duling the seasonwas necessaryto preventgrowth of more than l2 in. but a visibility hazardwould exist I jn in the early part ol the season,Where the grasswas cut five times at monthly intervalsit is interestingto note the drop-off the late of gowth following each cut. Whele the grasswas cut in May there was a considerableeffect lasting through the seasonto the second cut in August. Where it is not desiredto protect spdng flowering plants such as Cowslip (Primula veds) I and a height of vegetationof 12 in. is tolerable,a singlecut in May by itself or followed by another cut in June might well be all that is necessary.From a conservationpoint of view it would of cou$e be desitableto time the cuts to avoid the peak flowering and fruiting periodsof the herbaceousplants present.The resultspresented here are for one year only and it should I be noted that the pattem of growth hasvaded in detail from year to year dependingupon growing conditions. B. Motorways.A further expedment was set up in 1968 oo the embankmentsof the Ml in Leiceste$hire,where 20 nndomised trcatments arc repeated at three sites between Lutterworth and Shepshed.The treatments are shown below I (Table 2) and are all made by flail machinesexcept when the banks are too wet, when rotary cutten are used, I T ABLE 2 I Treatmentsapplied to experimentalverges on the l\41l\4otorway in Leicestershire. I Cut in third week of: I April l\4ay June July September 1 X 2 X X t 3 X X 4 X 5 X X T 6 X X 1 X X 8 X X X 9 X X X X X 't0 I X 1t X X 12 X X t 13 X X X 14 X X X 15 X X X 16 X X X X I 11 X '18 X 19 I 20 I I t ?o I T These banks are a sampleof the hundredsof acrcs of rocently establishedgassland associatedririth the culrent road building programme.As no economic use seemslik€ly for this land, mansgementsympathetic to the conservationof wildlife would be justifiable, This experiment is again of a long term nFture. Recordsbeing taken at the mome4t ale of height of the vegetation ard of plants in flower in the different treatments monthly interyals,In due coutse,whOn yegetation 'settled at the has t down' to the effects of the treatmentsmore detailcdanllyses will be madeof the botanical aomdosition.

C' Discussion. Very few grasseshave leaveslonger than 30 pm (12 in.); notable exceptionsamongqt common road verge tl":i"., found (Anhenatherum {: ^in the_-g€nusFestucE .(fescues), also C_ockls-footfelyUr et.^.tgl"), False Oat-gFass elatius).Timothy Grasr(Phleum and Tor Crass([email protected],-e t i'Tratense) choiceof ai acc6lTiu-iETe-i!ffi @iiiion by ttishway .t-lifi6iiliEiFiFerefore fairly cdtic;fT;ffi3;ifil-i!l-6l3i5l; to preventthe developmentof the culm (flow€ringstem) by cuttingor the useof MH, subsequentgrovlth of l€avosof the majodtyof grassesis rinlikelyto exceedl2 in. This heightis recommendedfor manysituations on trunt to&dsand motolways by the Ministryof llransport(1968). As sltown(Fig. l) it is possibleto keepto this heightby the usaeither of a singlespray of MH in April anda subsequentcut I about mid-May, or (Fig 3) by a cut in May and another in June; Howeverif a height of 6 in. is the maxinum permissible,this can only be achievedby very frcquent cuttilg of the leavesof the plants, perhapsevery three weeksor go at the beginningof the season(Fig 2). It should be noted that theseobservations prcbably apply to the Midlandsand eastemtparts of the country but not nccessarilyto the wetter parts of the west. Also that they apply to velgesor parts of vergeswhete the height of the I vegetationhas to be controlled. From a conservationpoint of vlew, many broadleavedplants are flowerihg during the months of May and Ju[e and this is rot the best time to cut them. One hopes,therefore, that v{hereheight of vegetationis not important, managemsntcan be arangcd to avoid the main flowpring and seedingperiod for many plants. I Surveys

A survey was made in 1967 of the physical structute and flora of a sampleof road vergesin England and Wales.lt is hoped that it will be possibleto relate the botanicalcomposition of thesesites to the managementthat they havereceived in I the past;thus providing additional information about the effepts of different types of managementot the developmentof plant cammunities.This work is being extendedby membersof the B.S.E.I. and other organisationstO whom we axemost grateful. Further survey work is planned to relate the vegetatidnof road vergesand other boundary situlationswith the weed flora of agdculturalland. This is important in relation to the prqssuresfrom farmersol Highway Authodties to manageverges t to control or elimiqate agdcultural weeds.The status of these plants on yergesand their significancethere as sourcesof seed or propagulesfor infestation of farm land has not been studied in any detail. There are, hourever,reasons for supposing(see Chancellorin this symposium)that they may not be so important as is often made out. I Cataloguing

The work of the Conservancyin collectingdata from NatUralists'Trusts and other organisationsabout vergesof especial interest hasbeen mentioned by Paring (this symposium),aod there is no needto discussit further here. I Conclusions It has to be rememberedthat different speciesof grasseshnd other plants responddifferently to different management I treatments, especiallyin relation to time, and that geo$aphic{l and climatic factors will also modify trheeffects. What we hope to do from our experimentsis to show the sort of effe0ts that may occur and to indicate how they might apply in general.As divenity is our aim there is no questionof our maktinggeneml blanket proposals-eacharea ought to be managed in the way that gives the most favourable result. This is a courtsel of pedection but it does point the rleed for close liaison I bctwoen Highway Authorities and local conservationand amenity organisations.In this work, becauseof their special knowledge of the wildlife of their onn areas,the County Naturslists'Trusts should play a leadingpart, and many are aheady doing so, I In conclusionit is a pleasureto acknowledg€the interest and help of the Cambddgeand Isle of Ely, the Huntingdon and Peterboroughand the LeicestershfueCounty Councils,tog€ther with the Ministry of Transpod, with whoseco-operation the experimentsrcferred to in this paperare being made. I REFERENCES

BALME, (r954) Preliminaryexpedments on the effect of the selectiveweFdkiller t O.E. 2,4-D on th€ y€getationof roadsideverges. Proc. 2nd Brit. Weed ControlConf., 219-28.

BALME, O.E. ( l9s6) Conclusionsof qxpe ments on the effectsof the selectivdweedkiller I 2,4-D on the yegetatior of roadsideverges. Proc. 3rd Brit' Weed ControlConf., ?71-?5.

MINISTRY OF TRA,\ISPORT (1968) Instruction for xhe establishmentand maintenanceof gra6sedareas on I trunk roadsand motorways,use of chemicalspray$ and ttoatment of planted areas.Ministry of Transport, TechnicalM€morandun No. T5/68.

YEMM, E.W.& WILLIS, A.J. (r962) The effects of 4aleic hydrazideand 2,4-dichlorophcnoxyaceticacid on t roadsidevegetat[on. Weed Research 2, 24-40. I 4Q I

