TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 727 



The salient features of the vegetation may be summarised as follows : — 



The region of cultivation is very restricted, and chietly confined to altitudes 

 below 1,000 feet, and the greater part of it is under permanent pasture, although 

 cultivation with oats is carried on below 800 feet. 



The region of woodland is poorly represented, and may be divided into (1) oak 

 woods, (2) coniferous woods, (3) birch woods. The oak woods occur only below 

 800 feet, and coniferous and birch woods only in a few instances reach an elevation 

 of 1,000 feet. 



An e.xamination of the peat on the higher fells shows that the ground has not 

 always been of its present treeless nature. Kemains of birch, alder, and poplar 

 may frequently be discovered buried about 16 or 18 feet down in the peat, and 

 the author has observed extensive remains of birch as high as 2,400 feet, being 

 higher than it gi'ows anywhere in Great Britain at the present time. Remains of 

 pine also occur as high as 2,600 feet on Cross Fell. Sections are being made 

 through the peat in areas now covered by heather moors, Eriophorum bogs and 

 Sphagnum bogs, and sufficient evidence has been collected from these sections to 

 show that nearly the whole of the high-lying watersheds of the Tees, Tyne, and 

 Wear have at some former time been covered with extensive woods of birch and 

 pine. 



Pasture associations are chiefly represented by grass heaths dominated by 

 either Nardus stricta or Molinia varia, according as they occur in well-drained 

 or wet situations. The natural pasture is limited to outcrops of limestone freo 

 from peat, and is generally met with in narrow bands or patches, sometimes 

 occurring in the midst of extensive grass heaths or heather areas. The heather 

 associations reach their greatest development in the Mickle Fell district on lime- 

 stone covered with peat. The Stainmore district, to the south of this, consists of 

 sandstones, grits, and shales, and the chief associations here are Eriophorum bogs 

 and Spha(/num bogs. These associations also attain a great development on the 

 sandstones and shales of the Wear watershed. 



The chief artificial agency at work tending to modify the vegetation in some 

 places appears to be overstocking with sheep, the constant browsing, treading, and 

 manuring tending to kill the natural heather vegetation. Under these circum- 

 stances the heather area in a badly drained situation may be changed into an 

 Eriophorum bog, and in a dry, well-drained position into a poor grass heath chiefly 

 dominated by Nardus stricta and Juncus sqiiarrosus. 



A detailed account of this survey, with maps, will be published in the 

 ' Geographical Journal,' and the author hopes to extend the area of ob.servation 

 northward to the Cheviots and westward to the coast covering the northern 

 portion of the Lake District. 



4. Peat Moors of the Southerri Pennines : their Age avid Origin. 

 By C. E. Moss, B.Sc. 



The present condition of these moors is first considered, and the author 

 classifies them as (i.) Cotton-grass Moors, (ii.) Heather Moors, and (iii.) Grassy 

 Moors. The question as to whether or not the Pennines were prehistorically tree- 

 clad is next discussed, and evidence is considered from (i.) history, (ii.) place-names, 

 (iii.) buried timber, (iv.) neolithic flints, and (v.) present range of British forest 

 trees. The conclusion is arrived at that, though the Pennine slopes were tree-clad 

 80 late as Saxon and Danish times, yet at that period the summits were covered 

 with an extensive morass. This morass was caused by the destruction or decay of 

 forests which existed on the Pennine summits so late probably as the Roman period. 



In order to check the estimate suggested by the above conclusions the mode 

 and rate of formation of peat are considered. The author discusses (i.) the rapid 

 formation and (ii.) the slow formation of peat, and (iii.) the plants which form peat 

 at the present time ; and he considers that as a rule the peat moors of the Pennines 

 cannot date to a period further back than about two thousand years. The paper 

 concludes with remarks on the possible utilisation of the Pennine peat moors. 



