490 Report on the Warwickshire Farm-Prize Competition, 1876", 
the farms were for the most part looking full of promise, the 
appearance of the wheat in particular being superb. 
It may, perhaps, not l)e out of place to append to this Report 
some slight sketch of the principal geological features of the 
district in which the Show-farms are situate ; and it is neces- 
sary, in the first place, to remark that all of them are in the 
southern division of the county, and that four out of five are in 
close proximity to the River Avon, the remaining one being 
only a short distance from the banks of that stream ; and that,, 
therefore, my own personal observations were confined within 
somewhat narrow limits. 
It is not difficult to give a general outline of the geology of 
South Warwickshire ; but I much regret that the data are wanting 
(or at least I have not found them available) for a correct descrip- 
tion of those surface phenomena %vhich are of prime interest to 
agricultural readers. I would willingly have given some details 
of those superficial accumulations which here, as elsewhere, have 
obscured or obliterated the distinctive marks of the earlier for- 
mations over considerable areas, and which in no small degree 
influence the agricultural character of the districts on which 
they are deposited ; but it is unfortunate that no reliable infor- 
mation can at present be obtained upon their extent or their 
general characteristics ; the maps of the Geological Survey 
containing no indications of their presence except so far as the 
alluvial deposits of the river-valleys are concerned. 
As a great deal of " drift " matter is spread over the district, 
it will readily be understood that the typical characteristics of the 
sandstone and the lias soils are much influenced, where this is 
the case, by the presence of these accretions ; and that a mere 
reference to a geological map upon which these deposits are not 
laid down is an insufficient guide to an agricultural reader, 
whose object is to make himself acquainted with the character 
of the soils and the capabilities of the land, rather than to study 
its greater geological phenomena. 
Almost the whole of South Warwickshire is occupied by the 
New Red Sandstone and the Lias formations ; and it is, per- 
haps, a noteworthy fact that all the competing farms are upon 
the sandstone. The fertility of the soils on this formation varies 
considerably ; but upon the whole they are excellent lands under 
cultivation, varying from a strong marl to a light graA'el. 
In the neighbourhood of Kenilworth, and taking in all the 
country in the direction of Coventry, the Permian system is 
developed, and it is upon this that Mr. Simpson's and Mr. 
Wakefield's farms are situated. The very fine oak and elm 
timber of this part of the county attests the natural fertility of 
