117 



On the sides of the Blorenge, as we descended, we observed the impression 

 of a plant that lived in the ages of the Coal ; the vivid impression of a large fossil, 

 a gigantic Calamite, was marked out upon a mass of sandstone and grit that lay 

 against the hill. A " view halloo " annoimced the discovery. 



I would now revert to the deposits of this immediate neigbbourbood, the 

 Comstone group. 



Wherever in the Hereford district (of course always excepting Silurian 

 upthrows, such as the Woolhope and Dormington hills) you see verdant and 

 wooded hills, there is the Cornstone formation, with its valleys denuded in the 

 softer marls, and the hiUs made up of concretionary nodules and gritty sand- 

 stones. The fact that these hUls have been preserved from destruction is owing 

 to the hard, impure limestone nodules of which they are composed. Occasionally 

 the land of the Cornstone is spoiled by its contiguity to the upper beds of the 

 mountain ranges, of the rocks of the Silurian region. In the parishes of Almeley 

 and Lyonshall and the upper part of Eardisley, for instance, whole tracts are 

 rendered barren by the boulder stones and coarse gravel composed of Silurian 

 and trap rocks drifted from the neighbourhood of Kington and Aymestrey. 



The valley of the Wye is a deep denudation in the Comstone beds ; and the 

 strata of Wall HiUs near Ledbury, Dinedor, near Hereford, Moccas, the hills 

 of Weobley, Leominster, Bromyard, and Tenbury were all once continuous and 

 joined. I suspect that the men of Herefordshire have very much to thank their 

 Comstones for, and that peroxide of iron combined with carbonate of lime is the 

 great secret of the rich soU in the county. Nothing is more certain than that 

 Herefordshire apple trees when transplanted will not grow Herefordshire cider. 

 The cider of the Old Red Sandstone is altogether a different affair to the cider of 

 the New Red, and no one ever saw a Dormington or Marden hopyard upon the 

 New Red Sandstone. 



You will remember our late lamented friend, Mr. Strickland, stated at the 

 Eastnor Meeting last year, in opposition to an opinion advanced by the well- 

 known botanist Mr. Lees, that he did not believe plants affected any limestone 

 soil in particular, and he evidently supposed that the lime was the assistance 

 and the mineral they most required. An active botanist of our society (Mr. 

 Edmunds) must allow me to quote his opinion upon the same subject, although 

 I had not alluded to the subject of lime in enquiries I made of him as to the Flora 

 of Herefordshire. He says, — " I attribute the number of wild flowers to be found 

 on the Old Red to the fact that the Silurians protrude in so many places, and that 

 the soil and subsoil in all parts contain an unusual amount of Ume, as compared 

 with the New Red for instance. You have thus a greater variety of soil in the 

 district, according to the varying proportion of lime in different parts of it." 



It appears to me that lime is not the only ingredient that conduces to the 

 fertility of Herefordshire. All limestone soils — the upper Silurian for instance — 

 are not as fertile as the Cornstones. I believe therefore, with Dr. Rowan, that 

 the iron oxides combined with the Ume make the soil of this part of the county 



