ENGLAND. 



525 



nent unJer the same parallel. Tlie winds from the sea temper the extremes of heat and cold ; 

 the changes, however, are sudden. Westerly and southwesterly winds are most prevalent, 

 and also the most violent. Next are the north and northeast. I'he perpetual moisture of the 

 air is somelimes unfavorable to the crops, but its general effect is to cover the whole island 

 with the deepest verdure. The meadows and fields are usually green throughout the winter ; 

 and the transient snows that occasionally fall upon them are insufficient to deprive them of their 

 brilliancy. Many kinds of kitchen vegetables, as cabbages, cauliffow'ers, broccoli, and celery, 

 often remain uninjured in the gardens through the winter. 



10. Soil. Of this, there is every variety ; but the most common constituents of the soil 

 are clay, loam, sand, chalk, gravel, and peat. Mossy soils are very common and extensive in 

 the northern parts, and here are the widest tracts of barren territory. On the eastern coast 

 are extensive fens and marshes. The most fertile districts are in the centre and south. There 

 are also very large heaths and plains, which are nearly unsusceptible of cultivation, and only 

 serve for the pasturing of sheep. On the whole, England may be regarded as not naturally a 

 fertile country. 



11. Geology. If w'e pass from Torbay in Devonshire, to the Land's End in Cornwall, and 

 thence northward, along the western side of Wales to Scotland, v. e shall find all the rocks that 

 border the sea, with the exception of a small extent of the coal strata in St. Bride's Bay, and 

 near Whitehaven, lo be either primary or transition, chiefly the latter. Granite, sienite, clay, 

 and other slates, and grauwacke, are here the prevailing rocks. The granite of Cornwall is 

 liable to decomposition, and by the operation of time, several singular phenomena have been 

 formed here, wliich were once considered the remains of druidical superstition ; such are the 

 Cheese Wring, consisting of a heap of large stones, piled one above another, the upper ones 

 being so much larger, as to overhang them on all sides, and the Logging or Logan stones, which 

 gre so poised, as to be easily set in motion. The rocks of the secondary class, however, form 



the largest portion of the surface, and the 



llucking Stone, CorntcaH. 



districts composed of them are generally 

 flat and hilly, never assuming the moun- 

 tainous character, unless where the old red 

 sandstone or mountain limestone appears. 

 From the Tyne to the eastern extremity 

 of Kent, and thence along the southern 

 coast to Devonshire, not a single rock can 

 be found, similar to those that compose 

 the whole western coast ; but they consist 

 chiefly of red sandstone, magnesian lime- 

 stone, beds of gray limestone, called lias, 

 and of yellov.'ish limestone, called oolite, 

 intermixed with beds of clay, sand, and 

 sandstone, and lastly of chalk. Over the 

 chalk, in a few situations, there are tertiary 

 beds of sand, clay, and limestone, such as 

 compose the harder basin. The primary 

 rocks yield tin and copper, as well as 

 felspar, valuable in the manufacture of por- 

 celain, slates, lie. The lowest secondary 

 rocks, contain lend and iron ; higlier up, 

 are the coal measures ; still higher, the 

 rock salt ; while the upper secondaiy, and 

 the tertim-y beds, are more remarkable lor 

 their curious organic remains, than for their 

 economical value. 



12. Blincrals, Jtllne.s, and Quarries. 

 Salt and coal are the most common mine- 

 rals. Coal is iTiost abundant in the north, 



but is also plentiful in the central and western parts. Mines of iron and lead are numerous, 

 both in the north and south. In the tin mine of Carp^laise., in Cornwall, the ore is surround- 

 ed by masses of decayed granite ; this rock is much softer than the ore, and is washed to pow- 



