22 WAGES AND EMPIRE 



Secondary Formations. 



New Red Sandstone — 



Yields soils of great natural fertility which are especially 

 suited for pasture. 



Lias Clay — 



This is rich but too stifE to cultivate, and therefore mostly 

 in pasture. 



Great Oolite {Limestone) — 



Not rich, but easily cultivated because the soil is loose. 

 Naturally suited, however, only for barley and sheep. 



Oxford Clay — 



Is difficult and expensive to work and badly needs drainage ; 

 therefore nearly all down in grass. It was formerly worked 

 by the very difficult and expensive system of building 

 the soil up into high crooked ridges so as to drain and 

 air it. 



Weald Clay — 



Is difficult to work and very wet. Much of it is therefore 

 still in oak-forest and natural pasture. 



Gault Clay — 



Gives naturally a good pasture, but for arable crops requires 

 draining, liming, &c. 



Green sand — 



This is of two kinds, the Lower and the Upper. The 

 Lower is fit for nothing, and constitutes many of the un- 

 productive sandy soils and barren heaths of southern 

 England, while the Upper gives a light soil good for fruit. 



Chalk— 



Here, again, there is a Lower and an Upper, both thin 

 soils. The Lower gives enough for cultivation, but naturally 

 is fitted only for barley, while the Upper yields soil 

 sufficient only for pasture. 



Tertiary Formations. 

 London Clay — 



Is a tenacious soil and very expensive to work. To grow 



corn, it requires draining, liming and baref allowing. For 



this reason it is mostly down in grass. 

 Bagshot Sands — 



Are poor, sandy and gravelly, and left in heaths and 



copsewoods. 



Quaternary Formations. 

 Boulder Clay — 



A deposit left by the ice during the Great Ice Age. Makes 

 a stiff impervious clay. Expensively farmed, it can be made 

 into a good cropping soil and provides corn -land. 