I MORNINGSESSION I Sir GEORGE TAYLOR. In opening the morning SessionSir Georgereferred to the work of the LandscapingAdvisory Committee of the Minishy of Transport. The Committee's principal concern was with the new motorways and trunk roads I which were causingdnstic disturbancein the countrysidebut at the sametime cleatingnew enyironmeltts.A great challenge to the Committee was presentedby the large areasassociated with the intenections on theseroads, sometimesas much as 30/70 acres, and with the grass verges.It was their deliberate policy, endorsedby the Ministry, to restrict planting to indigenous speciesand to discourag€any unnecessaryplanting. The yistas of the countryside openedup by the new roads I should not be obscured and the rcads themselvesshould be maried as fully as possible into tha countryside. As far as herbaceousplants were concernedit was the object of the Committee to ensurethat natural vegetationwas encouragedby managementand if possibleincrcased by deliberateeffort. Seedsof wild plants could be sown on slopesbut the emphasis again must be on indigenousspecies, It wasvery satisfactoryto know that numbersof wild plants, for instancepdmroses and I cowslipson the Ml, had spreadin naturally. He wasaware that all the Committee'spolicies had not beeofully successfulbut he believedthat thek efforts should be more widely known thatr they were. I Lord NUGENT of GUILDFORD then welcomeddelegates to the symposiumand gavehis openingaddress. Mr M,R. PORTER presentedhis paper and said that the ideas expressedthere on how an ideal road in its various contexts should look, should be kept in mind as a background to the other ideas being put forward by later speakers. However,the most important factor of all was road safety for the road user.On minor roads small improvementssometimes I led to higher speedsand demandsthen followed for furthe! improvement. Theseattracted a different kind of road user and a different classof traffic. In these circumstancesthe local inhabitant was likely to suffer as weu as generalconservation and amenity interests.The designand maintenanceof highway landscapingwas largely a matter of good mannets,looking to see what was already there and repeatingit, perhapson a bolder scale.Diyersity of desigoto suit the local countryside,so that the road itself becameless conspicuouswhen seenfrom the outside and more intgrestingand sale for the driver, was most t likely to satisfy the majority of interestedparties. Care should be taken in the formulation of maintenanceproposals to avoid imposingtoo many different programmesand techniqueson the responsibleauthorities.

Mr Porter showed a number of slides. One of these showed a verge with the edge next to the hard shoulder cut I frequently, progressingthrough less frequently cut zones to a state where natural regenerationof scrub and trees was beginningto occur, This was contrastedwith a similar length where thc grasscutting had followed hard, unsympatheticlines, thus incr€asingthe man-madelook of the whole area. An old railway cuttiqg at Twyford with mature treesand an attnctive woodlandground flora might be the model for someroad vergesof the luture. A seriesof slidesof Germanmotorways I emphasisedthe needto retainthe wide opencharacter oJ certain landscapes. where tree planting would be contradictoryand out of scaie.In anothersituation full useof an areaof woodlandhad beenmade to givethe maximumfeeling of the road beingin and part of the wood. However,in many casesit w s often not advisatileto savetrees along a motorwayunless ihey I occurredin sufficientquantity and it was reasonablycertain that they would survivethe disturbancicaused by engineering works; ;t was usually more important to get the contours right and then replant as necessary,Mr Porter brjefly surveyedthe problemsof minor roadsand the especialvulnerability of banks,hedges and stonewalls which are likely to be replacedby I post and rail fencesor by wire. The needfor a positiveapproach to landscapingwas emphasised in a final slideof a multi- intersectionclover-leaf crossing, which might coverup to 100 acresin the future, with all its implicationsJor conservation, managemenland amenity. Dr F.H. PERRING,in introducinghis paper,stressed the differenceb€tween qld vergesassociated with ancientroads I and the newly created velges associated with modern developments.In both caseshe pointed out the conservation importance of these areasand mentioned dumping, hedgeremoval and the useof aggressivegrass specigs in seedmixtures as heineunfavourable in this conrext.lllanagement of the vergeswas importanl and the encouragementof a diversitvof habitats bv varvingthe type and frequencyof m;nagementoperifions wii io oe eniijurjiea lnd iduiii-prooiutv oti a,jni'iii-r,ii-rii T way as to satisfyall parties He spokeabout the numberof nationallyrare plant soecies that occurredon roadveroes and the importance of conservation orgarisations liaising with the highway authorities ior'ttriir piotection. t" ioaitiirir-,' C6utiiv Naturalists' Trusts were dmwing up schedulesof vergesites of generalimportance for conseNationin their own counties.So lar some 300 miles had been selected,mostly for assemblagesof wild plants,in a number of Englishcounties and Lothian in I Scotland. Mr D. T. STREETER also spoke of the importance of road vergesfor conseNationand stressedthat the main object of verge managementshould be to enhancethe local characterof the vergefrom amenity and conservationpoints of view, whilst I meeting the requirementsof the highway authority for the maintenanceof the road and salety of its usen. As management was a local problem it was impo ant that local organisationsaod particularly the County Naturalists' Ttusts should work closely with the County Surveyols'departments. The need for local co-operationwas emph;sised by the fact that it was quite impossibleto havea genelalpolicy for the managementof vergesthroughout the British islesbecause of the geat diversity of I envfonmental factors; and also becausethe objectivesof managementwere so vaded in different parts oflhe country. Mr Streeter hoped that all County Trusts that had not so far completed the survey of vergesof conseryationimportince, mentioned by^ Dr Perring,should now do so and start to make arangements for establishingschedules of managementfor the$e areas. Once the scheduleshad been agreed it was lecessary that there should be-the fullest understandineand I co-operationon lhe ground betwe€nthe peopleconcerned. T I I Mr R.J.WHITE, putting the farme$' viewpoint, said thdt farmers as the inhabitants of rulal are4swho were proud of their countryside lelt a very real concern about the stateof the verges.He appreciatedthat his written paper dealt only with an occu[ence in one year and that maintenaflceproblems usrlally were concelned with happeningsover a numbsr of yeats. The consequenceof not cutting the Hampshiieverges in 1968 had beell unsightly and umafe and had elrcourag€dthe gowth I of broadleaved dock. He wasglad to know that the Nature Cotservancyand the Ministry of Transpo were concernedabout what was happening on road vergesbut doubted that farmerbhad really thought about them as being sanctuadesfor rare plants. His own view was that the 20 acresor so of internal tlacks and bddle pathsoII his own 900 acrFfarm were probably much more of a sanctuaryfor wildlife. I

Mr R. J. CHANCFILLOR in presentinghis paper gaveadditional evidenceof sucaassfulweed disdersaloccuring in his garden, 1/3 acrc in extent. Over six years,thrce separateplants of PerennialSoMhistle (Sonchusarvensib) became established irom wind-borne seed.Assuming a i09loestablishment raie, thls gavea total of fifteen ?iab*. seTls-6?tTrisspecies falling on t each acre in each year in the Oxfurd area.Sowthistle and ColtCfoot(Tussilago farfara) another creepingperennial weed with wind-bomesced-were potentially the most harmful weedsoccurriffiiGTiGiiies-. Most other ag.riculturalweeds in road vergeswere either uncommon or lackedefficient dispersalmethods, but vergeswere none-the-lesgpossible sources of infestations, I Dr BRUCti CAMPBELL (Editorial Adviser,The Countryman)said that althoughthe well-beingand alertnessof the driver must be the lirst care of the roid planner, more topographicalsigns would help to make long shetchesof motorway moreinte.esting, particularly for passengers. I Sir GEORGE TAYLOR said that this question had be+n consideredby the Minister's Landsca$ingCommittee, who were in favour of more signsto identify localities,but their sug*estionhad not so far beenaccepted. I Mr PORTER referred to another aspectof this questioni He was often askedto screenthings wftich people felt were ugly, but a vierv of, for instanceJLuton from the Ml, or a pqwer station, helped the driver to locate himself, and addedan interest to the route. lt wasalso sometimesdiflicult to screenhouses backing onto a motorway, becauseto do this adequately would cut out light from them, T Mr R. C. JENNINGS (Technical Manager,Chipman Chelnical Co., Ltd,,) commented on the abutrrdanceof weedsand poor maintenanceof the grassswald on the early sectionsof the M1 where no chemicalsprays had beEnused, compared to the more parkJike appgaranceon later sectioos in Leicester$fre and Nottiaghamshire. These sectio[s wete treated with I chemicalsand gangmown. M! Porter in his paper seemedto infer that the latter approachto managemerltwas undesiable but wasit not a fact that theseverges were more aestheticallyattraqtiv€ as a result. Mr A,P, DUNBALL (Horticultural Adviser, Ministry of Nransport) rcplied that the later sectionsof the M I illustrated I the Ministry ol Transport'schanging poUcy oII vergemaintenance and weed control. The earlier policy had beento keep grass cutting to the minimum to encouragedevelopment of the natlve flora, but rapid invasion by weedy speciesof newly sown vergeshad necessitateda changeof plan, More recent instructlons were to cut the grassas frequently bspossible in the first two or three years,together with the use of h€rbicides,to producea tight cleansward. When this was dchievedfrequency of I gnss cutting could be reducedwithout the dangerof an invasionof docksand thistles.

