Geological Features. 
241 
More general results might be deduced, for tlie climate of a 
particular locality, from a valuable record which Dr. Burnej has 
given me, and wliich also is printed in the appendix, of the fall 
of rain at Gosport for 41 years. Its situation by the seaside, 
and the vicinity of Portsdovvn Hill, probably make Gosport 
more damp than places a few miles inland. At least, the annual 
average of the fall of rain there for eleven years, 1848-58 inclu- 
sive, is 29'41, whereas the average at Eling, for the same period, 
is 26-28. 
I. " Principal Geological and Physical Features." 
1. Geological Features. 
I would emphasise the word '•'■features.'''' The geology of any 
district should be studied and described for agricultural purposes, 
not so much with reference to the order in a series, the internal 
structure, and the fossiliferous remains of certain formations, as 
with reference to their external appearance, and the manner in 
which they enter into the visible composition of the earth ; how 
they form the foundation and the surface of hills and valleys, 
elevated platforms and plains. The farmer's geological descrip- 
tion must be two-fold ; the first giving the distribution and 
composition of " rocks ;" the second showing the distribution 
and composition of that soil and subsoil which is the material 
with which he has to deal, and which may, or may not be, of the 
same character as the " rocks " proper. The connection between 
the two parts of this double description is intimate. The first is 
given under this section ; the second will come more appro- 
priately under that assigned to the nature of the soils. 
There are few counties, if any. of equal extent, in which the 
geology is so simple as in Hampshire. It is a peculiarity which 
will hardly be matched elsewhere in England, that all the for- 
mations are recent, belonging to the post-tertiary, the tertiary, 
and the cretaceous systems. There is nothing more ancient. The 
range is confined, but within it there is no break in the order of 
succession. We have here examples of every known species of 
rock, from the Wealden clay upwards.* Hence the peculiar 
interest of the geology of this county. 
The lower and middle Eocene extends over the whole of the 
county lying north and east of the North Downs. A straight 
line (allowing for a slight indentation at Highclere) drawn from 
* The Thanet sands are hardly an exception. A band of sand, only a foot or 
two thick, with oyster-shells in it, occurs in the county, sepai-ating the London 
and plastic clay from the chalk. In the Tertiary district east of London this band 
has been found by Mr. Prestwick to expand into a series which he names the 
Thanet sands. 
