86o 
Wilson.—Plant Distribution in the 
former, are made up of alternating bands of coarse reddish clays and gravels 
with thin beds of clay; the uppermost layers are generally distinguished as 
the Oldhaven (or Blackheath) beds, and in the neighbourhood of Faversham 
consist largely of dark-coloured, well-rounded, flint pebbles. The map 
reproduced in Text-fig. 3 shows a Tertiary outlier made up of these three 
formations. The London Clay, the highest of the Lower Eocene formations, 
is usually not represented in the smaller outliers, but covers a large area to 
the east between Canterbury, Faversham, Whitstable, and Herne Bay. It 
consists of a stiff bluish clay which, on weathering, produces extremely 
heavy clay soils of a brown colour. The Swanley district only differs from 
the above in the relative areas of the various formations ; here, while the 
Clay with Flints is almost absent, the Tertiary outliers are more numerous 
and larger in area. 
Woods are of fairly general occurrence in both the above-mentioned 
districts, and their distribution offers some points of interest. As a general 
rule the Lower Eocene formations, with the exception of the Thanet Sand, do 
not produce soils especially suitable for agriculture, and, as a result, the 
larger woods are generally found occupying the Eocene outliers. This is 
particularly well shown in the Swanley district, where almost all the woods 
are confined to the Tertiary areas and cease abruptly at the boundary of the 
Chalk. In the Faversham district Perry Wood (Text-fig. 3) extends over the 
greater part of a Tertiary outlier, while the large London Clay area towards 
the east is almost entirely covered by the Forest of Blean. Woods are 
found both on the Chalk and the Clay with Flints, and although no general 
statement can be made for their distribution on these deposits, on the whole 
they are more abundant on the latter; wherever the soil on the Chalk is of 
sufficient depth cultivation has taken place. The river deposits and brick- 
earth beds are almost exclusively arable land, and are particularly suitable 
for the cultivation of Hops (PI. LXIV; for explanation see description of 
plate). Woods are rarely found on the alluvial deposits in the neighbourhood 
of the Thames Estuary. 
Since the general altitude of the district is low, rarely rising above 
400 feet above sea-level, and the variations are comparatively slight, it seems 
probable that this factor has little or no influence upon the distribution of 
the types of woodland. With the exception of the shallow valleys previously 
mentioned, the surface of the Chalk is comparatively even and the hills are 
generally formed by the Lower Eocene outliers resting upon it. The Clay 
with Flints is a relatively shallow deposit, and on this account is only 
responsible for slight alterations in altitude. 
The amount of rainfall is rather small ; measurements taken at Selling, 
near Faversham, for the 13 years from 1897 to 1909 are given below: 1 
1 These statistics were supplied by Sidney Neame, Esq., of Harefield, Selling, near Faversham, 
to whom I desire to express my thanks. 
