WAGES 21 



suitability of a soil depends upon the geological formation 

 of which it is composed. 



Table No. IV 



Table showing geological formations of the surface 

 of the British Islands and the nature of the superficies 

 which accompanies each formation. 



Primary Formations. 

 Granite — 



Forms a rocky surface which cannot be cultivated, but 

 in parts a little of it is broken up, making a thin soil on 

 which nothing but grass can grow. 



Trap — 



Weathers into an earth and can be cultivated. 

 A rchcBan — 



Gives barren rocks, with little soil to speak of. 

 Cambrian — 



The soil it makes is thin and poor and fit only for grass. 

 Silurian — 



The hilly parts of this will grow grass only ; but the lower 



parts yield fairly good soils, that are however stony and 



deficient in lime, which must be applied to make them 



productive. 

 Old Red Sandstone — 



This group of rocks makes soils of the most noted fertility. 



The red soil of Dunbar, which grows the best potatoes in 



Britain, is in this group, while wheat ripens in the north 



of Scotland on this soil when it will fail on the adjacent 



Silurian. 

 Mountain Limestone — 



Part of this is rocky and has no soil ; in other parts a soil 



has formed not deep enough to cultivate but sufficient for 



the growth of a good herbage. 

 Millstone Grit — 



This makes sandy land which is useless for cultivation or 



for grass, and is left to grow up in heath. 

 Coal Measures — 



These form sands and clays which require much treatment 



to make them cultivable. 

 Magnesian Limestone — 



Yields a thin soil which grows a poor pasturage. To grow 



crops on this land is very expensive because the land 



must be artificially enriched. 