Mr J, D, LEEFE (Lindsey Project for Improvement of the Environment) raisedthe question of planting beyond the highway, suggestedby Mr Porter. With the advent of the Couhtryside Act and its plovisions for tree planting, was there not t now a great oppotunity for local authodties to preparesupqlementary planting schemesin conjunction with th9 adjacent owners, the Countryside Commissionand road landscapeadvife6, to give a better landscape?Emphasis had beenplaced on the importanceof vergesas a nationalheritage to a future 100%car-owning public, Could usebe madeof the Countryside Act to providegrants for extra land for picnic placesfor the public,in additionto other amenitiesprovided on mainroads, I possiblyin suitableinstances associated with vergenature trails? Mr PORTER ageed that there were great possibilitiesfol local authoritiesto preparesupplementhry planting schemes, but funds might not be available. I Sir GEORGE TAYLOR said when trunk roads were planoed, the governmenttried to acquire phrcelsof land suitable ior planting, but that the Ministry of Transport's powe$ to blant only extended to land actually po$sessedby them. The Ministry did, however, try to get the sympathy of the adjacentlandorrners to ensurcthat the roads wele landscapedinto the countryside. I Mr R.J. S,HOOKWAY (Countryside Commission)said that there appearedto be powers in the Countryside Act for a wide rangeof oeative landscapingusing Coveroment funds. Hdwever,there was considerablecompetitidn for thesefunds and agreementabout individual schemeshad to be teachedwith local authorities.The authoiities might be loathe to take on small I schemesof the sort beingsuggested which could involve them ln a lot of effort for a small result. Howerler,he agreedwilh Mr Leefe's suggestionfor the deation of amenity areasand natule trails along roadsidevelges so long as (hey did not involve a safety hazard and could be adequatelymanaged. There was gleat potential here for public authodties to make agreements with pdvate landownersfor creativelaadscaping, thereby not only contributing to the countrysidebut also to the individual I landowne$'s holding. In addition if the managementcould bo caried out by the farmer or landowner,possibly in return for payment, this would materially reduce the authority's costsaid there would be lesslikellhood of conflict over the form of management.If agreementsof this sort could be encouragedit was possiblethat local authorities would be interestedand a great deal of progressmight be nade. t I M I I I

Mr ALEC LIVINGSTON (Council for the Preseryation of Rural England) stressed the economic importance of tourism and the pleasure tourists got from the sight of wild plants in flower in the roadside verges. Attractive verges were an integtal t part of the English countryside and probably had a greater elfect on people than was commonly lealised.

l\,4iss.F.p$Ll\4ER (Berks,Bucks and Oxon Naturalists'Trust) expressedconcern about the. removal of hedgesduring widening operations on minor roads, without any sign of subsequent replanting. She suggestcd that this problem could be I faced by planting coppice trees, which would not require as much t mming and would perhaptbring some revenue when cut. She asked who would be responsible for this sort of replanting and the maintenance of it

Mr C. R, CHADWICK said County Councils would be responsibleexcept on motorways and trunk roads. A good deal of I this was in fact being done.

Mr WHITE said that he thought the farmers' attitudes towards prairie farming were changinS: many latmets wete now I planting hedgesand would welcome roadsidehedges for protection of stock and clops, Mr W J,CHAFFE (Couoty Surveyor, Devon County Council) asked Mr Chancellor whether there was any frior means of treatment of soil to control broad-leaveddock during the construction of new roadworks, chemical control later being I difficult and experlsive. Mr CHANCELLOR said that referenceshould be made to the WeedControl Handbook.

Dr S.R. J. WOODELL (Berks, Bucks and Oxon Naturalists' Trust) sdid that roadsideverges could act as Nature resetves I for weeds especially as it had been indicated that they were relatively unimportant as soulces of secd for infestation of farmland. Many so-called weeds were attractive plants and it was important to distinguish between these and the few 'gene aggressive injurious species. In addition the plants orl verges could act as banks' lor weedy species in case hetbicide resistant forms developed on farmland. ln reference to Mr White's remarks, Dr Woodwell said that he thought that internal I farm roads and tracks were just as important for conservation as the public road verges,but were perhaps often in more danger lro m snraying.

Mr WHITE said that there was constant pressureon farmland from town development,etc., so that larmets werc forced I to make lullest use of all ptoughable land. There were! however, lanes and bridleways on the farms with high hedgeswhich were protected from drift of spray, and the chemicals used were in any case Senerally selective sprays.

Mr STREFITER added that nature reservesfor weedssuch as corn-cockleand cornflowers, which werc considcred t part of the national heritage,had been consideredfor a long time, and, he thought, did exist already in Holland. Mr H. N. JENNER (County Surveyor, Hampshire County Council), reporting on the experience of the Hampshirc County Council in 1968, said that the decision not to cut the road vergeshad been forced on the Council by financial considerations.The expedment was not likely to be repeated becauseof the weight of opinion against it. Development of I (although and many other noxlous weeds, effects on road safety in fact there had been no increasein accidents), reasons outweighed any advantage. I With rcgard to weeds the legat advice he had had agreed with that given in the note on page 28 of the Symposiunl papers. He had noted a difference of opinion between Mr Cornwallis' paper and Mr White's over the rights and responsibilities ol the neighbouring landowner vis d vis the highway authority with respect to the management and cropping of grass verges. He had previously contended that the highway verge and the growth on it were ifl the ownership of the neighbouring farmer or landowner. His recent legal opinion was that so far as injurious weeds were concerned it was the responsibility of the I with respect highway authority to control them. In general the authority's interests were in meeting its liabilities of the highway and in ensuring that the Queen'ssubjects could get along it. The owne! of the subsoil was entitled to any other asset provided it did not intedere with the propei functions and right of passage.

I Mr not that the complete lack of management of verges would be acceptableto conservationists. Jenner did think particularly when one saw the very rapid growth ofrank vegetation that had occurred in Hampshire in 1968. This growth quickly overran and suppressed many more attractive flowering plants. This was especially noticeable when new verges had bcen formed from improvements and this was upsetting for neighbouring owners or tenants who had surrendered land and I then seenit run to seed.

With fegard to co-operation between County Suryeyors and Nature Conseryation interests,Mr Jenncr said he had had difficulty in getting information about speciesand sites lor preservationand identifying the reas of interest and would be t glad of advicc. ln general he thought that co-operative elforts should be directed to prese ing species wherg they wcre known to exist arld where they were important, and not to alienate the goodwill of road user and farm interestsby attempting the inpossible task of preserving everythilg everywher€.

T Mr MARK JOHNS (Keep Bdtain Tidy Group) said that efforts to make vergesattmctive would probably be spoiled if problems of litter were not kept in mind. Was it an accident that no referenceto this question was included in the papers?

