4 
THE NATURAL HISTORY 
[LETT. 
To the north-west, north, and east of the village is a range of 
fair inclosures, consisting of what is called a white malm, a sort 
of rotten or rubble stone, which, when turned up to the frost and 
rain, moulders to pieces and becomes manure to itself. 
Still on to the north-east, and a step lower, is a kind of white 
land, neither chalk nor clay, neither fit for pasture nor for the 
plough, yet kindly for hops, which root deep into the freestone, 
and have their poles and wood for charcoal growing just at hand. 
This white soil produces the brightest hops. 
As the parish still inclines down towards Wolmer Forest, at 
the juncture of the clays and sand, the soil becomes a wet, 
sandy loam, remarkable for its timber and infamous for roads. 
The oaks of Temple and Blackmoor stand high in the estimation 
of purveyors, and have furnished much naval timber ; while the 
trees on the freestone grow large, but are what workmen call 
shaky, and so brittle as often to fall to pieces in sawing. 
Beyond the sandy loam the soil becomes a hungry lean sand, 
till it mingles with the forest; and will produce little without 
the assistance of lime and turnips. 
