264 



Farming of Lincolnshire. 



dry. It contains probably a considerable portion of oxide of 

 iron. 



From between Scotton and Kirton, where the clay is probably 

 not more than 2 miles in breadth, this bed widens out to the 

 south so as to attain a width of 4 or 5 miles in the valley of the 

 Till. This district consists of gentle undulations, having for the 

 most part a cold stiff soil, difficult to work as arable land, and 

 not good for pasture in summer. At Carleton-le-Moorland it 

 is generally a fertile hazel loam. At Beckingham the pastures 

 near the river Witham are excellent feeding grounds ; and about 

 Claypole, though much is very low and wet from floodings of the 

 same stream, the soil is very strong and excellent bean land. 

 liOng-Bennington has a surface of strons: clay, and this rests upon 

 strata of limestone and freestone. The lias extends to the 

 western boundary of the county to the southward of Beckingham ; 

 eastward it is bounded by the Heath hills, or rather by a narrow 

 belt of land at the foot of those hills. At Leadenham com- 

 mences a ridge of high land in front of the Heath, similar to that 

 at the northern extremity of the formation, which, running in 

 a south-western direction, forms the base of the lofty hills of 

 Hough, Great Gonerby, and Barrowby, being a very heavy and 

 tenacious clay soil. In the parish of Honington the clay is of a 

 milder character ; and over the whole tract the soil varies much 

 in its texture, according to the subsoil and the nearness of stone 

 to the surface. A breadth of 6 or 7 miles of the lias is here 

 within the county, and its most southern limit is near Wools- 

 thorp and Bel voir. 



The Oolite rocks are next in succession, occupying a consider- 

 able portion of the county. They form a ridge of hill which, 

 commencing at Wintringham, near the Humber, and running 

 almost parallel with the lias hill as far south as Manton, presents 

 a bold escarpment towards the valley which lies between. The 

 lias hill gradually loses its elevation as it advances southward, 

 but the oolite range continues through Kirton, Lincoln, Leaden- 

 ham, and Grantham, presenting a lofty baset-edge to the west, 

 and, with the exception of a single break near Lincoln, completely 

 separating the broad valley already noticed from the rest of the 

 county. North of Lincoln the breadth is inconsiderable, being a 

 single ridge sloping gently to the east, and dividing the Trent 

 valley from that of the Ancholm.e ; but south of that city the 

 hills gradually expand, having the valley of the upper part of the 

 Witham on the west, and that of the lower part of the same 

 river (which trends round in a singular manner) on the east ; 

 and the southern portions are diversified with numerous hills 

 and v/atered vales. The Lincolnshire oolites may be thus 

 classified : — 



