CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT SOILS 215 



nearly the whole of the pasture. The characteristic tree of clay 

 land is the Oak, and to a less degree the Hornbeam; conifers 

 often grow well, especially those which like a soil inclined to 

 acidity, for clay soils as a rule contain little carbonate of lime. 

 On the banks and waste places the Wild Carrot and the Teazle 

 are among the plants that are rather characteristic of clay land, 

 as also is the Primrose. 



SANDY SOILS. Sandy soils may be found of all degrees of 

 intensity, varying from fine sandy loams, excellent for cultivation, 

 to soils almost devoid of fine particles and worthless for farming. 

 Common land is occasionally situated on clay but the majority 

 of tracts of unenclosed common or heath or forest consist of sands 

 so light that they have never been considered worthy of bringing 

 into cultivation, but have been left clothed with their natural 

 vegetation of Gorse and Heather. Such soils are generally found 

 to be also devoid of carbonate of lime ; in consequence they 

 accumulate more humus than would be expected from their 

 openness and warmth, especially where the drainage is imperfect. 

 On examining a section of a really sandy soil it will be observed 

 that the roots of the vegetation are abundant and penetrate com- 

 paratively deeply ; as a rule also it will be seen that the sand 

 for nine or ten inches down has been bleached by the removal 

 of the brown oxide of iron which is the chief colouring matter 

 of all soils. Below the bleached portion comes a thin band or 

 pan of dark coloured oxide of iron, dissolved and redeposited from 

 the sand above ; this bleaching and iron pan occur only in soils 

 short of carbonate of lime. Being so coarse grained and free from 

 water, sandy soils warm up rapidly and are early ; if plenty of 

 manure can be given they induce very rapid growth, and so are 

 well suited to market gardeners and small holders. They do not 

 maintain their vegetation well through the summer, but growth 

 is again rapid with the cooler and moister days of the early autumn. 



Among the cereal crops, barley answers best on sandy land ; 

 grass is generally poor, the " Soft Brome " being a very character- 

 istic species, while the " Wavy-Hair Grass " is a common weed of 

 arable sandy land. Among trees the Spanish Chestnut, the Silver 

 Birch, Holly, and several of the conifers are generally associated 



