mroses and foxgloves, while in the pastures, and especially the poor
pastures, are found the ox-eyed daisy and quaking grass, that make such
fine nosegays, as well as that sure sign of poverty, the yellow rattle.
But many of these poor pastures have been improved by draining, liming,
and the use of suitable manures. Although the roads are better than
they were (see p. 30) they are still often bad and lie wet for weeks
together in winter, especially where the hedges are high. Numerous
brick and tile yards may be found and iron ore is not uncommon; in some
places it is worked now, in others it is no longer worked and nothing
remains of the lost industry save only a few names of fields, of ponds,
or of cottages.

[Illustration: Fig. 47. Highly cultivated sand in Kent. Gooseberries
are growing in the foreground, vegetables behind, and hops in
background]

A sandy soil is in so many ways the opposite of a clay soil that we
shall expect to find corresponding differences in the look of the
country. A sandy soil does not hold water: it may get water up from
the subsoil to supply the plant (see p. 66), or, if it happens to lie
in a basin of clay, it may even be very wet: otherwise it is likely to
be too dry for ordinary plants. We may therefore look out for two
sorts of sand country, the one cultivated because there is enough water
for the crops, and the other not cultivated because the water is
lacking. These can readily be found.

We will study the cultivated sands first. As sand is not good plant
food (p. 43) these soils want a lot of manure, and so are not good for
ordinary farmers. But they are very easy to cultivate--for which
reason they {104} are called light soils--and can be dug at any time;
seeds can be sown early, and early crops can be got. Consequently
these soils are very useful for men doing special work like fattening
winter and spring sheep, or producing special crops like fruit or
potatoes, and for market gardeners who grow all sorts of vegetables,
carrots, parsnips, potatoes, peas, and so on. Fig. 47 is a view of a
highly cultivated sandy region in Kent showing gooseberries in the
foreground, vegetables behind, and a hop garden behind that again.

[Illustration: Fig. 48. A Surrey heath]

The uncultivated sands are sometimes not really so very different, and
some of them, perhaps many of them, might be improved or reclaimed and
made to grow these special crops if it were worth while. But they