22 SANDSTONE. 



it ; but it proves rather too soft for this purpose. It is a 

 freestone, cutting in all directions ; yet has something of a 

 grain parallel with the horizon, and therefore should not be 

 snrbedded, but laid in the same position that it grows in the 

 quarry.* On the ground abroad this fire-stone will not 

 succeed for pavements, because, probably, some degree of 

 saltness prevailing within it, the rain tears the slabs to 

 pieces.f Though this stone is too hard to be acted on by 

 vinegar, yet both the white part, and even the blue rag, 

 ferment strongly in mineral acids. Though the white stone 

 will not bear wet, yet in every quarry, at intervals, there are 

 thin strata of blue rag, which resist rain and frost, and are 

 excellent for pitching of stables, paths, and courts, and for 

 buUding of dry walls against banks, a valuable species of 

 fencing, much in use in this village ; and for mending of 

 roads. This rug is ragged and stubborn, and will not hew 

 to a smooth face ; but is very durable : yet, as these strata 

 are shallow, and lie deep, large quantities cannot be procured 

 but at considerable expense. Among the blue rags turn up 

 some blocks tinged with a stain of yellow, or rust colour, 

 which seem to be nearly as lasting as the blue ; and every 

 now and then balls of a friable substance, like rust of iron, 

 called rust balls. 



In "Wolmer Forest, I see but one sort of stone, called by 

 the workmen sand, or forest stone. This is generally of 

 the colour of rusty iron, and might probably be worked as 

 iron ore ; is very hard and heavy, and of a firm, compact 

 textiu-e, and composed of a small roundish crystalline grit, 

 cemented together by a brown, terrene, ferruginous matter ; 

 will not cut vsdthout difficulty, nor easily strike fire with 

 steel. Being often found in broad flat pieces, it makes good 

 pavement for paths about houses, never becoming slippery 

 in frost or rain ; is excellent for dry walls, and is sometimes 

 used in buildings. In many parts of that waste, it Ues 



» To surbed stone is to set it edgewise, contrary to the posture it had in the 

 quarry, says Dr. Plot. — Oxfordsh. p. 77. But surbedding does not succeed in 

 our dry walls ; neither do we use it so in ovens, though he says it is hest for 

 Teynton stone. 



+ " Firestone is full of salts, and has no sulphur ; must be close grained, 

 and have no interstices. Nothing supports fire like salts ; saltstone perishes 

 exposed to wet and frost." — Plot's Staff, p. 152. 



