SOILS. 313 
The neighbourhood of Evesham is especially noted for its 
market-gardens and orchards, a large amount of fruit and vege- 
tables being cultivated for the market. 
The development of trade here, is due partly to the soil and to 
the low and sheltered situation, and partly to the facility for trans- 
port of the material by rail. The sub-soil of this tract of country 
is chiefly Lower Lias clay, of a more or less calcareous nature, 
with coverings here and there of sand and gravel ; it is said to be 
better adapted than the New Red Marls for market-gardening, 
but the fertility requires to be maintained by manuring.* Much 
jam is made at Pershore, Evesham, and Toddington, north of 
Winchcomb. 
The fertility of the soil at Evesham, was early recognized, for 
the land was partly on this account chosen by the Monks who 
erected the Abbey. At one time there were vineyards here, and 
also in the Vale of Gloucester ; their former presence is indicated 
by Vineyard Farm, south of Charlton Kings, near Cheltenham, 
and in some of the field-names near Bath and Claverton. There 
were vineyards also at Meare and Pamborough, near Glastonbury.f 
Another product of the Liassic clay-lands, is much of the Cider 
of Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, and Worcester- 
shire ; for the Apple-tree likes a " stiff land inclined to clay," or a 
calcareous clayey soil with a dry subsoil. The trees grow well in 
some of the old limestone-quarries near Street, in Somersetshire 
(see p. 294), but some of the best localities in Somersetshire are 
along the borders of the junction between the Lower and Middle 
Lias, near Martock, Tintinhull, Queen Camel, and Cadbury.J 
There are also good orchards near Tewkesbury, and along the 
borders of the Cotteswold Hills. 
The vales of Moreton-in-the-Marsh, Evesham, Fenny Compton, 
Market Harborough, Melton Mowbray, and Belvoir, are among 
the more celebrated fox-hunting tracts. 
The clay lands of the Lias furnish remnants here and there 
of some of the Forests of ancient fame, but they are not so noted as 
eome of those that formerly extended over the clays of the Oolitic 
Series. Portions of the old Forests of North Petherton, Neroche, 
and Ashill, in Somerset ; of Buckingham ; of the Forest of Arden 
around Henley-in- Arden, and Hampden-in- Arden ; and of Dela- 
mere in Cheshire, extended over tracts of Lias. 
Terraces of Cultivation. 
Old terraces of cultivation, known as lynchets, or linchets, may 
be observed in many tracts, more especially along the Middle Lias 
slopes. 
* See Memoirs of H. E. Strickland, p. 80. 
f Canon H. N. Ellacombe, Proc. Bath Nat. Hist. Club, vol. \i. p. 137, vol. vii. 
p. 35. 
J For Analyses of soils from Street and Long Sutton, in Somerset, see Voelcker, 
Journ. Bath and W. of Eng. Soc., ser. 2, vol. vi. p. 263. 
