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CHAPTER I 
INTRODUCTION 
AAS General description of the Peak District. Types of scenery. Rocks and 
JAN 28 1944/47 
soils. Soils and their characteristic plants. Flora and vegetation. 
Vegetation maps. Plant communities. Vegetation maps and floristic 
maps. The value of vegetation maps. Rainfall. Smoke. Tempera- 
ture. The upper atmosphere ; temperatures ; direction of the wind ; 
velocity of the wind ; humidity of the atmosphere. Note on the use 
of the words “acidic” and “basic.” 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE DISTRICT 
THE Peak District has no definite geographical boundaries ; 
and, for the purposes of the present memoir, it is regarded as 
being co-extensive with the accompanying vegetation maps 
(see also figures 1 and 2). A large proportion of the district 
consists of unenclosed moorland and grassland; and there are 
numerous small vestiges of scrub and primitive woodland, 
besides several comparatively extensive stretches of semi-primi- 
tive woodland. Cultivated land ascends the valleys, usually 
up to about 1000 feet (305 m.), and occurs also as more or less 
isolated “intakes” up to about 1500 feet (457 m.). Most of the 
cultivated land is utilized as permanent pasture; and there is 
very little arable land. Plantations are fairly numerous; and 
a few of them are of moderately large size. 
The highest elevation of the district is reached on an ex- 
tensive, undulating plateau which bears the singularly inappro- 
priate name of “the Peak.” This plateau, the highest in 
England south of the mid-Pennines, is peat-clad ; and it attains 
an altitude of 2088 feet (636 m.). North of the Peak are two 
summits which attain heights of more than 2000 feet (610 m.): 
one of these, known as Bleaklow Hill, is situated six miles 
M. 1 
