GEOLOGY OF HERTFORDSUIRK. 163 



towards the soutli, from 1"4 in Norfolk and 4"5 in SuflFolk, to 5-5 in 

 Hertfordshire and 7'1 in Essex. Turnips, on the other hand, which 

 require a light soil, have a large percentage in Norfolk (12-3), and 

 diminish to 7-4 in Suftolk, 6-7 in Hertfordshire, and 32 in Essex. 

 13eans, which are 4-5 in Essex and 4-9 in Suffolk, diminish to 2-1 

 in Hertfordshire and 1'5 in Norfolk. 



Or again, let us compare the proportion of permanent pasture in 

 Hertfordshire, and in counties like Wiltshire, Berkshire, Kent, and 

 Surrey, which have a large proportion of bare chalk, and we find 

 the percentage rising from 29-7 in Hertfordshire to 46-9 in Wilt- 

 shire, 33-3 in Berkshire, 43-8 in Kent, and 42-0 in Surrey. The 

 exceptionally large area of permanent pasture in Middlesex is due 

 partly to the stiff nature of the London- Clay soils, but partly 

 also to the necessities of the metropolis ; both of which causes 

 also influence the percentage of pasture-land in our own county, 

 and tend to make it much higher than it would otherwise be. 

 Buckinghamshire, which has also a large amount of permanent 

 pasture, is pre-eminently a dairy county, owing chiefly to the 

 presence of the Gault, Kimmeridge, and Oxford Clays. An abund- 

 ance of interesting comparisons might be taken from the tables, 

 but the above are enough to show how closely the agricultural 

 products of a county are regulated by its soils. 



Thus in reviewing the agricultural features of even a small 

 country like England, one cannot but be struck with the immense 

 influence which geological structure exerts upon the occupations 

 and character of the people. The history of every nation has its 

 natural beginning in the soil upon which it has sprung up ; 

 geological influences from the beginning have impressed their 

 stamp upon it, and have determined, in a great measure, even its 

 social and political position. The great naturalist Cuvier has said : 

 " JVos departements granitiques produisent sur tons les usages de la vie 

 humaine d^autres effets que les calcaires. On ne se logera, on ne se 

 nourrira, le peuple, on pent le dire ne pensera jamais en Limousin ou 

 en Basse Bretagne coimne en Champagne ou en Normandie.'" Nor can 

 we deny that the chief causes which have determined the industries, 

 the character, and even the social position of the people of Hertford- 

 shire can be ultimately traced to geological influences ; and I can 

 only hope that the foregoing brief description of these causes, and of 

 their results in our immediate neighbourhood, has yet been sufficient 

 to illustrate the importance and extreme interest of this branch of 

 Economic Geology. 



