TJie Berkshire Farm Prize Competition, 1882. 537 
methods of husbandry, and to whom we are indebted for the 
introduction of seed drilling in place of the old fashion of 
broadcasting. 
Berkshire is one of the smallest counties in England, contain- 
ing, according to the Board of Trade Returns, only 450,132 acres ; 
and yet it possesses great diversity of soil, the larger portion of 
which is of considerable natural fertility, owing in a great mea- 
sure to the influence of the Thames and its various tributaries. 
This noble river forms the boundary of the county between 
Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and Buckinghamshire for upwards 
of a hundred miles. The climate is considered one cf the mosS 
salubrious in the kingdom. The rainfall for a series of years 
averages from 22 to 23 inches. 
The principal hills are of chalk formation, attaining on the 
White Horse range an elevation of 893 feet ; and at Inkpen 
Beacon, near Hungerford, is found the highest point of chalk in 
the south of England, viz. 1011 feet, and the whole county 
appears to lie over chalk or limestone. The Castle of Windsor 
is reared on a solitary eminence of chalk, here rising above the 
stiff clav, which in this neighbourhood is said to be over 
300 feet deep. 
Under the Vale of White Horse, where the richest soils occur, 
the chalk runs into a harder limestone, of a blue colour, and a 
kind of freestone. Along the Thames is a belt of rich meadows, 
nowhere extending over two miles in width. The \ ale of 
Kennet is perhaps next in importance to that of the Thames, 
and is well adapted to the growth of corn. The soil is gravelly, 
overlaid with loam. This valley also contains a considerable 
tract of water-meadows. In the locality of Xewbury is found a 
species of peat, in some places only 18 inches below the surface, 
and in others as much as 4 or 5 feet, the stratum varvins in 
thickness from a few inches to several feet. This deposit rests 
upon an uneven bottom of gravelly loam. This river is described 
by Pope as — 
"The Kennet swift for silver eels reno\^Tied." 
The writer quoted at the head of this article remarks: — "The 
predominant soil of Berks is a kind and fruitful loam, in some 
parts mixed with gravel, and in others with sand : pleasant to 
work, and grateful in its produce."' 
Owing to the forwardness of the climate, the harvest of Berk- 
shire appears to have suffered less from the rain of August last 
year than that of many other counties : and the samples of corn 
we inspected were generally in fine condition, instances being met 
with of barley realising SOs. per quarter, and of wheat weighing 
66 lbs. per bushel. At the same time the excessive wet and un- 
