5^3 



LIBRA {{ . Y 



. 



-UNIVEKSI'fy 



CHAPTEE XXXIII. 



SOILS. 



THE soils of a country necessarily vary to a great 

 extent, though not entirely, with the nature of the 

 underlying geological formations. Thus, in the high- 

 lands of Scotland the gneissic and granitic mountains 

 are generally heathy and barren, because they are so 

 high and craggy, and their hard rocky materials some- 

 times come bare to the surface over considerable areas. 

 Strips of fertile meadow land lie chiefly on narrow 

 alluvial plains, which here and there border the rivers. 

 Hence the Highlands mainly form a wild and pastoral 

 country, sacred to grouse, black cattle, sheep, and red 

 deer. 



Further south, Silurian rocks, though the scenery is 

 different, produce more or less the same kinds of soil, 

 in the broad range of hills that lies between the great 

 valleys of the Clyde and Forth, and the borders of 

 England, including the Muirfoot and the Lammermuir 

 Hills, and the high grounds that stretch southwards 

 into Carrick and Gralloway. There, the rocks, being 

 chiefly composed of hard, untractable, gritty, and slaty 

 material, form but little soil because they are difficult 

 to decompose. Hence the higher ground is to a great 

 extent unfilled, though excellently adapted for pastoral 

 purposes. Where, however, the slopes are covered more 

 or less with old ice-drifts and moraine matter, the soil, 



o o 2 



