576 Eocene Series. 



Suffolk, the Clnlk is almost entirely buried under thick 

 accumulations of glacial debris, which completely alters 

 the agricultural character of the country. 



Various formations of the Eocene beds occur on all 

 sides of London. They are often covered by superficial 

 sand and gravel. Through the influence of the great 

 population centred here, originally owing to facilities 

 for inland communication afforded by the river, this is 

 now, in great part, a highly cultivated territory. Here 

 and there, however, to the south-west, there are tracts 

 forming the lower part of the higher Eocene strata,, 

 known as the Bagshot Sands, which produce a soil so 

 barren that, although not far from the metropolis, it is 

 only in scattered patches that they have been brought 

 under cultivation. They are still for the most part 

 bare heaths, and being sandy, dry and healthy, camps 

 have been placed upon them, and they are used as exer- 

 cise grounds for our soldiers. 



Higher still in this Eocene series of Hampshire, lie 

 the fresh-water beds on which the New Forest stands, 

 commonly said to have been depopulated by William 

 the Conqueror, and turned into a hunting ground. 

 But to the eye of the geologist it easily appears that 

 the wet and unkindly soil produced by the clays and 

 gravels of the district form a sufficient reason why in 

 old times, as now, it never could have been a cultivated 

 and populous country, for the soil for the most part is 

 poor, and probably chiefly consisted of native forest-land 

 even in the Conqueror's day. 



The wide -spreading Boulder-clay of Holderness 

 north of the Humber, of Lincolnshire on the coast, and 

 of Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, and Essex, for the 

 most part forms a stiff tenacious soil, somewhat light- 

 ened by the presence of stones, and often sufficiently 



