418 
Farm Reiwrts. 
configuration of the surface on the Aylcsby farm. The slope 
of the valley from Barton Street towards the clay-land on the 
north is seen to be very gradual, while on the south, after the in- 
tervention of a narrow plain of chalk, the surface rises somewhat 
abruptly and boldly to the true Lincolnshire Wolds. 
Most of the gravel, or, as I prefer to call it, chalk-rubble, is 
covered with a good depth of from 2 to 4 feet of loam, which is 
simply a washing from the clay-land above. The other pecu- 
liarity to be noticed is the occurrence of a patch of "silt-loam " 
between the principal masses of clay and the outlier. This is 
very poor land, and owes its poverty to its geographical position 
having formerly contracted the mass of water which washed the 
ioam from the clay, and thus, by increasing its velocity, prevented 
its depositing those coatings of " old vv'arp " to which the rest of 
the chalk-rubble now owes its fertility. The clay portion of the 
Aylesby farm consists of about 300 acres in a dozen fields. It is 
a very cold subsoil, and has a covering of only 6 or 7 inches of 
loam ; but it has recently been subsoiled by steam-cultivation. 
It is all thoroughly under-drained at a depth of 4 feet. The 
chalk portion, or Wold land, consists of 340 acres, and has a top 
soil consisting of from 12 to 18 inches of marly loam. The 
" chalk-rubble" and " silt loam " comprise about 300 acres, 210 
of which, having the deep loamy soil just mentioned, are in per- 
manent grass. 
The Riby farm may be divided into two nearly equal portions, 
one of which (the Home Farm) runs for nearly two miles along 
the southern side of Barton Street. With the exception of a very 
small patch of chalk (marked 4 on the map) it consists entirely 
of the same " chalk -rubble " as that at Aylesby, is similarly 
covered with from 3 to 4 feet of strong fine loam, and is the best 
Land farmed by Mr. Torr. The remaining portion, or the Riby 
Wold F<arm, is a little larger than the Riby Home Farm, and 
consists entirely of chalk covered with about 18 inches of marly 
soil. It slopes to the east and south, and the harvest here is 
about a week earlier than at Rothwell, also a Wold farm, in con- 
sequence of its better aspect and lower elevation ; but there is 
no artificial shelter to increase these natural advantages. 
At Rothwell the subsoil is also chalk, which is here covered 
with from 16 to 18 inches of a light marly loam. It is situated 
at the extreme height of the North Lincolnshire Wolds, and 
i'orms an elevated " hog's back." Formerly, and not many 
years ago, it was a rabbit-warren, and a warren sod-wall may 
even yet be seen, though it is in process of demolition by the 
present occupier. The only bit of pasture on this farm is a 
little field of 16 acres, situated, as may be seen on the map, 
where the road from the village of Rothwell branches, on the one 
