CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION 



General description of the Peak District. Types of scenery. Eocks and 

 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 atmosjihere ; 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 



