1] INTRODUCTION 5 
In the south of the district, a third type of scenery is 
occasioned by the rocks of the Carboniferous or Mountain 
Limestone. The limestone plateaux are not so high as those 
of the sandstones; and they are frequently cultivated up to 
their summits. Limestone escarpments are frequent, and are 
more or less covered with plants, many of which belong to quite 
different species from those which characterize the sandstone 
escarpments. The valleys are all spoken of as “dales”; and 
these are much richer in species than the “cloughs” of the sand- 
stones and shales. The valley slopes are steep, and are clothed by 
ash (Fraxinus eaxcelsior) woods, or scrub, or calcareous grassland. 
The limestone country is too remote from the factories to be 
affected seriously by smoke. Arable land, on which oats are 
commonly grown, is not rare; but wheat is practically never 
grown on the Mountain Limestone. The fields are separated 
by white, limestone walls which give to the country side a very 
characteristic appearance. 
Generally speaking, the cloughs in the shaly areas are 
grassy: those of the sandstone areas are bolder, more rocky, 
and more heathery. The prevailing hues of the cloughs are 
warm browns and purples, those of the limestone dales cold 
greys and greens, for in the latter localities, bracken, heather, 
and bilberry are almost entirely absent. 
Rocks AND SOILS 
The geological] features of the district have been elucidated 
by Green (1869 and 1887), Dale (1900), and others. Still, the 
features of a district which are of chief interest to the geologist 
are not necessarily those which are responsible for the differences 
of the vegetation. From the latter point of view, it is the soil that 
is important (cf. figures 1 and 2); and this is not always directly 
related to the solid strata that are indicated on an ordinary 
geological map. In the present district, although it is largely 
unglaciated, there are several important soil features which 
cannot be inferred from any of the existing geological maps. 
Unfortunately, only geological maps of the old series are issued for 
this district; and no soil maps and no drift maps of the Peak 
District have been published by the Ordnance Department. In 
fact, the survey of the drift of this district does not appear to have 
