West Riding of Yorkshire. 
289 
we have the clay ajrain over Wakefield Out- Wood, and to the 
town itself, where the sandstone rock, with a thick covering of 
shale and some clay at the surface, gives to the soil the character 
of a strong yet productive loam, which by tolerable care and 
tillage produces heavy crops of grass, corn, and vegetables ; for a 
large proportion of the land in this immediate vicinity is in 
market-gardens, from which many of the more densely populated 
manufacturing towns of the Ridmg are almost exclusively sup- 
plied. Passing from Wakefield we find, as the ground gradually 
ascends, a greater proportion of dry and good land, and that, as 
the contour becomes more marked, the transitions from the friable 
soils of the sandstone to the stronger ones of the clay subsoils are 
more abruptly noticeable — the clay occupying its place in the 
valley, and the sandstone up the rise. With few exceptions, the 
dry land lies to the north-east, on the back of the strata; whilst 
that on the face side of the rise, to the south-west, is wet and 
springy, and of a much less fertile description. At Woolley, 
Staincross, and Barnsley these features are very perceptible ; 
after which we meet with exceptions to this order in a considerable 
tract of the clay subsoils, interspersed with a saturated subsoil of 
light-coloured aluminous sand, and very wet, extending to 
Sheffield and up to Wortley, and thence forward, with but little 
variation, to the prominent point of Wharncliffe Brow ; from 
whence is a most magnificent prospect towards Derbyshire and 
Lancashire, with the gorgeous carpet of Wharncliffe Wood spread 
out at the foot, and covering with its varied shades an undulating 
area of about 2000 acres. There are, of course, many gradations 
in quality both on the strong and lighter lands of the coal- 
measures — from the poor thin soils of its strongest clays, to the 
8 and 10-inch loams of the sandstone — but the same general 
order of succession occurs with much uniformity over the whole 
breadth of the formation, as is shown in the route I have selected 
for its illustration; and the reason for selecting which has been, 
that it is, probably, the one most immediately within the recogni- 
tion of the general reader. 
The next description of soil I shall proceed to notice is that 
resting on the Magnesian Limestone, previously referred to as 
bounding the coal-measures on the east. This narrow band 
enters the county from Nottinghamshire, at Bawtry, with a 
breadth westward of 7 or 8 miles by Tickhill and Sandbeck to the 
coal district, and extends northward across the West Riding, 
by Doncaster, Ferrybridge, Sherburn, Aberford, Wetheiby, 
Knaresborough, and Ripon, with an average breadth of 5 or 
6 miles. The porous nature of the rock, which in general comes 
near the surface, gives to the soil throughout the entire length of 
this formation a dry and light character ; and although not devoid 
