Agricultural Capabilities of the Neio Forest. 243 
direction till it approaches Rlngwood. About three-fourths of 
the land to the north of this road drains into the Avon, as before 
mentioned, bj various streams, whilst the water from about one- 
fourth, by means of small brooks, takes an easterly circuitous 
course and joins the river Test a mile or two only before it enters 
the sea at Rcdbridg'e. It is a peculiarity in North Hampshire 
that most of the strongest land is found on the high ground and 
the tops of the hills. This is not the case in the Forest, for the 
worst land, the thinnest and most arid, is more frequently on the 
highest ground. The road we have just been speaking of passes 
over some of the high land of the Forest, and we may adduce the 
tract of land on each side of Picked Post, and thence to Burley 
Beacon, as presenting its most unfavourable aspect. The geo- 
logical subdivision to which it belongs, the Upper Bagshot sands, 
does not convey a more favourable impression as to its capa- 
bilities. Standing on the high land near Fritham, nearly 400 feet 
above the level of the sea, we find the land around us slopes to 
the right and to the left as we look to the south, the larger part 
being to the right. When, however, we get to the south of the 
Southampton and Ringwood road, we find the Forest streams, 
which are very numerous, although taking the most circuitous 
course, draining a considerable quantity of land. The Beaulieu 
river, which is navigable for small vessels for some miles in a 
north-westerly direction from the Solent, is lined on each side 
by cultivated land belonging to the Beaulieu manor ; and its 
various farms, the park at the Palace, and the ruins of the old 
monastery, all point out that in ancient times, as well as at the 
present, it was regarded as an oasis in the desert. A rather con- 
siderable amount of water is found at Beaulieu, which is fed by 
contributories extending both east and west in a north-westerly 
direction to the land round Burley Beacon, and also by an eastern 
branch, called the Ipley stream, which drains the greater portion 
of the land lying west of the Lvndhurst and Lymington road, and 
on both sides of the railway. 
The South-Western Railway, which enters the Forest at the 
Lyndhurst Road station, where it crosses the Southampton and 
Lymington road, gives its passengers a favourable impression of 
the locality during the summer, for not only do they behold the 
flourishing enclosures extending towards Lyndhurst, but also the 
beautiful woodland scenery in the neighbourhood of Ashurst 
Lodge. The land, too, in this locality, belonging to the Barton 
clay, is of a character very favourable to cultivation, as shown 
by two analyses, which we subjoin.* Its value, so enhanced by 
* Anahjses of Forest Soih. — The following aualvsis was made from a sample 
of soil taktn fiom the neighbourliood of Ashurst Lodge— a part favourable for 
the growth of timber. It is situated on the Bartoii clay. There is a fair depth 
B 2 