Sir GBORGE TAYLOR felt that litter control was not entirely relevant to the day's proceedings,but that it was in the I mind of the Landscaping Committee. lt was the responsibility of the local authorities to deal with the litter problem on roads, and that they could receive help from the Ministry for this. I I I I Dr T. LEWIS (Rothamsted Expedmental Station) pointed out the value of verges as habit4ts and reservoirs of pollinating insects, which were essentialto produce satisfadtory yields in many crops. The Bee Research Association published leaflets recommendingtrees and shrubs suitable fot amenity plaating, and at the same tirbe valuablefor bees. I Although therc werc still many orchards, particularly in the West Country, where good sets could bd obtained from wild pollinators, many orchardsin the easterncounties depended on the introduction of honey beesbecause ff the lack of enough wild insectg. I Agr, Ing. ZWIJNS(Netherlands) said that the vergesof thE smallerroads should be efficiently maidtainedby mowing or spraying.He consideredthat spraying was the only way to do this, becauseglowing weedsspreading onto the hard surface pushedthe traffic into the centreof the toad, thus incrcasingthte danger, particulady on winding roads. t Col. E M.HILL(Council for the Preservationof Rural Englatd) said that the morning'ssession had dealt almost entirely with the flora of rcad verges,Was therc any fauna which existed mainly in the road velges? Dr N W.MOORE (Monks Wood Expedmental Station) roplied that oo thorough studieshad beenimade of the fauna of I roadsideverges, although a very high proportion of British butterflies, farmland birds, etc., bred and/or nedon them, One fly, so far, had its only record from a vergein Dorset,and there might be quite a lot of specieswhose main llau[ts, particularly in eastem England, were now in roadsideverges, because of the ditappearanceof rough land from the neighbouringcountryside. I Dr PERRING added that io the recent suney he had me1tiored, it wasnoticeable that very few of the vergeshad been selected becauseof their fauna, apart from a few in Lincolnshire for butterflies, There was a potefltial here which the Naturalists'Trusts had not yet recognised.

Miss N. FAIRBROTHER (LandscapeArchitect) possible gxalts t asked whether it was to obtain for the amenity managemcntof roadsideverges in National Parks and Areas oi OutstandingNatural Beauty, wherethis exceededthe cost of normal routine methods.

Lord NUGENT thought that this would only be possiblqby the formation of a Country Park uirder the Countryside I Act, but as previously mentioned, becauseof financial restrictlons, the chancesof doing this for a small sttip of vergewete IIot very good.

Dr M.B. USHER (Yorkshire Naturalists'Trust) askedfor I definition of "Conservation" as usedin the context of newlv I cleatedhabitats, eg the enclosedtriangles of motorways,

Dr N. W MOORE (Monks Wood Experimental Station) said that although "conscrvation" did not generallymean more than a prevention of wasteof lesources,"nature conservation"was more positive, It implied a need to maintain, and where I possible enhance, the biological diversity of the environrnent for the benefit of our own and future generations. Cons€rvationistsshould be forward-looking and oot just concomed with the past. lt was therefore possibleto considerthe creation of new areasof biologicalinterest asbeing a form of nqture conservation. t Mr JAMES FISHER (Countryside Commission)said that under the 1968 Act, there was a possibitty of the grant-aided developmentof transit picnic sites,particularly for holiday traffic, and this vas beinginvestigated.

Mr Fisher suggestedthat the smallishareas of roadsidefotmed during road-stnighteningoperation$, and too small to be t used as picnic sites, would be useful for the provisionof lavato!'yfacilities. The cut-off laybys were in fact "weed-farms" and had researchpossibiliti€s on the problems of their fauna, flora, managementand future development,and could be a subject for co-operatior betweenthe highway authoritiesand the County CountrysideCommittees. T He said that the Countryside Commission welcome( the deployment of County Countryside Committees or sub-committees of the Planning Committees, and looked forward to evely county having such a committee, with representationof the County Naturalists'Trusts. I I t I I I 44 I I I AFTERNOONSESSION

Mr E L.BROUGHTON openedthe aftemoon sessionby sayingthat the contributions were to be from peoplewhosejob I was actually the careof roadsideverges. The County Surveyorhad a thanklesstask in pleasingall and satisfyingas many as he could while peforming his statutory duties. County highu'ay personnelpresent constituted just under a third of all delegates and this showed that county highway authorities took the subject of roadsideverges and theit maintenancevely seriously I indeed. He then had pleasurein introducing Mr C.RCHADWICK, county Surveyo!for wiltshie.

Mr C,R, CHADWICK said that in his paperhe had refered to comrnonmisconceptions of what the highway wasand to I whom the land over which it ran belonged.There were six principal categoriesof public highway, all of which might have verges.The dght of passagesubsisted over the whole width, including the verges,and was not confined to the metalled cariageway. He said that a gleat deal of attention was devoted to motorways and their effect on the landscape,although at presentthey coveredonly one per cent of the mileageof public highwaysin this country. In addition to the highwaysalready I mentioned, there were also two categoriesofrights of way, namely bddle-waysand footpaths, which were seldom considered but the mileageof which was c.onsiderablygreater than that of lepairablepublic roads.In Wiltshire there wele somethinglike 5,000 public footpaths acrosscountry, and in most casesthe only maintenancecaried out wassimply to keep then open, as I the right of passagehad to be maintained. Part 4 of his paper dealt with the principal requirementsof a veryemaintenance policy. There was sometimesa conflict of intercst between road safety on the one hand and amenity on the other, but this was often greatly exaggerat€d.The solution was largely a matter of common sensoand co-operationwith local naturalistsand amenity bodies.One aspectof the I subject which was sometimesoverlooked (and uoderestimated)was the positive contdbution that the construction ofroads could make in goviding new habitats for wild plalts and animals.A good example in his own county recently wasa newly construct€d cutting, a retaining wall of which had been back-fited last year and produced a densecarpet of snowdropsthis February presumablythe corms had been imported with the in-fill. D! Perringhad complainedabout the dumping of soil on I road verges,and whilst he agreedthat this could haveunfortunate effects, Mr Chadwicksuggested that it could also encourage wild plants, suchas poppi€s,

He could not accept that roads wele an intrusion into the countryside: they might be so in a jungle but if by T countryside one meant what man had madeof the jungle, roads were an integlal part of it. He saidit was not an accidentthat in the British Isles, where there was the geatest density of minor roads,there wasalso the most efficient agdculture.He did not suggestthat the latter sprangfrom the former but it was not a pulely casualrelationship. T Mr Chadwick said that he still had to be convincadof many ol the criticisms of the geometry of road designin this country. He would not contend that mistakes did not occur, but would say that geometry afld formal design were not necessarilyout of plac€ in an intensely cultivated landscape.He personallygot much pleasurefrom lookiog at well designed improvementschemes with flowing lines and well-managedswards runuing through fertile farmland,

I A point had been madeabout the useof indigenousplants. He whol€heartedlyagreed with this in generalbut thought it unwise to be dogmatic. He had been intrigued in Czechoslovakiato s€e that trees of the edible cherry were planted as a matter of policy along their roads, to produce a "free" crop, and were very easilytended by machines.He thought that this I showedinteresting planning of the countryside,even if it wasnot very natural. Am€nity needed to be an ally to road safety, one oi the most important concernsof the road engineer.This was particularly true on motorways, where the problem of monotony had to be overcome: this might not be significant on a 50-mile run, but becamequite a problem on ajourney of 500 miles.With regardto laybys and toilets, Mr Chadwick said that I many counties were introducing toilets in laybys, to avoid the nuisanceqeated on quite a largescale in the vicinity of laybys without them.

Mr Chadwick summed up by sayingthat roadsideverges should be consideredas part of the cultivated couotryside,and I should be managedin sympathy with the country scene,It must howeverbe recognisedthat everythingone did cost money.

