ABSTRACT
Virtually all the truly natural vegetation of the British Isles has been replaced by a plant cover which, to a greater or lesser extent, reflects the presence of man. In much the same way, many British soils have been modified by the activities of man. Nevertheless, centuries of agriculture, whether arable or pastoral, have not completely blurred the original soil characteristics of each region. Certain fundamental differences still persist in our soils to permit, on the one hand, a broad division into main types for the British Isles and, on the other hand, to allow considerable subdivision at the local (or large-scale) level of mapping (see, for example, Fig. 9.7).
