Ixxxii FLOKA OF BERKSHIRE 



on the west it is separated from the Kennet district by the road which, 

 after approaching the Basingstoke railway where the latter enters 

 Berksliire, passes by the hamlets of Forward and Hales Green, and 

 over Spencer's Wood Common to Shinfield, and runs from there to 

 Reading. On the northern side, between Reading and Henley, it is 

 separated from Oxfordshire by the Thames, which also serves to 

 divide it on the east from Buckinghamshire, between Henley and 

 Old Windsor. Its southern boundary is not so natural, but from Old 

 Windsor to Blackwater the county-boundary of Surrey is its line of 

 limitation. From Blackwater to Thatcham's Ford near Swallowfield 

 the river of that name separates the district from Hampshire. Its 

 southern boundary, from Thatcham's Ford to the Forward Road, is 

 the artificial line which there forms the boundary of the county 

 of Hants. 



The district is the least homogeneous of all the botanical divisions 

 of the county. It has four well-marked kinds of soil. First, that of 

 the heathy, sandy tract of country such as is found round Wokingham 

 and Sandhurst ; secondly, that of the flat clay-land about Ruscombe ; 

 thirdly, that of the hilly chalk-country of Wargi-ave and Cookham ; 

 and lastly, that of the elevated knolls of London Clay to be seen at 

 Ashley, Crazey, and Bowsey Hills. But these by no means represent 

 all its varieties of soil. 



Considered as a natural drainage division it is by no means 

 satisfactory, since its watersheds are to a gi-eat extent low and 

 obscure. It has many small streams which fall into the Thames, 

 and these drain such small areas that it would be impossible to treat 

 them as separate divisions ; hence unusual difficulty has been felt in 

 arriving at a definite plan. It is hoped that the district enclosed 

 within the boundaries just described will be found to represent as 

 natural and satisfcictory a grouping of these small and detached areas 

 as is possible. A portion only of the district, but the larger portion 

 as the name implies, is drained by the Loddon and its tributai'ies, and 

 may be divided into four parts, the first of which is drained by the 

 Blackwater, the second by the Loddon itself, the third by the Emme 

 brook which falls into the Loddon near Coleman's Moor, and the 

 fourth by the Broadwater which joins the Loddon near Twyford. 

 The remainder of the district is drained by the Thames and by 

 several small streams which flow into the Thames, and comprises 

 several detached areas. One of these is the bit of country between 

 Reading and Sonning ; another of some size is, perhaps, best described 

 by saying that it lies to the north of the high road from Maidenhead 

 to Twyford ; a third, which stretches inland between Maidenhead and 

 Windsor as far as Winkfield, is drained by the Whitewater and by 

 some other streams which fall into the Thames ; a fourth is almost 



