JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 

 OF ENGLAND. 



I- — The Agriculture of Shropshire. By Henry Tanner. 



Prize Eeport. 



This county is replete with interest to the lover of agricultural 

 progress, for it abounds with instances of successful and remu- 

 nerative farm management. I shall in the following Report 

 endeavour to bring before the reader in a practical way the results 

 of my own observation and experience combined with that of 

 agriculturists of the district. In order that a correct opinion 

 may be formed of the mode of farming, it is necessary to describe 

 the physical character of the county. 



The accompanying map shows its general outline to be a 

 parallelogram with a very irregular boundary, and it also shows 

 the geological formations. The Llandeilo flags are the lowest 

 beds of the Silurian system, and are 1200 feet in thickness. 

 These are characterised by dark-coloured flags, which are mostly 

 thin calcareous strata, and these alternate With beds of sand, 

 sandstone, and shales. When these rocks crop out they gene- 

 rally produce fertile arable soils. The Caradoc sandstones are 

 exceedingly variable in colour, red, purple, white, and green, 

 amongst which we find conglomerate grits and limestones. The 

 soils are generally of inferior character, unless lime is present 

 either naturally or applied under cultivation. Immediately above 

 these we have the Caradoc flags. These consist of thin beds 

 of a shelly limestone with interlying beds of a green sand. We 

 find here amongst other fossils the Terebratula and some corals. 

 The thickness of these last two beds is 2500 feet, and these com- 

 plete the Lower Silurian system. 



The inferior beds of the Upper Silurian system are distin- 

 guished as the Wenlock shale and limestone, and these are 

 1800 feet in thickness. The shales are argillaceous layers, either 

 of a liver or slate colour, and amongst these we find nodules 

 of limestone. These shales soon crumble under frost or pressure, 

 and produce soils which are generally cold and tenacious, except 

 where they meet with limestone. The Wenlock limestone is a 



VOL. XIX. !> 



