208 



Farming of Cumherland. 



retentive of water. Over a great extent this clay (in which more 

 or less of the rounded drift-gravel is embedded) forms the sub- 

 soil, and the intermediate and sometimes alternating strata from 

 the soil to the rock. As the clay or the sand predominates, it 

 forms the wheat or the barley soils, if the elevation suit those 

 crops ; but at the higher levels, where the cultivation of wheat 

 ceases or is precarious, these variations of subsoil, in connexion 

 with the depth and kind of soil, form the gradations of the 

 different qualities of the upper and inferior grass-lands. The new 

 red sandstone, with the grits belonging to it, occupies a greater 

 space than any other rock, and fills up the great valley of the Eden 

 and Solway. Gypsum is found at several places in this formation 

 along the Eden, from near Carlisle to Westmoreland ; it is also 

 found at Barrow Mouth, a little to the south-west of Whitehaven. 

 Numerous experiments have been made of its uses in agriculture, 

 but none have resulted in any great benefit, except as a fixer of 

 ammonia* in stables, &c. 



A small bed of magnesian limestone is met with near Shawk, 

 and another near the gypsum -bed at Whitehaven. Both have 

 been very sparingly used in agriculture, but neither approved. 



A singular dyke of dark Avhinstone has been protruded through 

 the sandstone, from near Wreay to the edge of Hartside Fell, a 

 distance of about 12 miles. Where this dyke appears on the 

 surface of the higher sandstone ridges the soil is of better quality, 

 though the width is only a few yards. Very generally the clays 

 of the red sandstone contain thin beds of sand, which assist the 

 drainage materially. 



The coal-field extends along the coast from St. Bees to Mary- 

 port, and from thence to Hesket-nevv-Market. There are also 

 patches of coal in Nichol Forest and Bewcastle, more at Farlam 

 and Talkin, and some small beds of the kind called crow coal 

 (only useful for burning lime) on Hartside and Crossfell. The 

 soils of the coal-field vary exceedingly in character, from fine 

 fertile alluvium to the most sterile of the wet clays ; and the 

 changes are very frequent, often two or three kinds of soil in 

 the same field, each requiring some different treatment. 



The limestone edges the coal-field from Egremont, round the 

 base of the mountains, to Penrith. The eastern boundary from 

 Crossfell and Priorsdale to the Kershope and Liddel, is well 

 supplied with mountain limestone. The southern portion of this 

 contains valuable metalliferous veins, and in the northern portions 

 the limestone mostly appears at the edges of the " burns 

 or streams, the beds alternating with shale. The summits of 

 most of the elevations of this range are crowned with a coarse 

 millstone grit, of an infertile character. 



* Common agricultural salt is found equal or superior to gypsum for this pur- 

 pose, and is cheaper. 



