CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT SOILS 211 



wind, and the fierce alternations of heat and cold on those barren 

 wastes. Yet if some of its seed be sown in an ordinary garden 

 soil it will grow with a vigour and lavishness which show that 

 it prefers a fat soil and an easy life as much as other plants do. 

 The Horned Poppy is not established on the shingle because it 

 likes either the food or the climate, but because it can there 

 escape from a killing competition ; inland it is soon crowded 

 out by stronger forms of vegetation, out on the shingle its long 

 tap root enables it to keep alive when all other plants, even the 

 grasses, are unable to obtain any nutriment. 



It does not love the shower nor seek the cold, 

 This neither is its courage nor its choice 

 But its necessity in being old. 



The study of the local distribution of plants and their associa- 

 tion with particular types of soil is one of great interest, which 

 may be taken up single handed in almost any part of Great Britain ; 

 it is also one in which real and needed contributions to knowledge 

 may be made by the solitary worker. The requisites will include 

 a sheet of the geological survey of the district, which can be 

 obtained through any post office, though care should be taken 

 to order what is termed the " drift " map, which shows the 

 superficial deposits giving rise to " soils of transport," as well as 

 the underlying solid deposits which give rise to " sedentary 

 soils " wherever they come to the surface. This map will show 

 how many different types of soil may be expected to occur in the 

 area under examination, and typical examples should be studied 

 by washing into sand and clay, and by testing with acid for 

 carbonate of lime, until their essential characters are known. Two 

 formations, geologically quite distinct; as shown on the map, may 

 give rise to soils that are identical for all working purposes ; 

 on the other hand, the sedentary soils derived from one and the 

 same formation may alternate between sand and clay, or be 

 calcareous in one band and short of lime in another. But in 

 a general way the soils will follow the geological map, although 

 in order to make sure of the boundaries and to supplement the 

 information conveyed by the map, it is often necessary to carry 

 a long auger wherewith to bore out a little soil from a depth 