Mr C.V. UNDERWOODpointed out a corectioo in his paper:on P. 49 3rd line, the referenceto 80s.0d. pe! acle I shouldbe 100s.0d. (Amendedin the reprintversion of the papers:Editor). There were three nain goups of vergesto be consideredin the problem of maintenance:(a) new verges,from the building of motorways and by-passes;(b) establishedverges, which formed the majority; aod (c) maintenanceof vergesin rcsidentialareas. There were a number of engineeringconsidemtions for vergemaintenaflce which included stabilisationof the I soil. removalof obFtructionby overhangingbushes and other vegetation,and properdrainage of the road. Drainagewas a very realfunction of vergemaintenance. I I I

By making new embantments and cuttings the natural soil conditions were destroyed.It was necessaryto establish I vegetatior cover quickly and in the past this had been done by applying top soil, not necessarilyfrom the samedistdct, and seedingit. This was very expensive.The modern technique of hy&oseeding wasa very quick way to eltablish a swardand it was also cheap: at 6d per squareyard it was half the cost of taditional mothods.No top soil was applled, only a sprayingof water, certain additiyes,seed, and chopped straw, madetacky with bitumen emulsion,sufficient to est{blishthe gjasson the I bank, Three weeks aiter application the grasswould be growi4g. Refercncehad aheadybeen madeto rye gass, which ceused a great maintenanceproblem, particularly in the 50% specificEtionof the Ministry of Tmnsport. He thought in any casethat often the corect specificationof seedwas not suppliedto surteyors when orderedaccording to the Mi4istry $pecification.In Leicestershire,a different specificationwas used on new work!, which containedlow-growing gtrasses. They would also Uke to I include seedof ildigenous wild plants g.ov/ingin the areabut it wasa problem to collect the seed.

In discussingthe best way to managenewly establishedv€getation on verges,he felt that the Ministry of Transport's recommendationsto keep vegetationto not more than 6 inohes,for 6-7 feet from the carriageway,Bnd in no caselonger I than 12 inchesbrought a big maintenanceproblem. He alsd felt that sometimestoo much tree plarltingwas done on the motorways.This was unnecessaryfrom the amenityand expensepoints of view,whilst trees created pfoblems such as shade, wet leavesand could be quite out of placein open countryside.In Leicestershire.for the establishedcountry verges,they I had introduceda grassmaintenance policy, and this was ourtlinedin his paper.They had only one year'sexperience, but indicationswere encouraging from both the wildlife and engiheeringpoints of view. He saidthat althbughfarmers liked to seefrequent mowing, a short turf encouragedanimals to grazeon the vergeand this wasdangerous both to the animalsand I to the motorists. Of the managementtechniques that were available,the tractor side-mountedflail mower wa$ a geat boon to the highway engineer.In his county they did not approve of the generalapplication of chemicalson vergesand said that useof them was restdcted to dealing with injurious weeds.Although a lot had beensaid about weeds,the polnt had not beenmade I that there wereonly 5 speciesof injurious weedsfor which th€fe wasa statutory obligation to control.

Summing up, Mr Underwood said that it was necessaryto keep the matter of verge maintonancein perspective, especiallyas it lepresentedprobably not more than lth% of m4inter.ar\cemo[ey spentby highway authorities. I Dr A.J.WILLIS in presentinghis papel referred to a number of methodsof chemicalcontrol of road vergevegetation, expedmental work on the long-term and ecologicaleffects oi their use,and what advaltagesthey might be expectedto have over other methods. Total eradicto$ were of rather specialis€dand limited local use,as on kerbsidesa0d at the foot of walls. I The most interestingand promising techniquesof generalapplication in vergemaintenance were tho$e involving the use of gowth-retarden, Over the last 20 years a good deal of work had beenput into studying the effects of thesecompounds and especiallyMaleic Hydrazide (MH), the best known of them, in terms of their effectson road vergevegetation. Dr Willis then went on to describewith the help of slidesthe experimentsit Bibury in Gloucesterhsire,detailed in his written paper' MH I when used by itself led to a changein the compositionof grassswards towards low-growingspecies, it preventedflowedng of grassesand io some extent had a herbicidai effect on thd tall-growing umbelliferc. Th€ gowth-- regulator 2,4-D had a terbicidal effect on the majodty of broad-leavedplants but also over a period of time did lead to a shift in the compositionof the grasssward. Mixtures of 2,+-o and MH led to a grassswdrd kept short and not flowgring and laclting most broad-leaY€d gmdual I species.If plots that had been previouslysprayed with this mi,(ture were not sprayedfor a period of yeb$ thele wasa pedod iversion to the plant commu;ity that hai been presentbefole treatment began.However, in the compamtiY€lyshort present Lf +-S y"urr at Bibury there was no complete reversionto the original flora in terms of numbersof species although been made at -uny f"ut,rr", of the former vegetation were by therr evidont, Measurementsof height of vegetatiJonhad next paper. He I inteivals after treatment anOhe notecl that some of the results did not agreewith Dr Way's reported in the of swardsof ft p"J in"t they would be able to discussthis later. with rdgard to the effects on the botanical composition *^purid to sptayinl, Dr Willis said that cutting could strongly reducedive$ity' "uiting wasmainly what T Dr J.M.WAY introduced his paper by sayingthat in addltion to the managementof gxassverges, which in narow country had been talked about so far, there was aiso ihe question of managementof \toody vegetationespecially destruction lanes. control of this vegetationonly really poseda conservdtionproblem u'hen thete wasa dangerof wholesale expedmentshe was of roadside hedgesand trees. There was less-needfor researdhon their managementand sOin his ovn and scrub on wide velges' contdbuted I concentrating on the grass problem. Neverthelessroadside hedges and trees, tleatmQnt' ln significanfly to the coflservatlonand amenity of the areasin which they occured and requ]ed sy-npathetic DIVERSITY of habitat' to reiation to-grassverges, wildlife conservationlnterests might be summadsedas the need to create by the crcation of new ensureCoNTINUITY of managementtechniques in detail al1dto graspthe oPPORTUNITY afforded in managementcould have a deva$talingeffect on plant I areasas a result of road Uuifaing piogammis. Sudden changes over long periods of time lt was communitigs that had developed.,ndir a mor" or less constant form oi management be usedand theri asfar as possiblestick important to decide as soon a, porribG no* tt new techniq!.[esbeiog_evolved should " communitieswele encoura$ed.animal populations to them. so far as animals *"t" L"fiftv uni,u"tl"o fhnt ""r""it"a,-ii one was often also talking about amenity but this was not I *"riJ-i"*f.p *ftfr them. When one talked about conseNation amenity: as for instancewhen plants went to ;i;;v. ;;,;.e good consewation r"i p"1ioa, of time could lea-dto irdifferent had been-associatedvith f€sealchon load verges seedor long glasswas left to ptot""i tiatti"glilas. Tlre Natute Conservancy and hoped with the continuing co-operationof these since the early 1g5gs, togeth$ *liir-olr"ii"t"r"rted orgadisations, on to discussin detail his lesealchwolk I organisationsto be able to produce agreedadvice for the future. Dr Way th€n went and resultsto dato desc bed io his paper. I I I t

Alderman H,B,WEBBER(Devon County Council), who wasnot able to be ptesent,in a written 1lotecommented that it was interestingto seethat thought was being given to the introduction of indigenouswild plants onto motorway banks.In t South Devon some of the amenity societiesin co-operationwith the County Council had scatteredthe seedsof wild flowers over trial areasof road vergeswith a vi€w of extending this processto raw banks following roadworks, although the 1968 experiment seemedto have met with limited success.We.e there other similar experimentsbeing caried out, and if so, what I werethe rcsults? Mr STREETER replied that there was not a geat deal of experienceof this ploblem, but he thought that t als wete also being made in Cornwall. One of the problems of introduaing indigenousplants hto establishedroadside verges was that the vegetationthere was usually already a closed community. Oo thc other hand, new verges,particularly those which were t likely to be least disturbed, would be very valuableif properly managed,especially for the conseryationof padicular species which were locally becoming rare. lf tmoslers of platts ol this sort were made he emphasisedthat the details should be accuratelyrecorded and sent to the Biological RecordsCentre at Monks Wood.

