OF SELBORNE 5 



for sending forth two streams into two different seas. The 

 one to the south becomes a branch of the Arun, running 

 to Arundel, and so falling into the British channel : the 

 other to the north. The Selborne stream makes one 

 branch of the Wey ; and meeting the Black-down stream 

 at Hedleigh, and the Alton and Farnham stream at 

 Tilford-bridge, swells into a considerable river, navigable 

 at Godalming ; from whence it passes to Guildford, and so 

 into the Thames at Weybridge ; and thus at the Nore into 

 the German ocean. 



Our wells, at an average, run to about sixty-three feet, 

 and when sunk to that depth seldom fail ; but produce a 

 fine limpid water, soft to the taste, and much commended 

 by those who drink the pure element, but which does not 

 lather well with soap. 



To the north-west, north and east of the village, is a 

 range of fair enclosures, consisting of what is called a 

 white malm, a sort of rotten or rubble stone, which, when 

 turned up to the frost and rain, moulders to pieces, and 

 becomes manure to itself. 1 



Still on to the north-east, and a step lower, is a kind of 

 white land, neither chalk nor clay, neither fit for pasture 

 nor for the plough, yet kindly for hops, which root deep 

 into the freestone, and have their poles and wood for char- 

 coal growing just at hand. This white soil produces the 

 brightest hops. 



As the parish still inclines down towards Wolmer- 

 forest, at the juncture of the clays and sand the soil 

 becomes a wet, sandy loam, remarkable for timber, and 

 infamous for roads. The oaks of Temple and Blackmore 

 stand high in the estimation of purveyors, and have 

 furnished much naval timber ; while the trees on the free- 

 stone grow large, but are what workmen call shakey, and 

 so brittle as often to fall to pieces in sawing. Beyond the 

 sandy loam the soil becomes an hungry lean sand, till it 

 mingles with the forest ; and will produce little without the 

 assistance of lime and turnips. 



1 This soil produces good wheat and clover. 



