WORKING GROUP 3 
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fields with boundaries along ditches and side channels; and 2. areas of mixed 
farming, comprising a. areas with large fields with straight boundaries of wire 
fences or small well-kept hedges, and b. areas with a greater proportion of 
grass, having smaller irregular fields, often with thick overgrown hedges. 
Numerous pits occur in the Sheet 2 area, and were used as evidence to support 
boundaries inferred by physiographic and/or cultural changes. 
Fig. 7 shows the physiographical photo interpretation map together with 
the soil map. A close resemblance between the distribution of slope and soils 
is apparent in places, but some boundaries are not correlated. Land use (fig. 8) 
accurately reflects part of the Thames floodplain soils pattern, and is also a 
good guide to the extent of pelosol pseudogleys. 
Solifluction has been an operative factor in this area also, but whereas in 
Sheet 1 solid geological materials were involved, in Sheet 2 the main effect of 
solifluction has been the degradation of river terraces into a continuous gentle 
slope. On both soliflucted gravel and non-degraded terraces the same soil is 
dominant, and consequently some breaks of slope are not equated with soil 
boundaries. The same remark applies about woodland in this area as in 
Sheet 1; the map scale is too large for any distribution pattern to be detected. 
Tone differences in woodland are mostly the result of differences in manage 
ment and are not related to soils. 
Conclusions 
In earlier times in England, when each parish used its range of soils as fully 
as techniques allowed, it is likely that the landscape reflected soil conditions 
far more completely than today. From the 18th century onwards the growth 
of industry, the migration of labour to the towns, the competition from agri 
culture in the new lands overseas, and the gradual increase in prosperity, have 
all contributed to the complexity of the rural landscape. In the 18th and 19th 
centuries many large houses were built in this part of England, surrounded by 
parks in which trees were sited, land was laid down to grass and in some places 
even hills and valleys were made; purely for aesthetic reasons and with little 
regard to soil conditions. Many woods have also been planted for game pres 
erves, in long rectangular shapes suitable for conducting pheasant shoots - 
again with little regard for soil type. It is clear that an intimate knowledge of 
the physical and cultural characteristics of this landscape is necessary, in 
cluding its economic history. Economic development is important; for exam 
ple, in an economically less advanced country with a higher rural population 
density, the land use pattern would probably more clearly reflect the physical 
conditions, and tone differences would occur in a more regular fashion. 
Where either solid or superficial geology result in the juxtaposition of 
marked differences in slope or land use, the interpretation can be made in terms 
of soil information. Where, however, land forms are not marked or land use 
is mixed, interpretation for use in soil mapping is much less conclusive. On the 
whole, greater accuracy was achieved in fluviatile rather than in erosional