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IX. — The Agriculture of Worcestershire. By Clement Cadle. 



Prize Essay. 



Numerous subjects present themselves for consideration in 

 making- a report on the farming of Worcestershire. There is 

 perhaps no county in England more varied in its produce and 

 its soil. Hops, apples, pears, and plums are added to the usual 

 crops, and the soil ranges from the stifFest clay to the sharpest 

 sand. Farming, too, differs widely ; and I have there seen some 

 of the best, and certainly much of the vv^orst, in my experience. 



The Geology of the County. 



The nature and arrangements of the rocks in Worcestershire 

 have had an important influence on its farming. We find in 

 close proximity some of the best and the worst land, the desirable 

 physical and chemical combinations for agricultural purposes 

 being obtained by a mingling of the various formations. 



The principal strata cropping out in the county, as taken in 

 descending order, are the 



Post Tertiary, 

 Liassic, 

 Triassic, 

 Carboniferous, 

 Devonian, 

 Silurian, and 

 Primary. 

 The Post Tertiary comprises the northern drifts and alluvium, 

 the latter of which, being the debris of several formations, are 

 generally most valuable to the agriculturist. 



The alluvial deposits by the river sides often produce very 

 prime meadow, as on the banks of the Severn and Avon, where 

 the stream runs sluggishly. In these places clay is deposited by 

 each flood in sufficient quantity to mix with and improve the 

 coarser sand, thus forming a combination suitable to the growth 

 of the finer grasses, which is rarely found on or near the banks 

 of rapid rivers. 



The Liassic embraces the inferior oolite and lias ; the former, 

 in the neighbourhood of Broadway Hill, Brendon Hill, and the 

 detached portion of the county near Blockley, being good healthy 

 land for sheep, but without much more agricultural merit. 



The Lias comprises one of the most important districts in the 

 county. It runs north-east from Tewkesbury to Cleave Prior, 



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