36 
Farming of Cambridgeshire. 
In 1806, by Mr. Gooch's Report, it appears that we had about 
49,500 acres of uncultivated waste land, which are now reduced, 
according: to the best information I can obtain, to about 10,000 
acres ; 5000 of which are summer lands, mown or fed, but subject 
to floods. 
The soil of the county of Cambridge has, on the east, a substra- 
tum of chalk, beinff a continuation of the chalk formation of 
Essex ; which cropping out at Ickleton, Meldreth, Royston, New- 
ton, and Gog-Magog hill, near Cambridge, passes on by New- 
market to the county of Suffolk. This chalk formation extends 
from Royston into the heart of the county — to Melbourne, Shep- 
reth, Newton, and Shelford. At Cherry Hinton, Burwell, and 
Swaff ham, the lower chalk formation crops out ; and here we 
find splendid land of a soft soapy nature, excellent for wheat. 
The whole of this chalk formation is covered with diluvial 
deposits of sand, gravel, loam, tenacious clays, and various other 
strata, either in beds uninterrupted for considerable space, or in 
every variety of admixture. 
The western side of the county, adjoining Huntingdonshire and 
Bedfordshire, consists of a brown diluvial clay at Gamlingay, 
resting on the lower greensand, which crops out in the village 
of Gransden : and here also the Oxford clay makes its appear- 
ance. At Orwell-gap we find an outlying bed of chalk ; and at 
Madingley-hill we have another. These are quite separated and 
detached from the great range of chalk-hills forming the north 
side of the London basin. 
The brown diluvial deposit at Gransden rests on the lower green- 
sand ; at Longstow, &c., it rests upon the gait ; at Coton, on the 
chalk-hill ; at Madingley, the gait crops out on the north side, and 
then the Oxford clay forms the substratum ; at Haddenham the 
lower greensand crops out ; and as you descend towards Cotten- 
ham Fen you lose this, and the Kimmeridge clay makes its 
appearance ; at Denny Abbey the lower greensand again appears. 
Crossing the river Cam towards SwafFham, you have the gait, 
which contmues to Swaff ham. Here we find some splendid 
land on the lower chalk formation ; and on the eastern side of 
Swaffham the upper chalk crops out. This chalk deposit is 
of various thicknesses : at Saffron Walden, near the borders of 
the county of Cambridge, the late lamented Mr. Jabez Gibson 
bored to the depth of 1001 feet, and did not get through the 
chalk. 
The northern part of the county consists of low flat fen-land, 
with a deep deposit of vegetable matter resting on the Kimme- 
ridge and Oxford clays. That portion of the fens abutting on 
the blowing sands of Norfolk is of the worst description, con- 
taining a large portion of sand and white particles of chalk. I 
