CHAPTER IV 
GRASSLAND ASSOCIATIONS 
Distribution of the grassland. Types of grassland. I. Grassland of the 
sandstones and shales: siliceous grassland; (1) Nardus grassland ; 
mixed siliceous grassland; (2) Molinia grassland. Relationships of 
the plant associations of the siliceous soils. IJ. Grassland of 
the Limestone: calcareous grassland: mixed calcareous grassland ; 
transitional calcareous grassland. Calcareous heath. Pseudo-cal- 
careous heaths. Species of the calcareous grassland and the siliceous 
grassland. Relationships of the plant associations of the siliceous 
and the calcareous soils. 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE GRASSLAND 
As is the case with woodland and scrub, grassland occurs, in 
general, on the slopes of the hills. Where the hill-slopes below 
about 1500 feet (457 m.) are not cultivated and not occupied 
with woodland or scrub, there natural or uncultivated grassland 
prevails. The cultivated grassland or permanent pasture is 
dealt with in Chapter VIII. On the whole, natural grassland 
is more extensive on the limestones than on the sandstones 
and shales; and, with regard to the non-calcareous soils, it is, 
in proportion to their extent, much more extensive on the shales 
than on the sandstones. 
At the present time, although grassland ascends to higher 
altitudes than the woodland, it is rather rare at altitudes above 
the present limit of scrub. It is highly probable that almost 
all the present grassland—both natural and cultivated—was 
once wooded, and that even now it is almost all capable of being 
successfully reafforested (see Chapter VIII). 