I Mi UNDERWOOD said that his Council felt that the laying of turl was the best solution to the establishmentof vegetationoll motorway banks, although it was difficult to find sufficient suitable material. (It was suggestedfrom the hall that railway bankswould be the placesto find the turf requh€d). I A representativeof the County Surveyor'sDepadment (Gloucestershire)said that they had been sowing seedof red fescuealong new highway improvementsand had hoped to re-establishscabious and cranesbill,but could oot find a sourceof seed.They would be most grateful if the Naturalists' societiescould show them whereseed could be obtained, so that these I arld other wild flowering speciescould be reinstatedin such areas. Mr T. A.W DAVIS (WestWales Naturalists' Trust) said that seedof suitable flowering plants should be collectedfrom plants grown in specialnu$edes or p vate gardens.Naturalists' Trusts should collaboratewith Highway Authorities in this. The gass€s included in seed mixtures should be dwarf: sweet vemal (Anthoxanthum odoratum would be suitable in I addition to others already mentioned. Dr BRUCE CAMPBELL commented on the value of motorway "clover-leafcircles" and similar areasfor conseryation, 'improvements' especiallyfor the re-establishmentof specieswhich could be savedfrom destruction dudng elsewhere.He I mefltionedthe daffodils betweenthe ca(iagewayson the RossSpuf, swely the safestwild plants from the picker. Mr R. C.STEELE (Monks Wood Experimental Station) reinforced the plea for more careful choice of trees alld shiubs in roadside planting; he was disappointedto seenon-native trees, such as sycamore,being so extensivelyused, and I strcssedthat native specieswere far more valuablefor wildlife conservation. Mr CHADWICK agreedin generalwith Mr Steele,but emphasisedthat exceptionscould be made to everyrul€ and he I would not like to seenon-indigenous species ruled out in every case. Mr J, D. LEEFE suppoded Mr Chadwick in sayingthat highwaysshould be regardedas part of the countryside,and that stronger liaison was required between the highway authodties, the planning authorities and the newly formed Countryside Committees. He also strongly supported Mr Chadwick's suggestionthat Parish Councils be eocouragedto ca(y out tree I planting schemes.His contact with Pa sh Councils showed that there was a potential fund of goodwill and knowledge and alro mon"y for tree planting. If local peopleparticipated io thesetypes of scheme,they would havea Sreaterinterest in them.

Mr CHADWICK replied that although he had suggestedthat ParishCouncils were the appropriatebodies to h€lp in trce I planting schemes,the rcsponsein Wiltshiri had not in fact been as widespreadas he would have liked. He hoped, however, that more attention would be givento this matter.

Col. E M,HILL (Council for the Preservationof Rural England)said that the amenity interestsoften felt that there was a lack of co-operationbetween the more junior officials of the County Surveyot'soffices and the planning departments,so I villages, that minor rcad widening and removal of hedgeswere caried out, which alteredthe whole amenity of country roads, etc., without proper consultation. I He alsoasked wh€ther anything was being done to produce shortgrowinggrass species, in order to reducethe amount of mowing necessaly.

Mr BROUGHTON replied that for certain works it wasnecessary fo! the County Surveyorto obtain statutory planning approval, and in thesecase; there wasof coursefull co-operation,In his county of Cumbelland,there wasa good relationship I junior planning particularly in the Lake District. In generalhe thought that beiween officials ol his and the departments, there wasa vely good degreeof collaborationall the way down.

Mr CHADWICK addedthat he and his staff in Wiltshire wele very well awareof theseproblems and would not willingly t anything to spoil the countryside; they were always willing to take part in any desirableor necessaryconsultations with do other deparlmentswith this in minc.

Dr WILLIS, referring to a commeot made on short grasses,said that theseaheady existed in nature, and one of the I effects ol maleic hydrazide was to promote the developmentof some of theserelative to the broader-bladed,taller, tussock forms. I t t Refering to Dr Way'spaper, Dr Willis said that he wasnol surprisedthat no changecould be dotectedwhen using 2,4-D as it was s€vetalyears before he became aware at Bibury thdt there were slow changesin the grassOompolents of plant communitiestreated with this chemical;there was therefore a lpossibility that chemicalscould be usedfor a pedod without any apparent effect, but, if usedrepeatedly over a number of ydars,miglt lead to fundamentalchanges iit tlle veg€tation.The I griss wi. .hotter afier a iong period of treatment with 2,4-D bebausethe taller grassesdisappeared and sliolt forms took over. With regard to the differencii between Dr Way's and his resulls in the heights of maleic hydrazide spr4yedplants, he could not olfer any obyious explanation. He had recently collected lnformation on the effects of spray treatments with MH and 2,4-D in many differert parts of Britain and also on the continont: of l5 reports, 10 specificallyreferred to an incieasein the I finerleaved meadow graJsesand fescues,but every report refefred to the disappearanceof coa$e grassFs'In no casedid the height of the vegetationexceed 15 in. afte! treatment with MH {nd 2,4-D.

Mr R.Q JENNINGS (Technical Director, Chipman ChemlcalCo., Ltd.,) askedDr Way if he could bayhow many of the gowth-retarders. I 300,000 acresof roadsidethat had been referred to were regularly sprayedwith chemicalweedkillers dnd With reference to the Minishy of Tlansport memorandum of 7 Feb. 1965, providing the recommeddationsof this were obseryed,did Dr Way not think that there werestill ample areasin which wildlife could floudsh? cherhicalspraying carried I Dr WAY replied that no-one seemedto have any detailep information about the amoult of out for vegetationcontrol on road verges,His impressionwas ttat it wasnot very great,However, it might be possibleto find out irom manufacturershow much matedal wassold for this pluposeand so arrive at a figure that way. The main concell of conservationistswas not so much with the main trunk roads and the 6 ft (not l0 ft) strip that wasnorv beingtalked about, of strip would not be significantbut on a surpdsingnumber of I but with country roads. On a wide vergethe treatment a 6 ft roads, particularly narow country roads, the vetge! were ofteh not more than 6 ft wide and if a substahtialmileag€ of these were sprayedin the country with certain matedalsa good deal df harm could be done.

Dr B.fL GREEN (SoutheastRegion, The Nature Consemncy) said that the pres€otmanagement techniques of leaving I grasscuttings along the rcad verges,instead of removingthem as was done in the past (e.g.as hay), encouragedthe growth of lushvegelation. as il actedas a fertiliser, On railway cuttings, there was a very flodstically rich sward, and that was probably due tro the fact that the T managementregime was essentiallyone of buming. Recent regearchhad shown that burning took out plant nutrients from the soil. Dr Greenasked for County Councils'views on the practicability of burning asa managementtedhnique for verges, Mr CHADWICK replied that it would be illegal to burn prasson the highway. The managementr4ethods in generaluse I were not designedto producethe best type of sward,but the most economic.The post-wardevelopmeni of the flail machine, which reduced the cuttings to a fine mulch and did not tequiro collecting,had made cutting the most ebonomicproposition. Miss E M.BIRKETT (Cumberland)supported other spealterswishing to seeplanting of indigenoustrees. The motorway I verges,which were protected ftom the public, offered an uniqlueopportudty to coose(vesome of our flowering plants. If a way could be found to establishthese plaots on them, and the tegetation height could be controlled by bhemicals,motorway vergescould form a lesgrvebank of plants at a time when there wasso much destructionof the native flola elsewhere. I Dr PERRING emphasisedthat planting should not be done indiscriminately. Anybody wishing to introduce plants widely on road vergesshould consult with thet Naturalists' Tfust before doing so, so as to ensurethalt any speciesplanted were native to the areaconcerned, and not just of the country ds a whole. I Mr UNDERWOOD added that since the building of motorways causedvery considerabledistulbance of the natural conditions, it would be many yeals befole soil conditions had been sufficiently amelioratedfor many \vild speciesto suryive, Mr E,P.WHITTAKER (Fisons Ltd., ChesterfordPark RdsearchStation) refered to the oppositiofi to the largeamount I of rye grassin Ministry of Transport mixtures, and suggestedihat the addition of speciessuch as chaniomileand bird's foot trefoil would reduce the amount of cutting necessary.He was gateful to Dr Willis for bdnging attention to the fact that the chemicalengineer could improve the flora as well as destroy it, and this was now a developingaspect of their research.He hoped that they might bc able to help the naturalist in extending the flora as well as meeting the dertands of the highway I engineersin reducing the height of the vegetationby maleichydrazide and other compounds.

