4 NATURAL HISTORY 



passes to Guildford, and so into the Thames at Weybridge; 

 and thus at the Nore into the German Ocean. 



Our wells, at an average, run 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. 1 



To the north-west, north, and east of the village, is a 



range of fair enclosures, consisting of what is called 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. 2 



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 esti- 

 mation of purveyors, and have furnished much naval timber ; 

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

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

 in sawing. 



Beyond the sandy loam the soil becomes a hungry lean 

 sand, till it mingles with the forest, and will produce little 

 without the assistance of lime and turnirjs_. ? 



1 Although this water is said to be soft to the taste, it is nevertheless 

 what would be usually called hard, the test of which, as pointed out by 

 Mr. Rennie, is its not producing a lather with soap, or with soap dis- 

 solved in spirit of wine, because it contains sulphate of lime, the sul- 

 phuric acid in which, uniting with the soda in the soap, sets free the 

 tallow, composed of the margaric and oleic acids ; and these acids, unit- 

 ing with the lime thus set free, form a soap that will not dissolve in 

 water. ED. 



2 This soil produces good wheat and clover. G. W. 



