JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ROYAL AGRICULTUEAL SOCIETY 
OF ENGLAND. 
XII. — Oil the Agricultural Geology of the Weald. By William 
TOPLEY, F.G.S., of the Geological Survey of England and 
Wales. [With a Map.] 
Introduction. 
The following essay is offered as an explanation of the Geology 
of the Wealden district, so far as it relates to agriculture. Purely 
geological details are, for the most part, omitted, and no notice 
is taken of many interesting theoretical questions, for the discus- 
sion of which the Weald has long been a favourite battle-ground. 
The map has been reduced from the sheets of the Geological 
Survey, and all details which it is possible to give on so small a 
scale have been inserted. Some of the subordinate divisions of 
the central area (Hastings Beds), which have been mapped by 
the Survey, are necessarily in great part omitted ; but the district 
has been grouped according to the prevailing soil, further refine- 
ment being impracticable. The general character of the soil 
overlying the Lower Greensand is shown independently of the 
geological colouring. 
Over a great part of England an ordinary geological map is 
of very little use to the farmer, for there are often widespread 
deposits of "drift" which completely cover up the rocks and 
determine the soil of the district. This soil may differ widely 
from that of the rock itself; and a map or an essay treating only 
of the geology proper, and neglecting these drift-soils, might give 
an altogether false idea of the agricultural features of the district. 
In writing on the Agricultural Geology of the Weald we are 
more fortunate ; for not only do the great physical features of the 
country and their prevailing soils strikingly agree with the geo- 
logical divisions, as shown on any ordinary map, but the central 
district, in which the alternations of light and stiff soil are frequent 
and sudden, has been mapped in great detail by the Geological 
Survey. It is a district but little covered by superficial deposits ; 
VOL. VIII. — S. 55. R 
