700 



ENGLAND. 



Soils in the 

 northern 



riched by manurr , and long exposed to the action of 

 the sun and air. Pure land is found in few parts of 

 England to any extent, being for the most part changed 

 into sandy loam ; the saii\e may be said of chalk as a 

 soil, it having, in most parts of the kingdom, received 

 the nature and qualities of calcareous loam, by cultiva- 

 tion. Of gravelly soils, there are two kinds in Eng- 

 land, a yellow gravel, which in general is a hungry 

 and unfertile soil, and a gravel of a dark colour, which, 

 here not entirely or in a great measure denuded of 

 earth, is by no means an unfertile soil. Peat or mossy 

 soils are very common, and extensive in the northern 

 district of England, and nre also met with, though not 

 so frequently nor to such an extent, in the south- 

 western and southern counties. Perhaps they are least 

 common in the eastern and south-eastern counties. 

 There are very few instances where the same kind of 

 soil extends for many miles, without cither being varied 

 in its quality and appearance, or being actually changed 

 into a different kind. Perhaps the Wealds' of Kent, 

 Surrey, and Sussex, exhibit as large an extent of near- 

 ly the same kind of -soil as any part of the kingdom, 

 with the exception of Norfolk, which, as we shall af- 

 terwards notice, is remarkably similar throughout, in 

 respect to soil. There is also another kind of soil, 

 which stretches to a great extent, though not always 

 exactly of the same nature or quality, and occasionally 

 broken in upon by a different description of siJfl : this 

 is the red loam, which may be traced as far to the north- 

 cast as Nottingham ; abounds in Rutland, is not unfre- 

 quently met with in Northamptonshire, and appears 

 thence to stretch to the south-west into Gloucester- 

 shire and Devonshire. 



Having offered these general remarks on the soils of 

 England, we shall now proceed to describe the most 

 distinguishing and extensive soils of the different dis- 

 tricts of the kingdom, beginning with the northern 

 district. 



In Northumberland, strong loam, inclining to clay, 

 of a fertile quality, occupies nearly the whole of the 

 level country on the sea-coast, and reaches as far in 

 general as the great post road ; above that road, and in 

 the vicinity of Newcastle, the soil consists of a cold un- 

 fertile clay. The banks of most of the rivers in this 

 county, and likewi.se the vale districts, consist of a 

 sandy, gravelly, and dry loam. In the middle and 

 south-east parts, moist loams, on a cold clayey bottom, 

 are found : this description of soil occupies a very large 

 jxntion of the county. The soil of Durham, near the 

 Tees, consists of a rich loam, which is also found in 

 the vicinity of most of the other rivers in this county. 

 On the sea-coast, especially near Sunderland, calcareous 

 loam of an excellent quality is found. From Suuder- 

 land to Castle Eden, the soil is of a coal retentive na- 

 ture, lying on deep, pale earth, and limestone. The 

 soil and substratum of the lower lands, in the central 

 parts of this county, are a pale clayey loam, on a reten- 

 tive bottom. Many of the hills consist of dry loam, 

 while others are moorish wastes. In Cumberland, a 

 very small proportion of strong loam occurs ; the most 

 prevalent soil being dry loams, including the various 

 kinds, from the rich brown loam, to the light sandy 

 soils; at least one half of the lower district of Cumber- 

 land consists of this soil ; und it is also met with on the 

 -.ides and summits of many of the mountains. Wet 

 loam on a retentive clay subsoil is not common in this 

 county. On the mountainous districts, black peat earth 

 is the most prevalent The soils of Lancashire, at least 

 the most prevalent and extensive, may be divided into 



two kinds ; the sandy lands, which in general occupy 

 the sea-coast; and the rush lands, which lie between 

 those and the borders of the moorlands. The cold rush 

 lands commence about midway between Lancaster and 

 Garstang : to the north of them, the soil is warm and 

 found land. They continue southward as far as Wi- 

 gaw. To the north of Preston, they stretch nearly to 

 the sea-shore, forming what is called the Fylde. The 

 soil, in many parts, though cool, is deep, and lies on 

 an absorbent substratum. A small patch of the red 

 soil, which has already been noticed as stretching from 

 Nottinghamshire to the western counties, is met with 

 in Lancashire, between Eccleston and Preston. The 

 sandy lands lie principally between the Kibble and the 

 Mersey, reaching westward to the sea, and eastward 

 nearly to Manchester. The most common subsoil is a 

 red sand rock. The eastern part of the county in ge- 

 neral consists of a cold retentive soil. 



The soil of the North Riding of Yorkshire, along the 

 coast, consists of brownish clay and loam, in many pla- 

 ces cold and unfertile, partly from its nature, and partly 

 from the exposed situation of the ground. Cleveland 

 consists generally of a fertile clay, and of a red sandy 

 soil. The vale of York consists of various soils ; the 

 upper parts are occupied by cool strong lands : in the 

 eastern quarter, weak sandy heathlands are found ; but, 

 in general, the soil of the vale is a rich dry loam : the 

 western part of this Biding is occupied by moorlands : 

 though, in many of the dales, the soil is sharp and fer- 

 tile. In the West Riding, the arable soils may be 

 considered as comprehending all the varieties which 

 prevail in Britain, but the prevailing description is 

 loam ; limestone land is also met with ; and near the 

 Ouse, strong tenacious clay : the western division of 

 this Riding contains extensive moorlands. The wolda 

 occupy a large part of the Kast Riding; the soil on. 

 them is calcareous, with a mixture of gravel : the dis- 

 triu of Holderness, which occupies the other part of 

 this Riding, consists, for the most part, of a strong 

 loamy soil. The most prevalent soil in Westmoreland 

 is a dry gravelly mould : in the cast and north, sand and 

 hazle mould are found ; the subsoil in these districts is 

 calcareous : towards the Eden and eastern mountains, 

 clay is found : the tops of the mountains are in general 

 covered with a dry soil, upon a hard blue rock. 



In the district of England which borders on Wales, 

 there is less diversity of soil than in the northern dis- 

 trict. The county of Chester consists almost entirely 

 of two descriptions of soil; sand, generally of a rich 

 quality, lying on a substratum of red grit rock ; and 

 strong loam ; the latter in some places is Tather moist 

 and retentive, but on the whole may be regarded as a 

 valuable and useful soil ; heaths are found intermixed 

 with the loamy soil, but not to any considerable extent 

 The sandy soil unites with that of the same description 

 in Lancashire, already noticed. In Shropshire there is 

 nearly an equal quantity of strong and light soils ; the 

 former, however, is supposed rather to predominate : on 

 the north-east of the Severn, the soil is light and dry : 

 on the south-west of that river, as low as Cressage, and 

 for eight miles down, a very great variety, and rapid 

 succession of soils, occur : from this place, nearly to 

 Ludlow, the soil, in general, is thin, and rather cold : 

 the remainder of the county, especially on the south- 

 west side of it, is mostly thin soil, some upon clay, some 

 upon rock : upon the whole, there is in Shropshire 

 nearly all descriptions of soil, except chalk and flint. 

 There are few counties, in any part of England, which 

 present such a large proportion of valuable and fertile 



j n the 

 trict h 



