l] 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 excelsior) 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 whjch 

 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 



