Agriculture of Shropshii-e. 47 



has been made useful by drainage ; between this and Ellesmere 

 these peats are frequent. 



At Ellesmere we liave a lovely district, with a scenery of almost 

 unparalleled beauty for the midland counties. The extensive 

 lakes, with the rich and varied foliage around them, impart to 

 it the highest degree of romantic beaut}\ Turning from the 

 ornamental to the useful, we may retrace our steps to the plain of 

 Salop, commonly called the Shrewsbury Land, and this occupies 

 the northern and eastern portion of the county as far south as 

 Coal brook-dale. Here is, indeed a rich tract of beautiful tillage 

 land, dr}' and of good quality, and adapted for the production 

 of any description of crop or stock. The surface is a continued 

 succession of gently sloping land, occasionally interrupted by the 

 bold protrusion of rocks, which, with their ragged outlines, give 

 quite an interesting character to the luxuriant vegetation around 

 their bases. Of these the Wrekin is the most important : it rises 

 very abruptly from a comparatively level part of the county to 

 the height of about 1200 feet above the level of the sea, and 

 although not so high as some of the hills near Oswestry, yet 

 from its peculiar situation it is by far the grandest of the 

 Shropshire hills, giving rise to the old Salopian toast, " All 

 friends round the Wrekin." Around the neighbourhood of 

 Hawkstone it becomes almost exclusively a dairy district, and 

 is generally held in small farms, of which the greatest part is 

 grass ; there is a fair proportion of grass-land of good quality 

 near the Tern and Strine, also near the Cherrington and Lee 

 Brooks. 



Between Much Wenlock, Sutton, Maddock, and Shiffhal, there 

 is a strong loamy soil upon a marly-clay subsoil. At Kinnersley 

 we meet with a peaty soil, which is frequently found here, 

 although not usually in such large quantities as near the above- 

 named place. The appearance of these boggy soils needs some 

 explanation, occurring as they do with such frequency in various 

 parts of this district. I attribute their formation to springs rising 

 from the red-sandstone rock, and carrying up a quantity of 

 iron dissolved in the water : as soon as this ferruginous water 

 comes to the surface and is exposed to the action of the atmo- 

 spheric air, we get a deposit of iron thrown down which amal- 

 gamates the particles of the sand contiguous to it, and the result 

 is that a conglomerate mass is produced. This thickens so 

 long as the causes continue to operate, and also extends its 

 dimensions according to the strength of the spring. The result 

 is a moor-pan, generally from four to eight inches beneath the 

 surface ; this acts like a basin, and as a natural sequel we 

 find the moist soil resting upon this pan producing aquatic 

 plants and mosses, which after many years produce a bog or 



