174 HENRY HILL GOODELL 



yet have won for themselves a name and place in the agri- 

 culture of every civilized nation of the world. The first, 

 some eleven miles in length by five and a half in breadth, 

 covers an area of 28,717 acres; the second, nine and a half 

 miles in length by six and a half in breadth, contains about 

 19,705 acres. Of these areas scarce two-thirds is land that 

 can be cultivated, for we must bear in mind that the forma- 

 tion is mostly granite, rising in cliffs from two hundred to 

 four hundred feet, with deep indentations and wide encirc- 

 ling bays where the sea has eaten into the shore. From 

 the elevated crest to the water's edge is a "wide margin of 

 descent upon which fertile soil cannot accumulate, and a 

 poor and scanty pasturage, its only possible produce, is gen- 

 erally more or less overpowered by brake, gorse and heath." 



As you approach the Jersey coast nothing more pictur- 

 esque can well be imagined. Ten miles of granite cliff stretch- 

 ing along its northern exposure, two hundred and forty to 

 four hundred and eighty-five feet in height, while on the south 

 eight miles of similar formation rise from two hundred to 

 two hundred and fifty feet, and against this the waters madly 

 foam and break and dash their spray far up the sides, rend- 

 ing and rifting them in every possible manner, or wearing 

 out dark chasms and overhanging arches. There results 

 from this formation a general slope and exposure to the 

 south very favorable to vegetation. Furthermore, the whole 

 island is intersected from north to south by a succession of 

 ravines or valleys, gradually widening and increasing in 

 depth, and forming a natural channel for the small streams 

 taking their origin in the springs which everywhere abound. 



It has been said that the three primary elements necessary 

 to the success of agricultural operations are skilful hus- 