Mr G.G.FISHER (Fisons Ltd.. Chestetford Park ResearchStation) asked whether the conservatlonof road vergeson motorways wasof any real value if the public could not find acpessto them. T Dr WAY replied that although it had alrcady beenstated that conservationand am€nity interestswere very similar, the qeation of reservoirsfor wildlife did requhe protection from seriouspublic pressure,so that motorrtay verges,as nilway embankmentsin the past, were of enormous yalue in this rospect. If thesereseryoirs were successfillthey would provide I sourcesof propagulosoi plants for colonisationof areasthat wore accessibleto the public. I I I 48 I l\4rA.P. DUNBALL (HorticulturalAdviser, l\4inistry of Transport)took up threepoints raised by Mr Underwood:

l. The grassseed mixture recommendedby the Ministry of Transport was constantly under review. lt was formulated I aft€r advicehad been soughtfrom bodiessuch asthe GrasslandResearch lnstitute, the Spods Turf ResearchInstitute and the Ministry of Agdculture, in an endeavourto meet the varied requirementsof the different intelests. Sowing of the standard mixture usuallyresulted in varying herbagecomposition accordirlg to the soil conditions,which had a great effect on the type I of community which would develop.Grass would also developfrom seedsreturned to the site with the top soil. 2. Referring to hydroseeding,he said that although Mr Undelwood stated that this was a cheapmethod oi establishing grasses,he had overlooked that the top soil had to be disposedof if it was not retumed to the site, and rhat he personally I prefered to grow glasson top soil rather than on subsoil. 3. Replying to Mr Underwood'scriticism of overplantingof treeson motorway verges,Mr Dunball said that the width of the planting arca had to be taken into account, and if there were 20 acresof land per mile, the tree planting schemeon the t M1 in Leicestershirerepresented 70 acresplanting out of 660 acrcsof motorway. Finally, Mr Dunball agreed with Mr Underwood's criticism of the Ministry of Transport grass-cuttinginstructions, becausethey could not apply dgidly to all parts of England with different soil types, rainfall, etc. They must, as Mr I Underwoodhad suggested, be regardedas a guide,and treatedaccording to localcircumstances. Mr UNDERWOOD replied that the amount of tree planting, for instancein Leicestershirc,which waspredominantly an open county, seemedto conflict with the Ministry's statedpolicy of pla4ting to match the surroundinglandscape. He pointed out that planted trees had to be tended in the early years, which was very expensiveand quite unnecessary,and refered to I the booklet "Roads in the Landscape",by Mr CloughWilliams Ellis of the Minister'sLandscape Advisory Committee, which containedquite acceptabletree planting schemes.

With referenceto rye gass in seedmixtures, he saidit was necessaryto mow the rye before the fescuescould establish I themselves,so it seemedunnecessary to plant a grasswhich would causea maintenanceproblem. Referringto the Roadsin the La[dscape conferenceat Keele, where foreign speakeGhad reported on strains of shod glasses,he said that it would be interesting to investigatethese, import restrictions permitting. He suggestedthat the Ministry of Transport should find out how much of the Ministry's specifiedred fescuehad beensown over the last ten yearsand comparethat with the amount of I 559 (red fescue)produced, ie were the SuNeyols getting what they askedfor? Finally he said that if there wasa genemlshortage of top soil, it would not of coursebe thrown away, but that if it was kept in dumpsfor over six months, its qualitieswere lost. Top soil wasin great demandamongst builders.

I Dr D.S. RANWELL (CoastalEcololy ResearchStation, The Nature Conservanry)said that the meetingmight be interested to hear that the Nature Conse ancy was also enquiring into the effect of salt on roadside verge vegetation. Evidenceof this in America was reviewedat a Symposiumin Connecticut and resultssuggested that salt accumulateduoder I certain conditions and death of roadsidevegetation, including trees,had beenattributed to this. In someinstances the level of salt residuesfound in America had dsen to that found on coastalheaths in this country. Dr J.P.G RIME {NatureConservancy Grassland Research Unit, Sheffield)returned to the problemof the introduction of diversityinto grasslandof motorwaymargins. Natural communities with high floristicdiversity were commonly found in I habitatsof low productivity,but it was the practicewhen constructingmotorway margins to build up a faarlydeep soil. therebycreating a fertile situation.This led to a needfor cuttjng programmesor the useof chemicalsprays to suppressthe vegetation.Would it not be possibleto examinethe basictheory of constructionand investigate means of producinginitially t unproductiveconditions? At Sheffield,research was beingcarried out on the effectsol insertingperforated plastics into soil profilesin orderto producerocky limestoneoutcrop situations, where there was naturally a highdiversity ol species. Mr CHADWICKreplied that it wasnot his experienceto havea surplusof top soil,or of a particularlyhigh grade. He I thought it would be an exception to haveany appreciabledepth of nutdent-rich soil on a road construction. Dr MOORE (Monks Wood ExperimentalStation) askedwhether Dr Willis thought that in the long run maleichydrazide would continue to increasedive$ity, if it preventedflowering, thus eliminating sourcesof seed, T Dr WILLIS agreed that thete was a limit. The effect of MH on flowering was particularly pronounced on monocotyledonousspecies and many of the annual broad-leavedplants which invadeddid in fact flower, ftuit and seed.High diversity, as Dr Grime pointed out, was an indication of infedility and an open community, MH had the effect of creating open conditions by keeping some of the larger-growingplants down and therefore allowing colonisablepockets to develop. I Thesewere invadedby many of the low-growingannuals and some perennials. Mr J. C.CADBURY (County Councillor, Worcestershire)asked whether in the useof the flail the threat to birds' nests, small mammals,insects and plants, had been saieguardedagainst by the introduction of the newer modelsmentioned by Dr I Way. There had beena great dealof devastationin his county by the flail, perhapseven more than by chemicalspmys. He also asked for advice for esiablishingnatural growth on rocky sandstoneslopes and whether other plants than grass could be used on central reservationswhich would be less liable to damagefrom salt and passingtraffic and require less t upkeep. Mr J. R. DEACON (Highways and B dgesDepartment, WorcestershireCounty Council) said that in Worcestershirethe main use of chemicalsfor contlol of grasson vergeswas for safety reasonswhere there was poor alignmentand poor visibility I on ClassI and lI roads, and certain other spots. Rather lessthan 15% of grassverges in Worcestershirewere treated with chemicalsand il commons and bddleways were taken into account the figure would be nearerto 7% of the total acreageof grassto be controlled. He hoped that these figures would help to allay the fears of a number of peoplein the country who I claimedthat the Highway engineerswgre destroyingthe countlyside with chemicals.

