G R A V E L. 



off or fmooth raking, a vrooden-headed rake without teeth 

 is moft eligibk', or the back of any common rake ; as by any 

 of thcfe, the furf:ice may be rendered more regular and even 

 without drawing off the requilite proportion of top pebbles, 

 or raking them into holes or heaps ; as the art of imoolh- 

 raking is" to leave all the proper-fi-zed top ftones equally dif- 

 perfed over the furface. As. foon as any part is thus laid 

 and raked, it fhould be well rolled both acrofs and length- 

 ways ; and when the whole is laid, a good rolling fliould be 

 given^the whole length, repeating it till the furface is ren- 

 dered perfectly compact, firm, and fn-iooth ; and after the 

 firft (hower of rain, another good rolling fliould be given, 

 fo as to make it bind hke a rock. This method fliould be 

 praftifed ^^■ith all walks made with thefe materials inva- 

 riably. 



The management afterwards is, occafional weeding, 

 fweeping, and good rolling, once or twice a \\-eek, efpe- 

 cially in the advanced part of fpring, and all fummcr ; and 

 alio occafionally in winter, in dry open weather ; and when 

 the fnrfaccs become very foul, or over-run with fmall weeds 

 or mofs, as is often the cafe, they mull be broken up in 

 fpring, and turned the furface to the bottom, qnd the bot- 

 tom to the top, by which the weeds and mofs will not only 

 be buried, but the walks appear as frefli as when new laid. 

 The cuftom of breaking up gravel-walks in the beginning of 

 winter, and laying them up in rough ridges, to deftroy 

 weeds and mofs, is not eligible for general praclice, or only 

 occafionally, where any walk is exceedingly overrun ; it is 

 moflly more advifable to permit all the principal gravel- 

 walks to remain undillurbed, at leall tiil the fpring, when, if 

 it appear necefTary, tlie whole may be broken up, regularly 

 turned, and re-laid in a neat manner. 



, The turning of gravel is a fort of flight digging, the 

 foul furface being turned down, and the frefli up; fome have 

 it performed regularly once a year in the fpring, in order to 

 preferve the colour. In thefe cafes, the laying, raking, and 

 rolling, are performed the fame as in the firll conftrufting 

 the walks. 



The rolKng fliould be performed once a week at leaft in 

 fummer, and if two or three times the more beautiful the 

 walks will appear, and it will tend greatly to deftroy weeds 

 and mofs ; it is nioftly a rule among gardeners to fweep 

 and roll every Saturday. During the Imnmer, it is of much 

 advantage to give a good rolling a^ter rain, which affords 

 a compact fmooth furface, and preferves the walks in good 

 order. 



Gravel, in Geology, is a term properly applied to thofe 

 fabulous foils, or aiTeniblages of worn and rounded Itones, 

 which are found fcattered on the furface of the earth, in al- 

 moft all fituationa. It is an efiential charafter of gravel, 

 that it fliall contain rounded ftones extraneous to the place 

 where they are found, oth.crwife the brecci;i, nibble, and 

 loofened I'oeks and ftrata near the furface, owing to the atlion 

 of air, wet, and frofts, &c. will be confounded with it, as 

 too often has happened, in the defcriptions of countries. 

