Farminr/ of Leicestershire. 291 



series of rocky liills, covered in many places with an inferior 

 soil. 



The next superior strata are the coal measures, which appear 

 on the surface to the west of the Forest, and form the coal-fields 

 of IMoira, Swadlinj^cote, and Coleorton, 



North and south these are succeeded unconformably by the 

 sandstones and marls of the new red sandstone, which occupy 

 a large extent of the surface of the county, running north from 

 the forest district into Notts, and on the south into Warwick- 

 shire. 



To the east the marls are conformably overlaid by the lias, 

 which extends north and south through the entire length of the 

 county, with a surface-development equal probably to half its 

 area, while at the eastern extremity abutting on Lincolnshire it 

 runs under the oolite, Avhich forms the surface-soil about Croxton 

 Park, Saltby, and Buckminster. 



The line of demarcation between the marls and lias may be 

 traced bv entering the county from Warwickshire near Nether 

 Claybrook, from whence it runs N.N.E. by Broughton Astley, 

 Magna, Humbcrston, Queenboro', to Brooksby Railway Station, 

 from whence, crossing the Wreak, it bends west for about four 

 miles, when a little south of Sileby Station it takes a N.N.W. 

 direction by Barrow-upon-Soar, Walton-on-the-Wolds, Prestwold, 

 and Hoton, north of which it clears the county. 



By referring to the annexed map it will be seen that this line 

 nearly halves the county, and in our description of its agriculture 

 we propose to take it in these two parts ; the soils of the lias 

 forming our First or Eastern Division, those of the marls, &c., our 

 Second or Western. 



THE LIAS, OR EASTERN DIVISION. 



The soil of the greater proportion of this Division is a clay 

 loam, varying from the stiff clay to the friable soil. What is 

 known as the "red land" is a soil derived from the marlstone, 

 which separates the lower from the upper lias, the tops of several 

 of the higher eminences being capped with it. Generally it is a 

 light free working soil, mostly in arable culture, and well adapted 

 for the growth of roots and barley. 



The same description applies to the soils on the oolite on the 

 east side of the Division, but their united area comprises only a 

 limited space, and the great features are the tenacious soils of 

 the lias, varying from the impermeable clay to the friable loam, 

 according to the extent to which the clay is covered or mixed 

 with the Avarp drift. 



In Pitt's survey of the county in 1809 he states that " the 



