39 



desirableness of watching the sinking of wells in that part 

 of Ashford. Next to the Atherfield clay you have the 

 Kentish rag. The Kentish rag, the portions used for 

 building-purposes (including stone-lime, which the late Mr. 

 Whichcord, the county surveyor, invariably stipulated in 

 his contracts should be used for drains and foundations of 

 buildings) was consolidated by small grains of quartz be- 

 coming cemented together by different mineral matters. 

 These materials must have been formed as sand in water, 

 and must have been deposited by water, and this would 

 happen in rather shallow water running with a strong cur- 

 rent ; for the Kentish rag is rich in fossil shells, marine 

 animals, and plants which lived in the shallow waters in 

 which they were deposited. At the same time it is often 

 diflBcult to find the fossils because the sand, when the sea 

 retired from it, allowed the rain-water to filter through, 

 and in that way the calcareous parts of the shells were 

 washed away, and only casts or moulds are left, many of 

 which are met with in the sandstone. All sandstones are 

 cemented either with lime, iron, or silex ; but the best 

 sandstones for building-purposes are those which have a 

 siliceous cement in their structure, because the silex does 

 not give way again to the action of the atmosphere and 

 water. On the surface of the Kentish rag we meet with 

 sand with green matter unconsolidated, but occurring in a 

 state of sandy loam. This is said to be 70 or 100 feet in 

 thickness; but the most prominent, best known, and exten- 

 sively used sand in this form, about Ashford, is the ferrugi- 

 nous sand, such as is found on the north of Ripton farm ; 

 and again, at and beyond Ilothfield-heath, and at Calchill, 

 and the south-west side of Charing. Some of the soft 

 brown sands are used for moulds in casting metals. Tho 

 white sand is best seen near Boarstcd and Aylcsford ; and 

 is, I believe, used in glass-making. This sand is said to 

 be 70 feet thick. The fossils of the lower greensand are 

 marine animals, and there is plenty of fossil wood in it. 

 Specimens are placed on the table for your inspection. 

 The moil,' common shells are gryphica sinuata, gcrvillia 



