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on the adjoining vale lands. Perhaps the earliest part of the county is near Godalming, on the rich, dry, well-sheltered sandy loams."

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WATERS. The rivers, or brooks, of Surrey are enumerated in p. 354, aforegoing. In the report now before me, I perceive little on this head to interest the reader who is in search of useful information, concerning rural affairs. The subjoined passage, relating to the calcareous Wandle, shows, within a small compass, how much the operations of agriculture are liable to be thwarted by those of manufacture. The waters of the Wandle, as to quality, might well be classed with those of the southern Avon; with which the inestimable meadows of Wiltshire are irrigated.

P. 68. "This river takes its rise a little to the south of Croydon, and flowing by Waddon and Beddington, is greatly increased by some very powerful and constant springs which rise at Carshalton; from this place the Wandle runs by Wallington, Mitcham, Morden, Merton, Tooting, and Wandsworth, at which last place it enters the Thames. In this course of rather more than ten miles, it turns nearly forty mills of different kinds."

SOILS. Mr. Stevenson has extended this article to a considerable length; and has rendered it an important section of his work. It opens with a laudable attempt to define the different varieties of soils; but not, I think, with scientific decision; which, I conceive, is a desideration that nothing but ANALYSIS can effect,-with sufficient precision.

Mr. S.'s classification of soils stands thus:-1." Clay."2. Loam ;-which he subdivides into "strong loam,"—" less adhesive loam, or hazle loam"-" calcareous loam" and "sandy loam."-3. " Chalk"-" bare chalk, very slightly covered or mixed with earth."-4. "Heathy, or moorish soils."

Those varieties are separately traced over the face of the County; their several situations or localities being noted, and some of them described with much intelligence, and with sufficient interest to entitle them to admission into this abstract.

Clays.-In comparing the clays that are found on the north-side of the Chalk Hills, with those which lie at their feet on the south, Mr. S. mentions, among others of more ordinary distinction, the following.-P. 22. "The clay of the Weald is not affected by dry weather to such a degree as the northern clays: in the latter may be seen cracks, or rather rents, nearly a yard in depth, and several inches broad, in long-continued dry and sultry weather; but in the Weald, the ground does not contract nearly so much.

I had a good opportunity this very dry summer (1807), of observing the different degrees in which the two kinds of clay were affected by the heat: while the northern clays were rent in all directions, there were to be seen but very few and very trifling cracks in the Weald of Surrey. This circumstance, however, may perhaps be more justly accounted for, from the situation of the Weald than from the nature of the soil: from the low situation of that part of Surrey, and the difficulty and slowness with which the ground there is dried, from the flatness of the surface, and the want of ventilation and sun (compared with the more open, elevated, and sloping ground in the north-east of the county), the moisture will be longer retained, and, of course, the contraction of the soil will be less-not because it is less pure clay, but because it is not nearly so dry.". These remarks appear to my mind, highly creditable to Mr. Stevenson, as a man of observation.

P. 24. The pale and less fertile clay occupies nearly the whole of the Weald of Surrey. This district, which joins the Weald of Sussex and Kent, extends in its most southern part the whole breadth of Surrey, from Wilderwick to Haslemere, a distance of more than 30 miles. It contracts on the western side, as we proceed from Haslemere to Godalming; and about half way between these towns, it is deeply indented by the sandy loams. From near Hascomb to the northern boundary of the Weald, the breadth is not much more than 20 miles. The medial distance between the borders of Sussex and the northern limit of the Weald, is about four miles.

"This is by far the most extensive tract of uniform soil in the county of Surrey: except on the northern side, where it rises towards the sandy loams, there is no difference to be perceived in the whole compass of it, except what evidently proceeds from peculiar situation. Its eleva tion in general is very trifling-less, it is said, than that of any other vale district in the island. Its surface, also, is very uniform: there are, indeed, a few spots raised above the general level of the Weald; and it is the soil of these rising grounds, which forms the only exception to the gene. ral soil of the district. The colour of the soil on the eminences is darker, and the quality more fertile; arising, in all probability, from the more dry and better ventilated state of the ground, and from the greater quantity of vegetable matter, which would be produced and decay in such a situation, than in those which were more cold and less kindly."

P. 26. "Proceeding northwards, and omitting for the present the loamy soils, which are formed by the junction of

the

on the adjoining vale lands. Perhaps the earliest part of the county is near Godalming, on the rich, dry, well-sheltered sandy loams."

WATERS. The rivers, or brooks, of Surrey are enumerated in p. 354, aforegoing. In the report now before me, I perceive little on this head to interest the reader who is in search of useful information, concerning rural affairs. The subjoined passage, relating to the calcareous Wandle, shows, within a small compass, how much the operations of agriculture are liable to be thwarted by those of manufacture. The waters of the Wandle, as to quality, might well be classed with those of the southern Avon; with which the inestimable meadows of Wiltshire are irrigated.

P. 68. "This river takes its rise a little to the south of Croydon, and flowing by Waddon and Beddington, is greatly increased by some very powerful and constant springs which rise at Carshalton; from this place the Wandle runs by Wallington, Mitcham, Morden, Merton, Tooting, and Wandsworth, at which last place it enters the Thames. In this course of rather more than ten miles, it turns nearly forty mills of different kinds."

