Hexgrave and Leyjields. 
449 
Geology.* 
The distribution of the soils on the Hexgrave and Leyfiolds 
farms is shown on the map (p. 450), and the relative positions of 
the deposits by the section on p. 451. The uppermost deposit is 
the New Red Marl, celebrated agriculturally as being the subsoil 
of the great dairy districts. The surface is in this district a good 
deal diversified, the hills and valleys having, as a rule, a form 
regulated by the dip of the beds ; on the west are steep escarp- 
ments, and to the east gentle inclinations. Beneath this forma- 
tion is the Lower Keuper Sandstone and Marl, the general cha- 
racter of which corresponds with that of the New Red Marl, 
varying only by reason of the greater or less prevalence of sand- 
stone-beds. On the farms in question both these subsoils yield 
strong land, and are treated by Mr. Parkinson as true clay soils, 
but they are usually characterised by the prevalence of sandstone- 
beds, which preponderate more in the upper part of the Lower 
Keuper Sandstone, and gradually disappear upwards as we get 
well into the New Red Marl. The lower portion of the former 
division, however, yields locally a blueish clay of stronger cha- 
racter, so that it is impossible with such variations to predict 
■whether a farm consists of strong land or light merely by 
knowing the age of its subsoil. 
The remaining division is the most important one for our 
purpose ; it is known as the " Pebble-beds and Conglomerate," 
and it occupies a very large area in the county of Nottingham, 
constituting, indeed, the whole of the forest-land of the celebrated 
Sherwood. It consists of beds of yellow, brown, and red sand- 
stone, varying in structure from hard consolidated beds to loose 
sand. But their characteristic feature is the pebbles, sometimes 
forming a hard conglomerate, and at others lying loosely mixed 
"with the unconsolidated sand. With this poor sandy and 
gravelly soil it is not surprising that the forest of Sherwood 
existed so long, or that so large an area is still retained as wood- 
land and common. 
On the forest farms which will presently be described, this 
formation is the only one represented, with the exception of 
occasional patches of drift gravel and sand of very recent 
geological date. It is not easy to distinguish this recent super- 
ficial formation from the older deposit of sand and pebbles, for 
on the surface they are generally mixed together. Owing to the 
similarity in the composition of these formations, whence arises 
the difficulty, their distinction has very little agricultural import- 
ance, for the soil is almost, if not quite, identical over both 
* This is for the most part abridged from the ' Memoirs of the Geological 
Survey. Explanation of Sheet 82 SE.'— H. M. J. 
