272 Reviews — Geological Survey of India. 



by Mr. T. Codrington, F.G.S., etc' They include the Headon Beds, 

 the Upper Bagshot Beds, the Barton, Bracklesham, and Lower Bag- 

 shot Beds. Overlying these formations is a sheet of flint-gravel, 

 which varies from 2 feet to 6 or 8 feet in thickness, and extends over 

 the open plains and heaths of the Forest, covering about a third of 

 the district. The Headon Beds, consisting of clays and marls, afford 

 some of the best land in the Forest. In regard to the cultivation of 

 the Forest, Mr. Spooner conjectures that not less than 20,000 acres 

 would be found to repay the expense of tillage, for there are great 

 facilities for ameliorating the land by means of marl and chalk. 



(3). The Comparative Agriculture of England and Wales is treated 

 of by Mr. W. Topley, F.G.S., of the Geological Survey of England. 

 In order to obtain some accurate knowledge of the distribution of 

 crops, with the view of comparing them with the physical structure 

 of the country, Mr. Topley has calculated the percentage of acreage 

 devoted to each. A table accompanying his paper shows the per- 

 centage of each crop to the total acreage of each county in England 

 and Wales. He remarks that in trying to classify the English 

 counties according to their leading physical features, we find that 

 the western part of the country contains the largest portion of high 

 land, and that this higher western land is occupied by the older 

 geological formations. A map of rainfall and temperature shows 

 that the greatest fall is over the western high lands ; and, speaking 

 generally, over other districts the fall is in proportion to the height 

 of the ground. Summer temperature is of great importance ; this 

 is highest over the eastern central district. Considered agriculturally, 

 we find that the western counties are characterized by their large 

 acreage of grazing land, whilst in the eastern there is a high per- 

 centage of corn land. There is thus a general coincidence between 

 geological structure, contour, climate, and agricultural products. 

 These four classes of facts are of importance in the order here given ; 

 each is controlled by the one that precedes it. Agriculture depends 

 mainly on climate, climate mainly on contour, and contour mainly 

 on geological structure. 



Mr. Topley's paper is deserving of careful study by all those who 

 are interested in agricultural geology. 



laZBATIIE'WS. 



J. — GEOIiOGICAL SUBVET OF InDIA " AnNUAL EePORT " AND 



" Eegords." 



THE progress of British Systematic Geological inquiry being im- 

 portant, we are glad to observe that the close of the financial 

 year brings with it the Keport of the Geological Survey of India, 

 occupying the first fifteen pages of the Records of that Survey for 

 1871 ; and although Indian affairs short of a political catastrophe are 

 said to excite but little interest here, this Indian Survey Eeport will 



1 Mr. Codrington has also laid down the geology of the New Forest on an admirable 

 chromo-lithographic map accompanying this paper. 