 The earthv and fmaller matters found among gravels, vary 

 in different fituationsj in all degrees from clay to fand : and 

 yet, if fucli alluvial mixtures contain rounded ftones, and 

 fragments with evident marks of attrition on them, they 

 fhould, in defcribing fuch foils, all be den-.miinated gravel, 

 adding other words to diilinguifh the nature and ijuantity of 

 their earthy mixtures: where rounded ftones only are found, 

 with little elfe among them, as on the fca beach often, and 

 jn forne gravel-pits, fach may be denominated very clean 

 gravel ; if a fmall admixture of fand, loam, (a mi--ture of 

 fand and clay,) or clay, be found among the ftones, fuch 

 Biay be denominated clean fandy, ckan ioailiy, or cleuo 



clayey gravel : where a confiderablc portion of the mafs is 

 fand, loam, or clay, Inch flionld be called fandy, loamy, or 

 clayey gravel : and laftly, where the earths greatly predomi- 

 nate, the terms very fandy, very loamy, or very clayey gra- 

 vel fliould be ufed ; or in place of thefe laft, in extreme 

 cafes, alluvial fand, alluvial loam, or alluvial clay may be 

 fubftituted : the laft of which terms would apply to the 

 horizontal earthy depofits or meadow foils, by the fides of 

 rivers, the mud of lakes, &c. We have here made ufe of 

 the term alluvial, in its ftrift and proper fenfe, as denoting 

 matters worn, moved, difpcrfed, mixed, and depofiled in 

 water, in diftinftion from the regular or undifturbed matters 

 of the terreftrial ftrata : which, though they ftiew evident 

 marks of having been depofited in a fiuid, the perfeft hoiiio- 

 genity of each lamina of the ftrata, and their vaft extenfiop, 

 without rude or accidental mixtures, fliew that the laws 

 which governed the two kinds of terreftrial depofit, were not 

 lefs diftinCland marked, than are the procefles of the precipi- 

 tation of matters before mechanically mixed and fufpended 

 in a fluid, and the ci-yftallization of fubftances from menftrua 

 fupcr-faturated therewith. During the depofition of the 

 ftrata, all was tranquil and quiet, except the movements of 

 animated beings, which occupied fuccefilvely the vaft fub- 

 aqueous plains of ftrata : diu nig the iormation and depofition 

 of the gravels, of all defcriptions, all was violence and con- 

 fufion, and apparently fo continued for a long period of 

 time. 



No problem is of more pi-aftical and theoretical import- 

 ance in geology, than whether gravel is any where found 

 uniler regular and undilhirbed ftrata? Were the decifion 

 of this queftion to be referred to the opinions of writers on 

 geology, mineralogy, &c. there would be little room to 

 doubt, from their defcription, that fuch is fometimes, nay 

 frequently, the cafe ; but Mr. William Smith, from having 

 devoted great part of twenty years to the accarate difcrimi- 

 nation of ftratified and alluvial matters, on -the principles 

 above ftated, after examining vaft numbers of the deepeil 

 and moft extenfive wells, fliafts, mines, quiirries, &c. and 

 converfing with quarrymen, miners, &c. who coUeftively 

 have made an almoft infinite number of obfervations, is 

 decidedly of opinion, that no fuch cafe can be pointed out 

 in England. It is true, that far.dy, loamy, and clayey mafles 

 occur, with a very few rounded or broken ^nd mixed flony 

 fragments among them, fo that the niceft difcriminations 

 are uecelTary to diftinguifli fuch, in fome places, from ftrati- 

 fied fand, loam, (or natural brick-earth) or clay ; and under 

 great thicknefs o^ fuch doubtful niaffes, beds of rounded 

 and mixed ftones are found, fometimes at very confiderable 

 depths, but in all fuch inftances, the doubtful character 

 has continued from the very furface downward, to fuch 

 gravel-beds, and no where are regular ftrata of ftone, 

 clay, or fand found upon even thefe doubtful maffes, 

 when due caution is ufed in making and extending the 

 obfervations. It is true alfo, that there are, in various 

 parts of the Britiih feries of ftrata, filiceous, or grit-ftone 

 beds, and rocks, compofed of diftintf grains of filex, or 

 cryftallized quartz, of all fizes, from fuch as require a 

 glals for viewing them, to others the fizc of a man's fift ; 

 and in feveral inftances, contrary to the more common cafe, 

 of fmall and fizeable, or uniform grains, which diftin- 

 guilh moll of our grit-ftones, there are beds in which grains, 

 as fine as poffible, are mixed with the largell mentioned 

 above, and have, in the cliflFs and places where thefe coarfe 

 ilone-beds, or loofe blocks of them, are feen expofed, fo 

 exaiSlly the appearance, at firft fight, of gravel-rock, or in- 

 durated fandy gravel, that it is no wonder they fliould have 

 beeii fo generally claii'cd with the gravels. Thofe, however, 



3 ' wild, 



