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     The proofs of glaciation in the county are abundant. Numerous instances of striations are met with, especially in the volcanic area between Lochwinnoch and Port Glasgow. Throughout that district the general trend of the ice-markings is SE, due to the movement of the great ice sheet radiating from the Highland mountains. This SE trend continues as far as Kilbarchan and Lochwinnoch, but to the E of these localities the striae gradually swing round to the SW. This change in the direction of the ice movement has been adequately explained by Professor James Geikie, who contends that during the great extension of the ice the glaciers from the Highland mountains moved in an E direction along the valley of the Clyde till they coalesced with those radiating from the Southern Uplands. Eventually the combined ice sheets moved in a SW direction across the volcanic chain in the E of Renfrewshire towards the Firth of Clyde.
     Economic Minerals.--Copper ore occurs in grey sandstone near Gourock, and several copper mines have been worked in the volcanic rocks near Lochwinnoch. Agates occur in great abundance in the amygdaloidal volcanic rocks. The various ironstones and coal seams already enumerated, both in the true Coal-measures and in the coal-bearing group of the Carboniferous Limestone, have been extensively wrought. The Arden Limestone has been largely quarried near Barrhead and Thornliebank, where it reaches a thickness of about 10 feet. The Orchard Limestone, though comparatively thin, has been highly prized as a cement limestone, owing to the valuable feature which it possesses of `setting' under water. Alum has been largely manufactured from the shale at Hurlet and at the Nitshill chemical works; copperas is obtained from the iron pyrites in the shale. As already indicated the great Oil-shale series of Midlothian is represented in this county by contemporaneous volcanic rocks, but there is a band of oil shale underneath the Hosie Limestone at various localities between Houston and the E border of the county. The volcanic rocks supply excellent road metal; and the Giffnock sandstones, as well as some of the beds of limestone, supply excellent building material. See Geological Survey Maps (1 inch) of Scotland, sheets 22 and 30, and the explanation to sheet 22.
     Soils and Agriculture.--The soil of the hill districts is principally a light earth, overlying gravel or disintegrated volcanic rock, and is in some parts covered with excellent pasture, and elsewhere with heath or deep moss. The soil of the gently rising district, though in some places thin and poor, is mostly a fairly good earth, overlying gravel or stiff clay, and passing in the haughs along streams into a good deep loam. Along the flat district the soil is a rich alluvium, varying in depth from a few inches to several feet, and in many places displaying all the excellences of rich carse land. The processes of husbandry differ in no respect from those employed in the neighbouring counties, and already noticed. Westerly and south-westerly winds prevail on an average for two-thirds of the year, and as they come directly from the Atlantic, they are loaded with vapour, and the result of their contact with the colder land is heavy rains. The western part of the county is, indeed, one of the wettest parts of the W coast of the Scottish mainland, the annual rainfall being about 60 inches. The mean temperature is about 48 degrees.
     The areas under the various crops at different dates are given in the following tables:---

                                               GRAIN CROPS.-- ACRES.

Year.

Wheat.

Barley or Bere.

Oats.

Total.

1854

4495

613

16,392

21,400

1866

2973

234

14,229

17,436

1874

3346

259

13,645

17,250

1884

2229

178

14,132

16,639

1896

1320

167

12,259

13,746

    


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