452 
Geology of Norfolk. 
scribes the most prevalent as an " unfathomable ocean of sand," 
while in some places an absorbent brick earth is the immediate 
subsoil, marl rising occasionally near to the surface, but seldom 
so high as the "pan." He adverts to the existence of "scalds" 
in this district, as more pernicious than springy patches in cold- 
soiled countries, with this additional evil, that he looks upon the 
former as incurable, while partial retentiveness jnay be more 
easily removed. These " scalds," or spots of burning soil, he 
attributes to a more absorbent subsoil being interposed in patches 
through one less absorbent, and by " heads," or prominent parts 
of the substratum of sand, rising up through the stratum of brick 
earth in the manner that " heads of marl" shoot up towards the 
surface. 
He notices the hard crust, provincially called the " pan," im- 
mediately under the cultivated soil, the breaking of which was 
then, as it is even now, in a minor degree, looked to with so 
much dread by the farmers of Norfolk. He regards it as a pro- 
duction, not of nature but of art, 
" Or, to speak more correctly, a consequence of the Norfolk culture 
carried on from time immemorial with the Norfolk plough, whose broad 
flat share, being held invariably in a horizontal position, and unless in 
fallowing, invariably at the same depth, the surface of the subsoil becomes 
formed, by the action of the share, the pressure and sliding of the heel 
of the plough, and the trampling of the horse, into a firm and even floor 
upon which the soil is turned and returned, as it would be if spread on 
a floor of stone or other hard material." 
The fossil manures of Norfolk he describes as — 
1. The chalk marl of Thorpe Market, in the Hundred of 
South Erpingham. 
2. The clay marl of Hemsby, in the Hundred of East Flegg. 
3. The soft chalk of Thorpe by Norwich. 
4. The hard chalk of Swaffham. 
" The grand fossil manure of Norfolk is," he says, " Marl, through 
whose fertilising quality, judiciously applied, lands, which seem to have 
been intended by nature as a maintenance for sheep and rabbits, have 
been rendered capable of fattening bullocks of the largest size, and 
finishing them in the highest manner." 
He mentions two sorts of this marl, whose geological relations 
I shall hereafter describe, distinct in their appearance, though 
similar in their fertilising qualities. 
" The central and northern parts of the district abound," hesays, " uni- 
versally with a whitish coloured chalk marl, while the Flegg Hundreds 
and the sea-coast are equally fortunate in a grey coloured clay-marl." 
He infers that the former had been in use for centuries, from 
the size of oak-trees growing in old marl-pits, while the use of 
clay-marl as manure seemed to be of much later date, " many 
