6 SOILS OAKS. 



ford, 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 i 

 the pure element, but which does not lather well 1 

 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 nibble 

 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 charcoal 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 Blackmoor 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 2 . Beyond the sandy loam the soil becomes 



1 This soil produces good wheat and clover. 



2 The common larch is very soon lost when planted 

 above a substratum of red sandstone. In the Vale of the 

 Annan, wherever the sloping banks have a substratum of 

 this rock, or one composed of a sort of red sandstone, 

 shingle, or gravel, the outward decay of the tree is visible 

 at from fifteen to twenty-five years of age. The internal 



