Indications of Fertility or Barrenness of Soils. 587 
natural state. The coral rag is well developed at Pusey, in 
Berkshire, on the estate of Philip Pusey, Esq. 
4. Oxford ClciTf. — This is a well-defined deposit, consisting of 
a dark, sometimes yellowish, tenacious clay, which is very diffi- 
cult and expensive to cultivate ; and, where it is not mixed with 
diluvial sands and gravel, it is barren. In the midland counties 
— at Braydon in Wiltshire, and at Longworth in Berkshire — 
it is found in this state, without any great depth of mould, 
and, of course, is barren ; but in Oxford, Gloucester, and Wilts, 
a great portion of the land, both arable and pasture, is fer- 
tile. There are portions of land to be found, in this deposit, 
with several feet in depth of a dark brown loam, on the top of 
the subsoil of this clay, and such lands are known to be very 
]iroductive. Some of the old sward-land in Gloucestershire and 
Wilts, having a soil of a considerable depth of decomposed 
vegetable matter, on the top of a diluvial soil, with this clay 
and the lias clay for subsoils, is known to be as good as any 
land in England. 
5. Cornhrash and Forest Blarble. — The cornbrash is a coarse 
shelly limestone. The forest marble is composed of beds of 
limestone, alternating with thin partings of clay ; sometimes the 
limestone is found in thin beds, forming planks and rough pav- 
ing-stone, and sometimes slates. The soil of this deposit is of a 
good quality, with some exceptions, but is apt to be injured by 
wet. The land is variable. The thin beds of clay sometimes 
disappear, and a thin rubbly soil forms the surface, and then a 
thin clay bed again. These alternate exhibitions of clay and 
rubbly soil at the surface, render the land wet and unproductive, 
and, in some cases, expensive to drain : but where they do not 
appear to come to the surface, and succeed one another so rapidly, 
whole fields of productive land are met with. With the usual 
management, the whole may be considered to be fertile, rather 
than otherwise. A little more draining would remove the doubt- 
ful character of this soil, and it might then be ranked with those 
of a fertile description. This is the prevailing kind of soil in the 
neighbourhood of Cirencester. 
6. Great Oolite, Stonesfeld Slate, and Fuller s Earth. — This 
deposit forms an immense mass of calcareous limestone and free- 
stone. The Bath building-stone forms a part of it. A slight 
portion on the eastern side, which adjoins and comes in contact 
with the clays of the cornbrash and forest marble, is occasionally 
found to be fertile. 
The whole surface of this series of deposits is barren, with very 
few exceptions. A single field, situate in a hollow towards the 
eastern range, may be found here and there, to which the term 
barren would scarcely apply. Generally, the soil is light and thin, 
