252 
Farming of Ilamjoshire. 
Down and Sutton Scrubs, at Chalwood, West Tisted, Privet, 
and Colemore, are all covered with clay, wliicli, indeed, is almost 
continuous for the whole distance. 
Again, in the north-west, and coming southwards towards 
Andover, there is strong good wheat-land at Netherton, Hurst- 
bourne, Tarrant, Apsley Farm, Falconer's Down Farm, and then 
going east towards Basingstoke, till the former line from Old 
Basing southwards is touched at Steventon, North Waltham, 
Dummer, and Farleigh. In a north-westerly direction from 
Winchester to Chilbolton, thp agricultural soil is thin, the chalk 
being near the surface : so also still fuilher to the north-west in 
the Weyhill country. A little beyond, north-west of Tidworth, 
just over the county boundary, is the isolated conical chalk hill 
of Sid bury, the table- top of which is a marked instance of the 
drift covering (here remaining in situ) of clay, loam, sand, and 
gravel, which once overlay all the chalk formation. 
A red brick colour often belongs to this clay loam, and to the 
chalk immediately beneath it. This discoloration, caused by 
oxide of iron, depends on the superposition (in some remote 
period) of gravel (traces of which in the presence of flints now 
remain), and on elevation rather than on locality. It is, how- 
ever, particularly observable about Andover, and has indeed 
given their names to such places as Redenham and Red Rice. 
The sheep always do well on these red lands, though the wool 
suffers in colour and in price. 
Though this is a cold, it is not a wet soil. If the deposit 
of clay were not invariably on the top, springs would burst out 
of every hill-side, and brooks would flow through each hollow. 
But the capabilities of the porous chalk rock for absorbing 
moisture are seldom overtasked, and a "winter-bourne" is the 
utmost result of long-continued rain, and of converging undula- 
tions of ground. Well-diggers are obliged to go two or three 
hundred feet deep : and, whether the shepherd requires water for 
his own use, or for that of his flock, it comes from the clouds 
and not from the springs. Between the lands on the arable 
ground there are, except on the clay capping, no water-furrows, 
and between the fields no water-ditches ; and, except when the 
rain is actually falling the surface is not wet and the roads not 
dirty. 
Then, again, though it is a hard, it is not a dry soil. How- 
ever thin, it does not burn like sand. There is no apparent 
wetness, and yet there must be a remarkable power of retaining 
moisture even in the driest time. The streams must be sup- 
plied from fountains deep down in the bowels of the earth, for 
their volume is but slightly affected by summer's drought or 
winter's rains, and, if fouled for a time by washings from the 
