u 



and bringing in immense profits both to the farmers and the 

 proprietors of the soil. 



I will now proceed to speak of the way in which these nodules 

 are obtained, saying a few words first in reference to the 

 particular bed in which they arc found in Cambridgeshire. The 

 Upper Green-sand (as well known to geologists) is a much older 

 bed than either the Crag or the London clay, and belongs to the 

 Upper Cretaceous beds among the secondary rocks. Its position 

 is between the Chalk and the Gault ; the Chalk in Cambridgeshire 

 occupying the higher lands, and the Gault — a stiff" dark blue clay 

 — undeilying the fens. The Chalk thins out gradually as it 

 approaches the level of the fens, and it is near the fens, and 

 where the thin bed of Green-sand intervening between it and the 

 Gault is most accessible, that the chief diggings are carried on. 



The usual practice of landlords — after ascertaining that their 

 land is rich enough in these nodules to be worth turning over — 

 is not to work it themselves, but to lease it out for a term of 

 years, say three, to some other party ; — this party often making 

 it a business to farm perhaps several of these diggings under 

 different proprietors. -The lessee is under covenants, one being 

 that the land shall be levelled and restored at the end of the 

 three years just as it was at the commencement. 



A friend of mine, who has had these nodules dug on his own 

 estate in Cambridgeshire, and who kindly sent me many 

 I articulars, informs me that at one time it was the practice for 

 the lessee to give a royalty of so much ])er ton — perhaps 8s. or 

 10s.— but that this practice is noAV going out from the difficulty 

 of ascertaining the precise number of tons sold. The ordinary 

 way at present is to lease the land at so much per acre — the 

 price depending upon the probable peld of nodules as ascertained 

 by trials in diff"erent spots, what conveniences of carriage there 

 are at hand, and at what depth below the surface the nodules lie. 



The highest price mentioned is £120 per acre, where the 

 yield Avould be from 300 to 350 tons, the nodules lying at a 



