Report on the Farm-Prize Competition of 1886. 
567 
as far as Norwich, with its tributaries the Bure, navigable to 
Aylsham, the Wensum and the Waveney, navigable to Beccles. 
Nearly the whole of the county is occupied by the Chalk 
formation, but, on account of the overlying drift deposits, it 
forms a comparatively small proportion of the surface. The 
chalk is of three varieties ; (1) chalk marl ; (2) lower or hard 
chalk, sometimes so hard and compact as to be suitable for 
building purposes, and therefore utilised in West Norfolk for 
the construction of cottages ; (3) upper chalk, interspersed with 
black flints, which are also used for building purposes, this last 
variety constituting the greater bulk of the formation. Gault, 
Upper Greensand, and Lower Greensand crop out from be- 
neath the chalk in the west of the county, and are followed by 
Kimmeridge Clay. To the west of this, along the border of 
Cambridgeshire, there is a stretch of Fen land (Drift or Post 
Tertiary) extending to the Wash. In the east of the county 
is a long, narrow, irregular belt of the Crag formation, ex- 
tending almost from the north coast to the boundary with 
Suffolk. The Greensand is commonly of a dingy brown or 
whitish colour. Marl occurs in the valley of the River Bure ; 
it is this substance which has been one of the great factors in 
the remarkable improvement which took place in the agriculture 
of the county upwards of a century ago. 
Norfolk contains a greater variety of soils than any other 
county in England ; the greater portion is naturally light and 
poor, but much has been brought to a state of great fertility. 
Speaking generally, it may be said that the soils in the north 
and west are chalky ; in the south-east they are of a light sandy 
nature, varying from a blowing sand to a soil of average fertility; 
in the middle and east the soils are mostly of a loamy nature, 
but of very variable qualities, generally light and workable, but 
sometimes consisting of stiff boulder clay. On the borders of 
Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, and along the valleys of the 
rivers, they are generally alluvial clays and loams. The Marsh 
lands on the east coast are usually flooded in winter, but at 
other seasons of the year afford capital pasturage for stock. 
On account of the exposed situations of the coast, the north 
and north-east winds affect Norfolk more than any other county 
in the kingdom ; the climate consequently is much colder, and 
vegetation in the early spring is more tardy than in adjoining 
counties. The atmosphere, however, is in general dry and 
healthy, and free from fogs, except in the marshy districts. 
The average rainfall for fifteen years, from 1866-80, was only 
26'68 inches, as compared with 44 inches, which was the 
mean fall during the same period in Lancashire, the county 
visited by the Society last year. This circumstance greatly 
