Wealden. 573 



the escarpment of the Chalk, consists of along strip of stiff 

 clay-land formed of the Grault, which, unless covered^ 

 by drift or alluvium, generally produces a wet soil 

 along a band of country extending from the outlet of 

 the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire north-eastward into 

 Bedfordshire. 



In Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, the Weald Clay occu- 

 pies an area, between the escarpment of the Lower 

 Grreensand and the Hastings Sands, of from six to 

 twenty miles wide, encircling the latter on the north, 

 west, and south. It naturally forms a damp stiff soil 

 when at the surface ; but is now cultivated and im- 

 proved by the help of deep drainage. In many places 

 there are deep beds of superficial loam, on some of 

 which the finest of the hop-gardens of that area lie. 

 Loamy brick earths often occupy the low banks of the 

 Thames and Medway, in Kent, also famous for hop- 

 grounds and cherry orchards, and for those extensive 

 brick manufactories so well known in the neighbourhood 

 of Sittingbourne. Similar loams sometimes overlie the 

 Kentish Kag (Lower Greensand), and the Lower Eocene 

 strata on the south bank of the estuary of the Thames. 



The Hastings Beds for the most part consist of very 

 fine sand, interstratified with minor beds of clay, and 

 they lie in the centre of the Wealden area, forming the 

 undulating hills half-way between the North and South 

 Downs, extending from Horsham to the sea between 

 Hythe and Hastings. They form on the surface a fine 

 dry sandy loam ; so fine, indeed, that when dry it may 

 sometimes be described as an almost impalpable sili- 

 cious dust. Much of the country is well wooded, espe- 

 cially on the west, where there are still extensive remains 

 of the old forests of Tilgate, Ashdown, and St. Leonards. 

 Down to a comparatively late historical period, both 