SOILS. Mr. Stevenson has extended this article to a considerable length; and bas rendered it an important section of his work. It opens with a laudable attempt to define the different varieties of soils; but not, I think, with scientific decision; which, I conceive, is a desideration that nothing but ANALYSIS can effect,-with sufficient precision.

Mr. S.'s classification of soils stands thus:-1." Clay."2. Loam ;-which he subdivides into "strong loam,"—" less adhesive loam, or hazle loam"-" calcareous loam" and "sandy loam."-3. “ Chalk”—“ bare chalk, very slightly covered or mixed with earth."-4." Heathy, or moorish soils."

Those varieties are separately traced over the face of the County; their several situations or localities being noted, and some of them described with much intelligence, and with sufficient interest to entitle them to admission into this abstract.

Clays.-In comparing the clays that are found on the north-side of the Chalk Hills, with those which lie at their feet on the south, Mr. S. mentions, among others of more ordinary distinction, the following.-P. 22. "The clay of the Weald is not affected by dry weather to such a degree as the northern clays: in the latter may be seen cracks, or rather rents, nearly a yard in depth, and several inches broad, in long-continued dry and sultry weather; but in the Weald, the ground does not contract nearly so much.

I had a good opportunity this very dry summer (1807), of observing the different degrees in which the two kinds of clay were affected by the heat: while the northern clays were rent in all directions, there were to be seen but very few and very trifling cracks in the Weald of Surrey. This circumstance, however, may perhaps be more justly accounted for, from the situation of the Weald than from the nature of the soil: from the low situation of that part of Surrey, and the difficulty and slowness with which the ground there is dried, from the flatness of the surface, and the want of ventilation and sun (compared with the more open, elevated, and sloping ground in the north-east of the county), the moisture will be longer retained, and, of course, the contraction of the soil will be less-not because it is less pure clay, but because it is not nearly so dry."These remarks appear to my mind, highly creditable to Mr. Stevenson, as a man of observation.

P. 24. "The pale and less fertile clay occupies nearly the whole of the Weald of Surrey. This district, which joins the Weald of Sussex and Kent, extends in its most southern part the whole breadth of Surrey, from Wilderwick to Haslemere, a distance of more than 30 miles. It contracts on the western side, as we proceed from Haslemere to Godalming; and about half way between these towns, it is deeply indented by the sandy loams. From near Hascomb to the northern boundary of the Weald, the breadth is not much more than 20 miles. The medial distance be tween the borders of Sussex and the northern limit of the Weald, is about four miles.

"This is by far the most extensive tract of uniform soil in the county of Surrey: except on the northern side, where it rises towards the sandy loams, there is no difference to be perceived in the whole compass of it, except what evidently proceeds from peculiar situation. Its eleva tion in general is very trifling-less, it is said, than that of any other vale district in the island. Its surface, also, is very uniform: there are, indeed, a few spots raised above the general level of the Weald; and it is the soil of these rising grounds, which forms the only exception to the gene. ral soil of the district. The colour of the soil on the eminences is darker, and the quality more fertile; arising, in all probability, from the more dry and better ventilated state of the ground, and from the greater quantity of vegetable matter, which would be produced and decay in such a situation, than in those which were more cold and less kindly."

P. 26. "Proceeding northwards, and omitting for the present the loamy soils, which are formed by the junction of

the

on the adjoining vale lands. Perhaps the earliest part of the county is near Godalming, on the rich, dry, well-sheltered sandy loams."

WATERS. The rivers, or brooks, of Surrey are enumerated in p. 354, aforegoing. In the report now before me, I perceive little on this head to interest the reader who is in search of useful information, concerning rural affairs. The subjoined passage, relating to the calcareous Wandle, shows, within a small compass, how much the operations of agriculture are liable to be thwarted by those of manufacture. The waters of the Wandle, as to quality, might well be classed with those of the southern Avon; with which the inestimable meadows of Wiltshire are irrigated.

P. 68. "This river takes its rise a little to the south of Croydon, and flowing by Waddon and Beddington, is greatly increased by some very powerful and constant springs which rise at Carshalton; from this place the Wandle runs by Wallington, Mitcham, Morden, Merton, Tooting, and Wandsworth, at which last place it enters the Thames. In this course of rather more than ten miles, it turns nearly forty mills of different kinds."

SOILS. Mr. Stevenson has extended this article to a considerable length; and has rendered it an important section of his work. It opens with a laudable attempt to define the different varieties of soils; but not, I think, with scientific decision; which, I conceive, is a desideration that nothing but ANALYSIS can effect, with sufficient preci

sion.

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Mr. S.'s classification of soils stands thus:-1." Clay."— 2. Loam ;-which he subdivides into "strong loam,"—" less adhesive loam, or hazle loam"-" calcareous loam" and "sandy loam."-3. " Chalk"-" bare chalk, very slightly covered or mixed with earth."-4." Heathy, or moorish soils."

Those varieties are separately traced over the face of the County; their several situations or localities being noted, and some of them described with much intelligence, and with sufficient interest to entitle them to admission into this abstract.

Clays. In comparing the clays that are found on the north-side of the Chalk Hills, with those which lie at their feet on the south, Mr. S. mentions, among others of more ordinary distinction, the following.-P. 22. "The clay of the Weald is not affected by dry weather to such a degree as the northern clays: in the latter may be seen cracks, or rather rents, nearly a yard in depth, and several inches broad, in long-continued dry and sultry weather; but in the Weald, the ground does not contract nearly so much.

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