49 I T

Dr WAY said that the newer flail machineswere probably better than the old ones, but that tne men who used th€ machinesmust be instructed to use th€m sensibly.The fitting of somc form of height control facility, silch as a jockey wheel or a skid wasvery destable, I

Mr UNDERWOOD agreed with Dr Way, but said that if flail mowing was only done the 6 ft width from the carriageway,there was still a laue part of the vergein which the animalscould sti[ thrive. He felt tlhat the rcciprocating mower would causeas much damageto nestsas the flail machine,and olrcelevell€d off the flail wasable to give a good gtass t swardof 2-3 inches.

with regard to establishinggtrass sward on rock faces; he said that these were usually left as a feature without vcgetatioo,but if a glol}th wasrequied, the possibility of hydroseedingcould be investigated. t He agreedthat salt had be€r a problem in the last five or six years since its introduction into gereml use againsticy conditions, but that the grassseemed to recoyer,although hA did not know whether the concentrationsmentioned by Dr Ranwell would eveotuallykill the vegetation. I Mrs J. K.BELLAMY (British Ho6e Society) said that it 1\f,asgjatifying to hear Mr Undotwood and Dr Way refer to the impodance of vergesto liders. She said that although horse rruers' irterests might eventuallyb€ coverddby the provisionof Country and Regionalparks, therc was a short term problem that existing b dle ways, particularly noar towns, were quite I inad€quateto meet reqeational pressures.Some to$,ns had made provisionsfor rid€rs to usesuitable venges to rgachth€ ope4 c.untry, and rideN' tracks had been marked out, but othe! local authoritieshad passedbyelaws to prohibit the useof verges by horses,thus forcing them on to the road, which wasundesirhble for motorist alrd rider. Sheasked thdt when consideration was being given to highway programmes,the riders' intergstsshould b€ borne in mind and consultationmade with their local t Spods Advisory Council or the British Holse Society.

Mr CHADWICK said that the training of raceho$esand hunting were important in many countiesand the councilswere well awareof this. T I I I I I t I I I T I 50 tI

I SUMMINGUP G.R.S.PEPLER I Deputy Clerk, Lindsey County Council, Lincoln. (Fdited transcript of tape-recording)

Thank you, Mr Chairman, very much for your warm personal welcome to me. I would like to convey to you a pe$onal I apology from Mr Lane for his not being with you; I know it is a great disappointment to him, because of his indisposition, not to have the opportunity of being here. I wondered whether I ought to avoid any suspicion that I might be subject to any bias in summing up by declaring my interest as a Council member of my County Naturalists' Trust, but then I thought that t could equally well declare quite a variety of other interests as ao adviser to a County Highways Committee, an adviser to a I County Road Safety Comaittee, Education Committee, and a group of County Council agricultural committees. I mention these and, ol course, as a result, a responsibility through my local authority to some 350,000 people of all ages,to illustrate the very wide diversity ol interest which you find brought toggther in a County Council. lnterests which cove! all aspects of what has been concerning us all here today. And I think that this is important and significant and I would like to lead on to I develop one ol two points from it.

First, I think that it illustrates perhaps that the issues that we have been talking about are not issues of "we" and "they" we are all "we" in this, and I think the way in which at the County level all theseinterests come together under oDe I roof does emphasise this. It also emphasises the very great responsibilities that the local authority and the County Council have. A heavy responsibility and a tremendous opportunity, and I say this with all due deference alrd respect to the Ministry of Transport and other bodies with National responsibilities. You do lind at County level a coming together of interests which you really do not find anywhere else to quite the same degree in a silgle organisation. I think one moves on from I there, of course, to emphasise the great burden which County Surveyors carry in this particular matter; a burden of which they take a major share as being the member of the local authodty top managemeot team most olosely concerned with roads and highways. But they need a great deal of sympathy, advice and practical help in discharging their responsibilities, and this must come both from within the authodty which they serye and from without. So far as help from without goes, it is quite I clear that County Naturalists' Trusts have here the very finest opportunity of taking a lead on behalf of the whole of that part of the public which is concerned about the countryside and road verges in particular; of taking a lead in establishing the right sort of contacts and the right sort of working arrangements with the County Councils, with whom they ought to be working very closely together, And of course it is not only County Naturalists' Trusts. Parish Councils were mentioned. t Women's Institutes, and many other bodies. But I believein this particular matter of road vergesit must essentiallybe the Coulty Naturalists' Trust which takes the major responsibility. We have had today the greatest opportunity of establishing contacts and it will be important to keep them up and ever develop them. I In this I want to come onto a point which has beentouched on once or twice, that what we have be()ntalking about is not just a sort ol top-dmwer issue to be talked of in assemblieslike this Symposium, or London clubs, ot the lounge bar. or leamed societies.It must be a down-to-eath matter which needsto be talked about much more widely and at all levels.And if I can just take up a point about a comment, a not entirely unmerited criticism, that although County Surveyorsand I County Planning Officers may be on the vgry best of terms, and work with great harmony, it doesn't follow automatically that this will happen at all levels unless conscious eflorts are made to ensure that it does. I believe there is a constant responsibility on top management to provide the best opportunities and the best climate in which this kind of co-operation can tick over automatically all the way down through the different departments. With this in mind, you could well consider I at the County level some sort of gathedng of the same kind that we have had here today on the National level. There must be lots of people both within the official organisations and the voluntary bodies who could profit from this kind of discussion on this kind of topic at that kind of level. I hope that this is something that might be done-it may indeed have been done-but one commends it to placeswhere it might not yet have been considered,

t This again leads one to emphasisethat this communication must be worked on at all levels,and this means,of course, within a highways organisation right down to the county roadman. The fact that he works now in a gang makes it even more important that he should understand the sort of thing that we have been talking about here, in the sort of language which he can easily comprehend. Because,il he does not understand what he is supposedto be doing, and why, he will neither enjoy t doing it nor contribute as we would like to the objects we are after. All the more so now he is in d gang the old typical country lengthsman on the roads inherited the sort of built-in know-how which enabled him to produce the right sort of answers.But his modern counterpart does not always come from the samebackground and he needsto be helped and helped constantly, I think. to understand the part that he must play. I would look forward to the occasion when a meeting like t this is next organised,and among those addressingthe company is a county road foreman. This seemsto me to be the sort of basis on which people ought to be participating. This leads me on to education. a word that I would have liked to have heard mentioned more today, and from two I points of view'.-one from the obvious one that without constant education ol junior oificials, county roadmen, and the general public, they cannot be expected to appreciate what is being done nor why, nor indeed to make obiective sugSestions how things might be done differently. That is terribly important, but there is also the very important point about schools,as very often in some pafts of the country the only natural habitat for study that exists within reasonable distance of many of I our schools is road verges. Speaking as one coming from a county where almost every inch is cultivated, this is something not to be overlooked. It is, I suppose,basically a matter of communication communication up and down and all round. I I T Now what thoughts should one go away with? I think teauy I would put it this wey. That I thinlk we ought to go back home convincedthat whateYetwe've been doing and howevetrwell we think we havebeen doing it, there is somethingmorc we can do, and there is somethingmore we ought to start dding tomorow. This sort of gatheringonly hasits real purposeif it leadsto individual rcsponsibility beingacc€pted by peoplewho go away out of this toom and are detetminedto take stock T of what they arc doing or not doing and then take some new step forward. The sum total of all that from a largegathering like this can be very telling. So don't keep it to you$elyes. Spreadthe news around, and take sode further action, And fina[y, Mr Chairman,may I be allowed, with apologiesto anypne elsewho may hayebeen instructed to do this, to exprcsson behalf of all of us who hayen't bean taking a major part in this Symposium,our grateful thanks tq the organisersand in t patticular to thos€ who have written papers,who have spokdr, and particularly to oul two Chairmen.We all thank you yery much.

Mr BROUGHTON. Thank you very much indeed, Mr Pepler,for those very wisewords indeed,and fdr the very able way in I which you have summed up our symposium today. Thank you also for doing what I thought was going to be my tasi in thankhg aU concemed.It merely falls to me now to closethe oymposiumand to thank you all vely much fot attending. I I I I I I I T I T I I t I I