§4 THE proble:\i of lynchets, 



began to fall over and be lost upon a lower terrace that 

 belonged to another person, the balk was raised from time to 

 time by rows of turf, until by degrees it reached the elevation 

 now seen. 



On the west side of the valley, where there are at present only 

 three tiers of terraces, there used to be eight, and these were 

 subdivided by transverse roads into as many as 56 holdings ; and 

 on the east side of the valley there were 26 holdings, all arable, 

 though now in pasture, for the village community is at an end ; 

 the men and women are gone, and nothing is left even of their 

 gardens and homes. 



23. The best soils for the cultivation of hemp are those which 

 yield, on analysis, the following percentage of constituents, 

 which may be compared with a similar analysis of the hemp 

 plant itself : — 



From this it would seem that calcareous districts are not the 

 most favourable for the growth of hemp ; and we may suppose 

 that, after manv unprofitable attempts had been made to cultivate 

 it on chalk lynchets, they were abandoned.'^' 



Mica is chiefly a silicate of alumina, but it contains also 

 magnesia, soda, lime, and peroxide of iron ; and, as a con- 

 stituent of Midford Sands, it must have contributed to the 

 facility with which hemp was grown round Bridport. 



Near Portesham there are some remarkably flat ledges, now in 

 pasture, that correspond with alternate beds of nodular rock and 



* In 1901 Britain imported flax to the value of £2,600,000 from foreign 

 countries and of only £18,000 from British possessions. 



