86 



Woodhead : Notes on the Bluebell. 



Fig-. lo is a soil map of the same wood. The details were 

 obtained by a method suggested by Mr. P. F. Kendall. An 

 aug-ur was used i)^ inches in diameter and with a six-inch thread 

 to which iron rods were screwed, so that borings from four to 

 five feet in depth could be made. A section of the soil in the 

 dense bluebell area is indicated in Fig. ii. On the surface are 

 three to four inches of leaf mould, below this four to six inches 

 of peaty humus resting on a slightly sandy but firm loam, 

 followed by clayey loam and stiff" clay below. Along the northern 

 edge humus is very thin on a dark sandy loam, the trees along 



Fig. II. Section of soil in dense bluebell area, bulbs deeply buried. 



this edge being chiefly elm and beech. To the north-east humus 

 is absent, a clayey loam rests on a stiff" clay, becoming slightlv 

 more sandy with humus in patches to the east. The rest of the 

 wood, to the north and west, has a somewhat shallow sandy 

 soil, with little or no humus. This is a soil lying immediately 

 above a bed of EUand Flagstone quarried in two places, one to 

 the east, the other to the extreme west (Fig. lo, a and b). 



An interesting feature is brought out when the soils, together 

 with the contained plants, are compared in areas where the blue- 



Naturalist. 



