140 



SOIL CONDITIONS AND PLANT GROWTH 



The Shalford soil is a light sand with too little power of retaining 

 water for pastures to last through a hot summer, consequently the 

 grass-land, except near the brooks, is parched and scorched. The 

 Lydd soil is certainly somewhat finer grained, but not so very different 

 that one would expect to find it much better for pasture purposes, yet 

 it produces one of the best pastures in Romney Marsh, not only 

 carrying but fattening sheep throughout the summer. It has, how- 

 ever, a constant supply of water 3 or 4 feet below the surface, while 

 at Shalford the water level is much lower down. 



This underground flow is one of the factors concerned in the 

 proverbial fertility of valleys. Soils lying towards the bottom of a 

 long slope receive not only the rainfall but also the water steadily 

 drifting downwards to the stream or marsh at the bottom, and this 

 advantage is further enhanced by the gradual transport of soil down 

 the slope which increases the depth through which the plant roots 

 can range. 



Effect of the Subsoil. In general the subsoil is rather heavier in 

 type than the surface soil, especially in the case of clays ; examples 

 are given in Table LVI. The rare exceptions to this rule may 

 arise through periodical flooding with water containing much clay in 

 suspension, or through the occurrence of a bed of sand just below the 

 surface. 



Two cases described on page 1 26 may be illustrated here. The bad 

 effect of a layer of impermeable material near the surface is shown by 

 the Loddington soil (Table LVI.), typical of an area near Maidstone 

 (Cox Heath), much of which was waste land. Its sterility was due to no 



TABLE LVI. NATURE OF THE SUBSOIL. 



fault in the soil, which is obviously of excellent type, but to a thin layer 

 of rock lying near the surface. When this was removed a very good 

 soil was obtained. The Harting soil lies on the Upper Greensand in 

 West Sussex ; the rock comes close to the surface, restricting both the 



