300 Charles Daivson — Ancient and Modern " Bene Holes." 



I have taken the opinion of an analyst on the question of chalk 

 quarries from a depth being better tlian that obtained from near 

 the surface. Mr. S. A. Woodhead, B.Sc, public analyst for 

 Sussex, says : — 



" Calcium carbonate (chalk) is insoluble in water, but if the water 

 is charged with carbon dioxide the calcium carbonate then becomes 

 soluble, because it is changed into the bicarbonate. From this it 

 is seen that the carbonate may be changed to the bicarbonate, and 

 this bicarbonate is soluble in water. 



"If the calcium bicarbonate comes in contact with ordinary lime 

 and water it becomes changed into the carbonate of lime, which, 

 being insoluble in water, is deposited in the same condition as it 

 was taken up, i.e. as calcium carbonate (chalk). 



'•' Below, one gets a more soluble form of chalk, by reason of the 

 precipitation above-mentioned, which, when laid on land containing 

 organic matter, unites with nitric acid found in the soil and foi'ms 

 calcium nitrate (nitrate of lime), which is an actual plant food." 



Mr. Walker quotes instances of practical experience in chalking. 

 Mr. W. J. Maiden, Principal of the East Sussex Agricultural 

 College, in support of this view says : — " Farmers throughout 

 the Chalk areas invariably lay aside the first few feet in digging 

 a chalk-jDit, as common experience has shown that this chalk 

 exercises no beneficial eff'ect, whereas much good is done by 

 that obtained by that lower down." 



" Mr. Byde (Ware Park) pays for winding it up in buckets Id. 

 a load of twenty-four bushels, and 8d. a foot for the shaft till the 

 chalk is found; the men barrow it on to the land at the distance of 

 twenty poles for 8rZ., hut then they open a fresh shaft every forty 

 yards. They have 2d. in the shilling for beer, and for filling it into 

 carts and spreading it 4(?. a load more. 



" Forty loads are the common quantities per acre. He finds 

 fifteen loads of chalk per acre repeated once in ten or twenty years 

 much better than a large quantity at once." 



He sums up the reasons why these pits were used in preference 

 to open workings which, by the distance away, would necessitate 

 the use of horses and carts. 



He concludes : "' Upon the whole, I must observe that this 

 husbandry, which is general throughout the county, has considerable 

 merit ; but the great singularity is the long-established practice of 

 drawing up by shafts and harrowing it on to the land. Those who 

 have been accustomed to the marie carts of Norfolk and Suffolk 

 know what severe work to the teams that business always proves 

 and what a most heavy expense attends it. Horses of great value 

 are often lamed or destroyed, and the purchase of carts and 

 harness, with the wear and tear of both, form very heavy articles. 

 The Hertfordshire custom is therefore much to be preferred. 



" Two or three pounds per acre could be easily aiforded by men 

 who could not set any regular clay carts at work for want of a scale 

 of business proportioned to such teams, etc." 



Surprise has been expressed among those who have dug trenches 



