Practical Agriculture. 
459 = i95 
astings sand and the Wealden clay of Kent, Sussex and 
irrey ; in another, the belts of greensand and gault soils in 
)merset, Wilts, Berks, Bucks, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, 
id Kent ; in another, the chalk soils in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, 
- ilts, Hants, Berks, Oxfordshire, Bucks, Herts, Cambridgeshire, 
uffolk, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire to the Yorkshire cliffs ; in 
lother, the plastic and London clays of the Isle of Wight, Kent, 
ssex, Surrey and Middlesex, and the crag and Bagshot sands 
)f the Isle of Wight, Surrey, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk ; in 
nother, the clavs, loams, and gravels of the drift distributed 
ver all parts of the kingdom ; in another, the scattered deposits 
f peat, whether mountain bogs, or fen levels ; and in another, 
le marsh-lands and valleys of marine or river-side alluvium. 
But the very multiplication of varieties of different soils Distribution^of 
erived from disintegration of the underlying rocks and the extent 
) which the regular strata have been overspread by accumula- 
ions of drift, forbids such lines of demarcation being drawn 
•etween the different systems of farming. And the geology of 
:]ngland is referred to here only for the purpose of indicating 
he general distribution of the chief groups of clayey, calcareous, 
nd siliceous soils. Clays will be dealt with in a separate sec- 
ion. Calcareous soils, of a compact, adhesive, tenacious charac- 
er, are found on the chalk-marl, oolite, and drift formations ; 
alcareous gravelly soils occur upon the drift covering the 
)xford and blue lias clays; calcareous soils also- prevail on the 
ipper and lower chalk, and the shelly and great oolite forma- 
ions ; and calcareous soils of a porous, friable description 
prevail on the coral-rag, lower oolite, magnesian limestone, 
ind carboniferous limestone. Light, sandy, and gravelly soils 
est upon the plastic clay, iron-sand, and Hastings sand, the 
sand of the coal formation, and on the millstone grit and old 
ed sandstone ; flinty gravels are found on the drift covering 
he plastic clay and the weald clay ; clayey and sandy gravels 
ire upon the drift-beds of the new red sandstone and coal 
•:onnations, and upon the Silurian and clay-slate formations ; 
calcareous and ferruginous sands are upon the new red sand- 
(Jtone, and the trap or basaltic rocks ; and sandy loams form 
.;he surface of the greensand beds, and most of the marine and 
lacustrine alluvium. 
j This land of a tesselated subdivision and arrangement of Agricultural 
|?oils may be best treated of county by county, with regard to statistics. 
some features of its husbandry, while the characteristic crops 
and breeds of animals demand sub-sections for themselves. For 
,the purpose of presenting at one view some of the principal 
points in the distribution of uncultivated area, of pasture, of 
?reen crops, of corn-crops, of the areas and yields of wheat in 
