MR. H. B. WOODWARD ON THK SOILS AND SUBSOILS OF NORFOLK. 405 
widely, both as to texture and productiveness.”* Among those 
who early recognized the importance of geological maps was the 
old Board of Agriculture. In 179G they issued a “General View 
of the Agriculture of the County of Norfolk,” by Nathaniel Kent 
of Fulham, lie dealt very briefly with the “Surface and Soil,” 
but recognized that “The prime parts of the county lie north and 
north-east of Norwich,” that to the south and south-east the land 
is “ fruitful though to a less degree than the former,” while the 
western part of the county “ runs, in general, light, and its best 
dependence is upon the fold.” 
Tn 1804 a second “General View of the Agriculture of the 
County of Norfolk,” intended as a supplement to the work of 
Kent, was prepared and issued by Arthur Young, then Secretary 
to the Board. The section on soils was much enlarged, and 
accompanied by a map giving the main divisions, as follows : 
light sand, good sand, marshland clay, various loams, rich loam, 
and peat. The grouping adopted by Young showed that he had 
a good grasp of the subject, for he had “ travelled many miles, in 
order to give it as much accuracy as such a sketch admits, short 
of an attention that would demand years rather than months 
perfectly to ascertain.” 
In 1844 Richard Noverre Bacon published “The Report on the 
Agriculture of Norfolk, to which the prize was awarded by the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England.” He noted the leading 
soils in different areas, but made no attempt at any general 
classification, finding exceptions in every district. Thus, for 
example, of the soils near Foulsliam, ho observes (p. 21), “Some 
of a light gravelly nature, some strong, and some fine kind loam, 
and friable ; some, cold clayey loam, but productive if stimulated 
by plenty of manure ; the subsoil being brickearth, gravel, and 
sand, with a tender calcareous clay and marl.” 
Three years later the Royal Agricultural Society published the 
important essay, “ On the Geology of Norfolk as illustrating the 
laws of the distribution of Soils,” by Joshua Trimmer. No one 
since the time of William Smith had been so well qualified to carry 
out the task which he set himself of determining : “ The laws 
which regulate the distribution of soils under the combined 
influence of the solid strata and the drift.” 
VOL VII. 
* Yol. i. p. 11. 
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