of Central Somerset. 9 



blue lias subsoil lies at least 18 inches from the surface, be found 

 to have scouring properties, I am inclined to think under-drainage 

 will cure the evil on such land. 



3. Examination of the Water Theory. 



It has been stated by trustworthy authorities that certain 

 waters in the lias-formation possess scouring properties. Two 

 statements by Mr. Poole deserve particular attention. In his 

 note to Mr. Clarke's paper,* Mr. Poole says : " Some years ago I 

 carried a stream of water from the lias cutting of the Bristol and 

 Exeter Railway, at Dunball, across Sedgmoor Drain into Hbrsey 

 Slines (which the writer mentions as a district peculiarly free 

 from this disease), and it immediately began to scour the cattle, 

 and I was obliged to cut off the supply." 



Again : " There is a stream of water which breaks out at 

 Ford Farm, on the south side of the hill, between the parishes of 

 Edington and Stawell, and flows through one of the offshoot 

 moors of Sedgmoor, and which, for at least two miles of its 

 course, viz., as far down as Bawdrip, scours the cattle in every 

 field through which it passes. This spring is a strong petrifying 

 spring. The scouring properties of the water are so well known 

 that the watering-places on the course of the stream are frequently 

 fenced off by farmers to prevent their cattle from drinking at 

 them." 



Mr. Clarke likewise mentions two cases. " In one instance," 

 he says, " a large piece of pasture-land was found to scour the 

 cows kept upon it, to the great loss of the occupier, until he hit 

 upon the expedient of cutting off the supply of spring-water from 

 a neighbouring brook, and confining the supply to the rain-water 

 held in the ditches, the result of which has been that very little 

 of the disorder has since appeared upon the land referred to. 

 The other instance was that of a field upon the peat-soil, which' 

 is not naturally liable to scour. But during a particularly dry 

 summer the water from a brook, issuing from the blue lias clay, 

 having been let down into this field for drinking purposes, the 

 cattle immediately became affected with a similar disorder to that 

 produced upon the scouring lands." 



Mr. Bush, of Weston, near Bath, also informs me that in the 

 parish of Kewstoke, near Weston-super-Mare, there is a piece of 

 land situated upon the moor, close to the north side, the land 

 adjoining being lias ; a spring of water rises on the lias, and, 

 till recently, flowed in an open ditch across this field. The 

 tenant frequently found his cattle scour when in the field. About 



* Journal of the Bath and West of England Society, vol. iii. pp. 60-1. 



