OF KENT. 13

DECT. IV,— Soil and Surface.

ISLE OF THANET«

Tue bottom ſoil of the whole iſland, or what modern writers 1n huſbandry call the ſubſoil, is a dry, hard, rock chalk, The tops of the ridges are about ſixty feet above the level of the ſeca, and are covered with a dry, looſes chalky mould, from four to fix inches deep: it has a mixture of ſmall flints, and 1s, without manure, a very poor ſoil, The vales between the ridges and the flat lands on the hills, have a depth of dry loamy ſoil, from one to three feet, with leſs chalk, and of much better guality.

The weſt end of the iſland, even on the hills, has a good mould, from one to two feet deep, a little inclining to fiffneſs; but the deepeſt and beſt ſoil is that which lies on the ſouth ſide of the ſouthernmoſt ridge, running weſtward from Ramſgate to Monkton: it is there a deep rich ſandy loam, and moßly dry enough to be ploughed Hat, without any water- furrows. The ſil of the marſhes 1s a fiff clay, mixed with ſea- ſand and ſmall marine ſhells.

EAST KENT,

The open part of the diftriÆ& between Canterbury, Dover, and Deal, is of various ſoils, no one pariſh or farm being perfe&ly ſimilar in all its parts, The princi- pal ſoils are, 1, Chalk; 2d, Loam;z 3d, frong Cledsge 5 4th, Hazel Mould; gth,{if Clay. Befſides theſe, there are ſome ſmall tra&s of flints, gravel, and ſand.

The chalk-ſoils are of various depths; from three to ix or ſeven inches of looſe, chalky mould, on a rock chalk bottom, and are moßiy found on the tops and ſides of the

ridges