KENT. 



437 



Krat. 





adjacent sea. The depth of this well is 281 feet, and 

 the supply of water is nearly as great as that derived 

 from the well at Sheernes*. 



The most prevalent winds in this county, are the 



north-east and the outh-west. The former is most 



common in the winter and spring months, and is gene- 



rally accompanied with severe frost. This w'ud is 



much more piercing and injurious in the east than in 



the west of Kent, the latter being farther from the sea, 



better enclosed, and protected t>y a rid;e of hills. With 



ct to rain, Kent may be esteemed a comparative- 



ly i'ry c-iunty. It i* alo very healthy ; except near 



rrnes, and the other low marshy grounds. 



In describing the various soils of this county, we shall 

 follow Mr. Hn\, i his agricultural survey, and divide 

 it into eijht districts, vis. 1. IsleofThanet ; 2. The up- 

 land farm* of East Kent; 3. The rich flat lands in the vi- 

 cinity of F.trrr-bam, Sandwich, and Deal ; 4. The hop 

 grounds of Canterbury and Maids-tone ; 5. The isle of 

 Shep.-y ; >> The upland fann> of \\'r,t Kent ; 7. The 

 Weald of Kent ; and 8. Itomney Mar-h. The soil of 

 the arable land in .the isle of Thanet, is a light loam on 

 a chalky bottom, highly fertilized hy manure and judi- 

 cious cultivation. The soil of the marshes is a clay, 

 mixed with tea sand and small shells. The soils in the 

 second district vary very much. They consist princi- 

 pally of chalk, loom, and clay. ' termixed with flint, 

 gravel, and wnd. The stiff clays *re principally found 

 on the hill* near Dover ; and toe flint soils in the val- 

 li* near that town and Maidstone. The flat lands in 

 the vicinity of Favenham. Sandwich, and Deal, con- 

 sist of a rich sandy loam, in which the sand prevails in 

 different proportions, and a stiff wet day. The fourth 

 district, or hop grounds, which extend from Maidstone 

 and Canterbury, and thence to Sand wich, consist, for the 

 BMM part, of a rich deep loan, with a subsoil of a deep 

 brick earth. The isle of Shepey comtsts, for the most 

 part, of a deep, stiff, strong clay. This alto form* the 

 ubttratura of the marsh land in the iile, but it is there 

 covered with a rich, black vegetable mould. The up- 

 land farm* of West Kent, consist of a great variety of 

 oils. In this district ia the range of chalk hill*, which 

 run* from near Westerham to the sea coast at Folk- 

 stone. The *-.il on the top of these hills, is a cold flinty 

 clay. The Weald of Kent, which stretches along the 

 tooth aid* of the county, from Honiuey Marsh to Snr- 

 ry, eonraU principally of clay, of different degrees of te- 

 nacity and fertility. I he soil of the last di-tn< t, which 



UMT Manh, upward* of 43,000 acres, has 



been almost wholly deposited by the sea, and cotuitt* 

 of fine, soft, rich ioam and clay, intermixed with sea 

 and of very comkierable depth. 



