A SAND QUARRY IN WINTER. 35 



Still it has its disadvantages. The ground does 

 well enough for trees and even shrubs, but it renders 

 floriculture a heart-breaking business. Only the thin- 

 nest and poorest layer of soil lies on it, and even if 

 abundant mould be added, the first heavy rain washes 

 it all away, and a fine crop of loose stones comes to the 

 surface. As for turf, it will not live on such a soil, 

 but becomes covered with moss, and gradually dies off. 

 After some ten years' experience, I have at last induced 

 a lawn to exist; but then I had to dig away some 

 eighteen inches of rubbish, put down a layer of good 

 soil, than a thick layer of chalk, and then another of 

 marl. Chalk absorbs water like a sponge, so that it 

 retains the water which otherwise would have run to 

 waste, and gives it out slowly to the roots of the grass 

 in the dry weather. 



Another disadvantage of such a soil is the abundance 

 of pebbles, varying in size from a cherry to a plum, and 

 nicely rounded for throwing. Consequently the boys, 

 with whom this place abounds, and who, boy-like, are 

 mostly at war with each other, and always with the 

 rest of mankind, find themselves amply provided with 

 weapons ready to hand. In the autumn, when the 

 chestnuts are ripe, it is scarcely safe to turn a corner, 

 or even to go near one, so perpetual is the fire that is 

 kept up at the trees and between rival parties of boys. 



The perpendicular sides of the quarry show this 

 arrangement of strata very plainly. It is curious to 

 see how the roots of the trees have restricted them- 



D 2 



