ARABLE LAND 79 



West of this line the soils, though still very diversified, 

 are stronger and the good farming sets in ; the under- 

 lying rock, chalk in the centre and crag in the east, 

 is almost everywhere obscured by a complicated series 

 of drifts, generally of glacial origin, which range from 

 strong clays along the Suffolk border to patches of 

 pure gravel and sand near the North Sea. Speaking 

 roughly and generally, the finest land, famous for the 

 all-round excellence of its root crops, occurs in the 

 east of the county in the district within reach of the 

 Broads, while in north Norfolk the soils are lighter 

 and run off in places into very poor thin stuff indeed. 

 Just in the same way Norfolk farming may be divided 

 into " wheat and bullocks " or " sheep and barley," 

 though no sharp line can be drawn between the two ; 

 what is common to all divisions of the county is the 

 great predominance of arable land over permanent 

 grass and the dependence of the agriculture upon 

 fattening rather than on breeding stock. The agri- 

 cultural statistics show that in Norfolk 73 per cent, 

 of the total acreage under crops is arable land, a 

 proportion exceeded only, and that but to a slight 

 degree, in the neighbouring counties of Cambridge 

 and Suffolk, and the typical Norfolk farm will possess 

 only one or two grass fields next the homestead, the 

 remaining four - fifths or more of the land being 

 under the plough. 



We spent some time in north Norfolk, a gently 

 undulating country diversified by numerous shallow 

 valleys, where little streams have cut away the surface 

 gravels down to the comparatively impervious chalky 

 boulder clay. On the upper levels the soil varies 

 from a moderate loam, rarely more than two-horse 

 land, to a thin black gravel of little value ; on the 

 sides of the valleys the best land occurs, while the 



