276 Further Studies on the Soils of North Wales 



parts of Flintshire borderins; on the Dee sandy deposits occur in no 

 very well defined order mingled with boulder clay. 



Here again there seems to be no very characteristic type of farming. 

 In the eastern portion, however, there are, here and there, market 

 gardens. While in the Vale of Clwyd very good farming is found on the 

 sands, one frequently finds elsewhere rather poor land, particularly 

 along banks where springs occur as in the valleys of the Alyn and the 

 Dee. The drainage of such soils presents difficulties as there are often 

 beds of clay to complicate matters. Were such drainage carried out it is 

 probable that these soils might be useful for market gardening. 



In the tables we have separated the soils of the eastern area from 

 those of west Carnarvonshire. A comparison of the figures shows that 

 the eastern soils are somewhat more sandy than the others. It will 

 be seen also that they contain more potash and slightly less organic 

 matter. Further, an inspection of the individual analyses will show that 

 the eastern soils occasionally contain calcium carbonate, while those 

 of west Carnarvonshire never contain any. 



Apart from this, however, the two sets of soils are very similar and, 

 although they are averaged separately, they must be considered as one 

 series. The difference in the amount of organic matter is less than one 

 would have expected, considering that west Carnarvonshire is wetter 

 than the eastern regions. As stated above, the dividing line between 

 the glacial sands and the other glacial types is purely arbitrary. We 

 have noted three soils in Flintshire which appear to form a transition type 

 between this type and the heavier drift soils of that district. 



5. Heavij Drift Soils. 



Two types of heavy drift soils may be recognised, namely the eastern 

 type in eastern Flintshire and the English border, and the Vale of Clwyd 

 type which occurs in the vale and the adjoining coastal districts of 

 Flintshire and Denbighshire. There would also appear to be a sub- 

 type of the eastern type in the detached portion of Flintshire. There 

 are also isolated patches of heavy drift soil in west Carnarvonshire. 



{<i) Eastern type. 



The soils of this type are best described as heavy loams and are of 

 a brownish colour. In the lowland districts they are of fair fertility 

 and carry good crops of wheat. The grass land is often of high quality. 

 The soils of the detached portion of Flintshire are rather heavier and 

 may be described as clays. As the English border is approached the 



