Dear Sir—

I shall only be to happy to find that you have done me the honour of referring to me in the 4^th edition of your book on Worms.¹

I enclose for your examination some of the surface garden soil, & some of the underlying loam, both burnt in the bowls of tobacco pipes.

The measurements were taken carefully, because as I paid the man employed for digging 4 feet deep I visited him several times a day to see that he was acting up to his instructions, & I found that he did the work quite honestly. I dug to that depth that I might enlarge the sponge for holding moisture in dry seasons, because the interstices between the atom of broken up earth retain moisture, which w^d. never penetrate at all solid indurated soil. The greater part of the rainfall in that case remaining near the surface to be avaporated, doing harm in wet weather, & not being stored up for dry weather.

The blade & the handle of the spade the man was using were our measures. The blade was worn down to 10 inches, & we reached the hard ferruginous pan at somewhat less (4 inches) than 4 times the length of the blade.

There were no more stones in the surface mould than a few that w^d. have come there accidentally. As we cut through the loam there were enough to make it worth while picking them out to put on the road. There were chiefly rolled pieces of a hard sand stone, with a few flints. Among them we found some few pieces of tile & brick. The Romans lived about the spot, & in 1803 a pot of Roman coins, 2000 in number, was found about 400 yards off.² The spot is indicated in the new Ordnance map. I now have six of these coins. The stones were found chiefly in the lower part of the loam— Among them I found a carved bone ornament. There were scarcely any stones in the ferruginous indurated pan.

Thank you much for the approval you express of my papers on Peasant Life in Auvergne.³

With every sentiment of respect | I am yours most faithfully | F. Barham Zincke.