On the Agricultural Geology of England and Wales. 487 



been thrown up but a few years — that the loamy covering does 

 not increase, and, on the other hand, that the portion of clay 

 contained in the soils lying on the chalk does not diminish by 

 sinking into the rock with the rain-water, as clay is generally 

 more plentiful on such soils than in those lying on the sandy 

 strata of other countries. 



It has been already observed that the counties of Kent and 

 Sussex form a district in which the superficial deposits are very 

 slightly developed, and which some geologists suppose not to 

 have been submerged at all during the period of the erratic 

 tertiaries. Even here, however, the Reports to the Board of 

 Agriculture prove that dependence of the variations of soil 

 upon the configuration of the surface, which has been re- 

 peatedly noticed in other districts. The variations on the 

 Sussex chalk as described by Young are — I. A thin hazel 

 mould, on rubbly or dissolved chalk, on the summits of the high- 

 est downs ; 2. Accumulations of flints covered with vegetable soil ; 

 3. The soil deepening on the slopes till it becomes everywhere, at 

 the bottom, an excellent loam, 9 or 10 inches deep, on a hard 

 rock of chalk, ''broken and mixed with loam in the interstices" 

 (i. e. pipes and furrows) to the depth of some feet ; 4. Strong 

 red loam, some feet deep, even on the tops of a considerable 

 portion of the hills, between the Cuckmere river and Eastbourne, 

 rather cold and wet, but, when dressed with chalk, extremely 

 productive. 



The description of the soils on the chalk of Kent and Surrey, 

 by Boys and Stevenson, is to the same effect as regards the de- 

 pendence of their variations on contours. In the isle of Thanet 

 we are told of loose, dry, chalky mould, with a mixture of small 

 flints, 6 to 8 inches deep, on the summits of ridges 60 feet above 

 the sea; of dry loamy soils, 1 to 3 feet deep, with less chalk, and 

 of much better quality, in the vales — of good soil of the same 

 kind and depth, even on the hills of the west end of the island 

 — and of deep sandy loams, the best land of all, on the south 

 side between Ramsgate and Monkton. 



The open district between Canterbury, and Dover and 

 Deal, is described as so various that no parish or farm is 

 similar in all its parts. Five varieties are enumerated: — 1. 

 Chalky soils on the tops and sides of the ridges, with a slight 

 admixture in some places of flints, in others of black light 

 mould (provincially hlack hover), the last the most unproduc- 

 tive soil in the district ; 2. Loamy soils, 6 to 10 inches deep, 

 on a red soft clay or brick earth, 3 to 7 feet deep, under 

 which is generally a layer of chalky marl, and then the chalk 

 rock, a soil easily worked, and productive both of corn and grass, 

 if well managed ; 3. "Strong cledge" on the tops of some of 



