CH. vi] Loams 117 



cent, of coarse sand ; they are chiefly made up of inter- 

 mediate material. All shades of loams exist, from the 

 light loams which some would call sands, to the heavy 

 loams which can also be called clays. 



Loams are by far the most fertile soils in the country ; 

 instances are to be found in the brick earths of East 

 Kent and near Chichester, the alluvials of some of the 

 famous vales and of the Evesham district, the famous 

 Carse of Gowrie (locally called a clay) and many others. 

 Practically any crops will grow climate permitting, of 

 course and the cultivator may adopt any scheme of 

 management he finds most profitable. 



Usually speaking bullocks or dairy cows play the 

 central part on the heavy loams and sheep on the light 

 loams, the animals in both cases being required to act 

 as manure-making machines, and also to convert the 

 less portable products such as straw, roots, etc., into 

 portable and saleable meat. As an illustration of heavy 

 land arable farming : in parts of Oxfordshire the land is 

 farmed roughly on a four course shift of clover, wheat, 

 mangolds (with some swedes), oats (and some barley) 

 swedes and barley being less suited than mangolds and 

 oats for heavy land are not so widely grown. In the 

 second period beans are taken in place of clover (which 

 becomes "sick" if attempted too often) and are well 

 dunged as they are a profitable crop. There is a good 

 deal of grass. Dairy cattle are kept by some : others buy 

 yearling stores at a low price and keep them till they are 

 worth considerably more, then sell them out to be 

 fattened elsewhere. On the light land the traditional 

 rotation is clover, wheat, swedes and barley : the swedes 

 and the aftermath of clover are fed off by sheep which 

 also receive cake, etc., the wheat and barley can be sold, 



