STREAMS SOILS. 8 



a branch of the Arun, running to Arundel, and so falling into 

 the British Channel ; the other to the north. The Selborne 

 stream makes one branch of the Wey ; and, meeting the 

 Black-down stream at Hedleigh, and the Alton and Farnham 

 stream at Tilfordbridge, swells into a considerable river, 

 navigable at Godalming ; from whence it passes to Guildford, 

 and so into the Thames at Weybridge ; and thus at the Nore 

 into the German Ocean, 



Our wells, at an average, rim 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 the pure element, but which does not lather well 

 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 rubble stone, which, when turned up to the 

 frost and rain, moulders to pieces, and becomes manure to 

 itself, f 



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 estima- 

 tion of purveyors, and have furnished much naval timber ; 

 while the trees on the freestone grow large, but are what 

 workmen call shakey, and so brittle as often to fall to pieces 

 in sawing. J Beyond the sandy loam the soil becomes an 

 hungry lean sand, till it mingles with the forest ; and will 

 produce little without the assistance of lime and turnips. 



* This hardness of the water is occasioned by the great proportion of 

 earthy salts which it holds in solution, the most common of which is 

 sulphate of lime. These salts have the property of decomposing common 

 soap. Their acids unite with the alkali of the soap, while the earthy 

 basis forms with the oil of the soap a substance not soluble in water, 

 which envelopes the soap and gives it a greasy feel. These waters may 

 in general be cured by dropping into them an alkaline carbonate. ED. 



j* This soil produces good wheat and clover. 



| The larch does not thrive on land with a substratum of sandstone. 

 When the roots get deep, and approach the sandstone, the tree makes no 

 progress, and grows crooked. This is probably from the porous nature 

 of the sandstone absorbing the moisture. ED. 



