THE WEST COUNTRY GENERALLY. 189 



Agriculturally important, though in a less degree than 

 beautiful Devon, the county of Dorset, with its area of 

 over a thousand square miles, presents large stretches 

 of surface soil which, " wet her ed " from a basis of chalk, 

 has not the intrinsic richness of the red soil of the first- 

 named county, produced from the " weathering " with 

 decayed vegetable additions of the geologically famous 

 " red sandstone." Soils over chalk prehistoric sea 

 bottom owe their quality more to cultivation than to 

 nature : but, naturally, being thin, are chiefly pro- 

 ductive of pastures for grazing and corn. 



More famous than Dorset, for reasons which give pre- 

 eminence to Devon, is the county of Somerset, which is 

 fittingly and tersely described by an old ballad in the 

 lines : 



" Go look through merrie England, 

 Of all the shires you there may see, 

 Oh, the fairest is green Somerset, 

 The flower of all the west countree ! " 



Pre-eminently a pastoral county, there is no question 

 of its eminent richness and greenness, and a description 

 by the present writer, penned nearly forty years ago, is 

 so true to its present character that, without alteration, 

 it may be quoted : 



" Its character is eminently pastoral, its soil is singularly 

 rich, and its greenness is pervading and luxuriant. Yet its 

 greenness owes its distinguishing feature to cultivation. But 

 instead of the monotonousness which is apparent in some 

 of our purely agricultural counties, where wide areas of 

 corn and of other crops extend without apparent lines of 

 division, mile after mile, in level uniformity, meadow and 

 corn land in Somersetshire are prettily diversified. Quiet 

 pastures extend upon the slopes of gentle hills. Parting 

 hedges, topped by leafy elms, portion out the country, 

 not in regular squares, but in fields of varying size ; and 

 these, in turn, present aspects which do not tire by ceaseless 

 repetition of the same crop. In spring the pasture lands 

 are golden with the bloom of buttercups ; and the wealthy 

 hue is indicative so experts say, though opinions differ 

 of the richness of the soil. But, interspersed amongst 

 the crowfoot meadows are potato and bean fields and spaces 

 of corn land, bright, in the spring, by the vigorous green- 



