Geological and Agricultural Divisions. 
275 
either in sheep-walk or covered with beech wood, which appears 
indisienous to this soil. The upper chalk occupies a considerable 
portion of the south of Bucks ; and if the length of it be taken 
from Uxbridge to Wendover, it reaches nearly 20 miles ; and the 
breadth, from Cheneys to Fawley, is about the same distance. 
The traveller who journeyed from Aylesbury in days gone by 
— it was certainly an advantage of the slow coach days that one 
might see the country he passed through — such a traveller then 
could not fail to observe, when he arrived at Wendover Hill, how 
totally different was the undulating and fertile plain, Avhich 
stretched away as far as the eye could reach, from the steep 
chalky banks and narrow valleys he had traversed for so many 
miles. And such a prospect, if viewed in the freshness of 
spring, the luxuriance of summer, or mellowed by the approach 
of autumn, alwavs presents a scene of mingled beauty and inte- 
rest. The traveller descends the chalk escarpment, and enters 
upon the open country of the lower chalk, which here runs in a 
narrow band at the foot of the Chiltern hills. And the difference 
of the farming is no less remarkable than the change of scenery. 
The deep strong grey loam of the lower chalk is substituted for 
the country of hilly sheep-walks, flinty gravels, and thin chalks, 
and of course a different style of agriculture is the result. And 
here it may be noticed, that the prominent and characteristic 
feature of the county which lies towards the north is essentially 
clay. It is true there are the Portland oolite atHaddenham, and 
in detached spots ; the greensands about Leigh ton, and the 
great oolite beyond Buckingham and Olney ; but these strata are 
of comparatively small extent, and clay spreads itself over the 
chief part of the county. In this respect it differs from Oxford- 
shire, where the clay beds are intersected with considerable 
masses of stratified rock. In Bucks we do not find the upper 
greensand at the foot of the Chilterns, nor the large development 
of the coral rag, for that formation ceases at Hoi ton before it 
enters the county. Neither is there that large stonebrash dis- 
trict, which composes the greater part of northern Oxfordshire. 
Although the influence of the minor strata is confined to limited 
localities, of course they will not be overlooked, but it is to be 
generally wished that somq talented geologist would make Buck- 
inghamshire the scene of his special labours, for while the south 
of the kingdom seems to be the constant field of investigation, 
this district has been comparatively neglected. In proof of this, 
the inaccuracy of the present maps might be adduced, for in all 
of them there are serious errors, and in most the rocky and sandy- 
formations are too largely developed. 
But to return to the description of the lower chalk. As already 
