ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 61 



is masked or covered by alluvial deposit and mixed marshy 

 and peaty soils. 



Again, the course of every river is marked by the deposi- 

 tion of alluvial soil. This again forms interruptions, and 

 liters the character of the soil from what it might be con- 

 jived to be by the general student of geology. 

 In some cases lava floods have been thrown over the 

 rface, and have altered its character. Thus, in South Italy, 

 the neighbourhood of Naples, the lava thrown from the 

 me of Vesuvius has overspread the original limestone of 

 country, and by its decay given a soil of a much richer 

 laracter than could have been produced by the original 

 lolomite which forms the main feature of the peninsula. In 

 iking up the study of agricultural geology we must be 

 ireful, and if the subject is to be studied it must be studied 

 dnutely. 



From what has been stated earlier in this chapter, we 

 mow that the newer formations are to be found upon the 

 ist and south, while the outcrop of the older formations is 

 >wards the west and north. And in accordance with this 

 lie the largest development of recent soils is upon the east 

 >ast * ; not that such is exclusively the case, but the largest 

 jvelopment of recent soils of soils of recent geological 

 >rigin occurs in the south and east portions of the country. 

 r irst, and further north, there is that great extension of 

 scent soils which constitute the south-eastern extremity 

 >f Yorkshire, known as Holderness, a flat, rich, alluvial 

 ict, which is steadily increasing in area, and which ter- 

 linates at Spurn Head, the extreme south-eastern point of 

 r orkshire. 

 Spurn Head is constantly growing, so that the lights which 



* In reading the following pages upon the geological distribution of soils 

 reference should be made to the geological map which forms the frontispiece 

 of the book. 





