Laserfiche WebLink
retard their growth somewhat. During this first year the legumes send <br />their roots deeply into the soil and by the end of the first growing <br />• season are acquiring most of their moisture from deeper in the sail and <br />the competition with the grasses becomes much less. <br />In the second year, the legumes develop a large amount of <br />topgrowth. The moisture they use generally comes from deeper layers in <br />the soil and therefore competition with the grasses reaches a very low <br />level. With that topgrowth comes a definite advantage for the grasses. <br />First, the topgrowth acts as a living shade mulch reducing soil <br />temperatures and evaporation. This greatly aids the development of the <br />grasses. Interspecific competition between legumes and grasses is of <br />little importance while, by the end of the second growing season, the <br />grasses are begining to compete with each other as their root systems <br />interact. <br />• After the second growing season the large topgrowth of the legumes <br /> dies and injects a great deal of nitrogen into the upper layers of the <br />sail. This further aids the grasses in the third season as well as re- <br />seeding the site with additional legume seed. This nutrient injection <br />tends to help the grasses in the third year when their development tends <br />to reach a state of temporary maximum. <br />In the fourth year, seed produced by the legumes and the grasses <br />tend to compete once again while the earlier legumes are generally gone <br />and the grasses have became well established. This starts the second <br />stage of the development where the legumes and second generation grasses <br />produce a filling-in of the initial establishment. By the end of the <br />fifth year, second generation grasses have generally filled the gaps <br /> present in the first generation grasses and the second generation <br />• legumes inject a considerable amount of additional nitrogen iota the <br />F'AGE 9 OF 14 - EXHIPIT E <br />