Lowland Soils 43 



grassland of the lower hills. The most fertile lands, where 

 some of the best farming in Great Britain is carried on, are 

 largely on loamy glacial drifts derived partly from the 

 Old Red Sandstone, as in the Lothians round Edinburgh, 

 especially at Dunbar, where the narrow strip of coastland 

 is probably the most expensive and most highly farmed 

 land in the world, in the Fife peninsula between the 

 Firths of Forth and Tay, and in Strathmore. These 

 allow of the inclusion of wheat, the finer strains of barley, 

 potatoes, oats and turnips in the regular rotation of crops. 

 This land is practically restricted to the relatively dry 

 east coast, and forms a band of varying width, extending 

 northwards along the eastern edge of the Central High- 

 lands as far as the shores of the Moray Firth, at the 

 north-eastern extremity of the Caledonian Canal. 



On the west coast the Ayrshire or southern side of the 

 Firth of Clyde is almost the only tract of high fertility, 

 owing to the favourable topography and the mild spring ; 

 early potatoes are here an important crop. Outside 

 these fertile areas a zone is reached in which wheat is 

 grown to a small extent only, but barley of the hardier 

 varieties and potatoes are still included. On the less 

 productive soils and amongst the hill-valleys, these 

 quickly disappear and only the hardier oats and turnips, 

 and sometimes rye, are left; the cultivation of these 

 last, combined with cattle-raising, marks the limit of the 

 arable land. On the fertile coastlands grass and forage 

 crops are as a rule laid down for short periods only, but 

 as the soils become less productive the permanent grass- 

 land increases, till at the higher altitudes beyond the 

 arable limits the enclosed farmlands consist of grazing 

 grounds alone. 



Above the enclosed grassland comes unenclosed na- 

 tural grassland, or moorland. Even the latter is some- 

 times grazed, but it is mainly used as shooting moors 

 for grouse (Lagopus scoticus) and other hill game, while 



