——_ ER SS a ae_—

OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 9

Many of the above are by actual observation, and others by estimate only.

Hence it appears, that even in the centre of the kingdom few spots of plain or cultivated country are so much plead as to be two hundred yards perpendicular above the level of the sea; and that it by no means follows of course, that the highest spots of ground are far within land, unless such in- land situations contain high hills or mountains, the summits of mountains near the coast far overtopping the champaign country, though remote from the sea. I have observed, that the Wrekin and Clee hills of Shropshire, whose bases are upon the lowlands near the Severn, have, nevertheless, their summits rising considerably above the hills in the south of Staffordshire, from whence they are seen; and the summit of Snowden, though near the coast, I believe to be several hundred yards perpendicularly higher still.

Sect. 4.—Soil and Surface.

Tue soil of this county(and probably that of every other district in the kingdom of equal extent) is various: the arable soils may, in general, be divided into, first, the stiff and strong, clayey(argillaceous); secondly, the loose and light, sandy (arenaceous); thirdly, although the county has no chalk, yet in the limestone districts, lime earth(or calcareous); fourth- ly, the mixed, or compound soil or loam, composed of the above, with the addition of stones and other matter(terre com- positio). Also, some uncultivated and other spots contain a thin, light, black earth, of the nature of peat, generally lying upon gravel: this, when pulverized and dry, is very light, but when thoroughly wet, is so retentive of moisture as to resemble mud. The meadow soils are, in some places, si- milar to the arable, with the addition of the sediment of wa- ter when within reach of streams; in other places com- posed of peat earth of different thicknesses to several feet, sometimes containing trunks of trees.* This peat earth

* Many curious specimens have been found of late years near Stonall, in the parish of Shenstone.—Rev, S. Shaw.