L 'ujht-Land Farming. 
91 
steep, but are nearly flat or slightly undulating, so that they can 
be cultivated by a small force of men and horses. The land is 
of different degrees of fertility. Where the upper or brown soil 
is only from nine inches to a foot deep, good crops can be raised 
by cautious and prudent cultivation ; but where it thins out to a 
few inches, it is kept as a sheep-walk, and produces a short 
growtli of sweet grass which possesses excellent feeding qualities. 
The light soils of the upper oolite are also composed of car- 
bonate of lime, but it is in a much more hard and comj)act con- 
dition than tliat of the upper chalk. On the lightest portions of 
the oolite, known, as the Rathstone formation, there are two 
varieties of soil, one of which is composed of a friable earth 
ini.\.ed with a large proportion of small loose stones, composed 
of carbonate of lime of an oviform texture ; while the other is 
devoid of these stones, and consists of very minute particles of 
brown earthy mattel", also containing carbonate of lime, but in a 
minute state of subdivision. The former is known by the name 
of rubhhj (Scotice chaddij) land, and is very free, coarse, and 
dry ; and the latter is called dead or sleepy land, and is of a 
soft, close texture, which easily runs together on the surface by 
the actions of heavy rains, and an impervious crust is formed^ 
the air is excluded, the soil becomes inert, and vegetation is 
checked. The term dead or sleepy applied to such a soil is 
highly expressive of its agricultural character, which is at all 
times slow and inactive in its vegetative powers. The rubbly 
or stony land is capable of considerable improvement, and pro- 
duces good crops of sainfoin, wheat, turnips, and barley when 
properly cultivated ; but the dead, sleepy land, although, in ap- 
pearance, of much better quality, is generally very worthless, and 
requires great care in managing it, not merely in keeping it in 
good condition, but also in cultivating it so as neither to have it 
of too fine a tilth nor too open. The natural aspect of the land 
on the upper oolite is that of an elevated table-land surrounded 
by abrupt escarpments. The greater proportion is in general 
very flat and easily worked, otiier portions are undulating, and 
a smaller part steep and hilly. Tlie Cotswold hills in Glou- 
cestershire are principally comprised of light oolite soil, which, 
however, is also found to prevail to a considerable extent in 
Dorsetshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, and as far 
north as Yorkshire, but beyond this point it is not to be found 
in England, and is altogether unknown in Scotland. 
The sandy or silicious soils of England are found scattered in 
larger or smaller tracts or patches throughout the whole series of 
formations, with the exception of the chalk and oolite, but they 
are found in greatest extent in the Hastings or iron sand, on the 
plastic clay or the red sandstones. In addition to these light 