Kent is by no means celebrated for its mineral pro- 

 duction*. A few circunitta Tiers, however, may be no- 

 ticed here, a* appertaining a* much to the soil, ur near- 

 ly so, a* to the mineral productions of the countv. At 

 the west end of the Hangup, >i the parish of 



Oharlton, ia a chalk ,nd other 



Jbaaib, are found ; and on the road to V there 



is a very large and deep sand pit. In ' the 



first stfataa*. i* gravel, which varies ., to the 



avtface of the ground from 5 or 6 to about 15 feet in 

 jmth, beneath are various strata of day, gravel, loam, 

 and marl running parallel, being alogether about 30 or 

 40 fiset deep, which cover a bed of sand about 43 feet 

 in depth. In the marl are found prodigious numbers 

 of extraneoufoiU. This vein is about 6 or 8 feet 

 thick, and the shell* in it are so numerous, and lie so 

 do*> that, according to Woodward, the mau u almost 



wholly composed of them, there being only a very lit- Kent, 

 tie marl interposed." Of these shells there is a great >1 "Y"" ^ 

 variety, both of univalves and bivalves. The most ex- 

 tensive and important chalk pits in Kent, are at North 

 Fleet and Greenhithe, near the banks of the Thames, a 

 little above Graveseml. These chalk pits are connect- 

 ed with the range of chalk hills, which forms the boun- 

 dary of the marshes nearly all the way from Cliff to 

 Caroling. The depth of these chalk pits is from 100 to 

 150 feet perpendicular. An immense number and va- 

 riety of animal remains are found here. Teeth of dif- 

 ferent species of sharks have been met with ; infinite 

 numbers of the various species of echini, some of which 

 are most curious and elegant in their form ; and contain 

 chalk of the purest quality. A very beautiful species of 

 cornu ammonis is very frequent. " The forms, and the 

 very substance of the shells, are preserved through the 

 multitudes of ages in which they have been deposited ; 

 the coleran alone is discharged. Some have been en- 

 tirely pervaded with flint, which assumes the exact fi- 

 gure of the shell." The chalk and flint of these pits 

 are both considerable objects of commerce. The form- 

 er is burnt for lime, either on the spot, or where it is 

 to be used. The flints are exported in vast quantities, 

 even to China ; and the potteries of Staffordshire con- 

 sume many thousand tons annually. In some parts, 

 these pits are many feet below the level of the Thames. 

 In the manor of Bethersden, there were formerly quar- 

 ries of marble much esteemed, and used for the orna- 

 mental parts of building ; but it is now little used. It 

 is of the grey turbinated kind, and bears a good polish. 

 The Kentish rag-stone abounds on the southern shore 

 of the Medway, near Maidstone. It is used for troughs, 

 gravestones, repairing the sea walls on the coast, 

 trengthening the piers of bridges, paving roads, parti- 

 cularly in the Weald ; and lately, much ha* been used 

 to mend the roads near London. As it is calcareous, it 

 it also burnt into lime ; and, as the lime is very pure 

 and strong, it is often sent in small casks to the West 

 Indies to refine sugar. It is also used for stucco work. 

 It may lie mentioned, that in the year 1418, 7000 can- 

 nun balls were made by the orders of Henry V. from 

 the Kentish rag'Stone. The cliffs, in the isle of She- 

 pey, abound in pyrites, from which copperas wan first 

 made so early as 1579. These cliffs are rented by the 

 copperas makers, who employ the poor inhabitants to 

 c-nllect tin- pyrites. The action of the waves is conti- 

 nually washing them out, or loosening them from the 

 cliffs. Many hundred ton* of copperas are now ex- 

 ported annually. Other fossils are likewise found in 

 thr el fi^ of this isle ; large nodules of petrified wood, 

 II as a vast number of different kinds of fruit ; and 

 animal rcnvtins, such as the thi^h bones, tusks, and 

 grinder* of an elephant, two specie* of tortoises, &c. 



The only ininer.il water of any celebrity in Kent, is Mineral 

 that of Tunbridge Wells. It is a chalybeate, and near- 

 ly equal in strength to that of the German Spa. The 

 efficacy of tin- water in several complaints, aided by 

 the purity of the air, and the beauty of the scenery in ,ir 

 Tunbrklge, attract* much company to it during the 

 season. There is also a mineral water near Dulwich, 

 similar in composition and quality to that of Epsom ; 

 but it is not used. 



There are very few counties in England so celebra- Agriculture 

 ted for its agriculture as Kent. The bean husbandry 

 of East Kent ; the general arable husbandry of thr isle 

 of Thanct ; the hop plantations near Canterbury nd 

 Maidstone ; and the cherry orchards in the vicinity of 

 the latter place, a* well as the wood husbandry of the 



