578 Reviews — The Royal Agricultural Society's Journal. 



Keary, on a Farm-prize Competition in the district, was prepared 

 by the Society's Secretary, Mr. H. M. Jenkins, F.G.S., etc. It 

 shows very clearly the geological formations displayed, and also 

 the "surface-deposits" which are scattered" over the larger portion 

 of the area. 



The latter are classified into Alluvium, Valley-gravels, High-level 

 Drifts, and Scattered Pebbles. 



The characters of the soils are only briefly alluded to by Mr. 

 Keary, as his report deals Avith the management of the several farms 

 described, rather than with the relative capabilities of the lands. 



Mr. Jenkins furnishes a note explanatory of liie Tnap. The 

 ^'High-level Drifts" form the strong land which so frequently covers 

 the summits of the Chalk and Oolite hills. These include the clay- 

 with-flints, brick-earth, and gravel that cap the Chalk hills. The 

 clay-with-flints is a genuine soil, formed, as Mr. Whitaker has 

 pointed out, of the flints and earthy matter left by dissolution of 

 the chalk, together with a clayey and loamy wash from the Terti- 

 aries. It i« subject to much variation, in some places being very 

 sandy, while in others there are fields which are literally crammed 

 with flints, with so little soil that it seems wonderful how any plant 

 can find nourishment — yet turnips appear to flourish. Attempts are 

 sometimes made to reduce the quantity of flints by picking off cart- 

 loads of the stones, but they soon "grow" again as thickly as ever 

 — ^if any appreciable difference is really ever made. 



The "scattered pebbles " are, according to Mr. Jenkins, much too 

 •scattered to be mapped into distinct beds, but they are of sufficient 

 importance to influence the agricultural character of the surface. 



Although on but a small scale, this little map gives as accurately 

 as possible the distribution of the superficial deposits over the 

 country around Oxford, so far as published and other observations 

 have made them known, to which must doubtless be added much 

 personal research by Mr. Jenkins. 



It shows the general nature of the sub-soil, and as the farms 

 which competed for the prizes are situated in various parts of the 

 area, it is interesting to notice the systems adopted in each of those 

 described. 



We can scarcely hope ever to have a map of England upon which 

 the different soils are traced out, owing to the large scale of the map 

 that would be required. The promised Drift-maps of the Geological 

 Survey will complete the tracing out of the sub-soils, and as these 

 exercise a direct influence on the nature of the soil, they will be of 

 much use to agriculturalists. 



The present journal contains other interesting matters which we 

 must briefly notice. 



There is a Eeport on the Farming of Monmouthshire, by Mr. W. 

 Fothergill, which contains a small geological map of the county, and 

 also an account of the soils found upon each formation. The De- 

 vonian rocks furnish a great variety of soils; — there is a deep loam 

 especially favourable to the oak and the apple ; the conglomerates 

 furnish soils well suited for roots and barley; on the clay a strong 



