*MAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) / O '^ f/i ^^ 1.0 I.I 1.25 [r IIIIM •IT IIIIM u 1124 ^ 140 2.5 |||22 IM 1.8 14 ill 1.6 V] <9 /^ ^a <^ oy. >> >? ^/; O^y M Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 # ^«?^ ,•,•. HKLATION.^ OF GEOLOGY TO AGIUCULTURK mf '-•* t IN NOllTH-EASTLRN AMERICA. Therk are two ways in which the relations of j^oolojiy to agri- culture can be viewed and consi(h«red : either broadly and gene- rally, in regard to the agricultural character and capabilities of entire geological formations or groups of rocks ; or locally, in regard to the connexion of the kind of fertility exhibited by this or that limited district or single spot with the kind of rock on which the surface rests. Of these two modes, the first or broadest is the most attractive, the most interesting in its con- clusions, and the most satisfactory in the relations it establishes between agriculture and geology. The second is less simple, clear, and satisfactory. It is far more laborious to follow out also, and requires more knowledge of details in the investigator ; but, at the same time, it leads to results which are directly prac- tical and of immediate application. In the present paper I propose to illustrate both, but espe- cially the first, of these metliods, by illustrations drawn from IVort!i-Eastern America. A, General Relations of Agricultural Capability to Geological Structure. I. On the Atlantic Sea-hoard. — My first illustration I shall take from the Atlantic sea-board of the more western States of the Union. If from the coast-line in any of the States west of the river Potomac — from the sea-shore of Virginia, for example, of either of the Carolinas, of Georgia, or of Alabama — a traveller proceeds inland till he reaches the first slopes of the Alleghany Moun- tains, he will pass over four regions which, even to the unprac- b2 4 Relations (f Gcolnf/i/ to At/riailturc tisnd ryo, aro most clearly distlrK t in tho cliarartcr of tlicir soils and ill the natiiic of tiicir vr;^ctal)l(' productions, wlictlur natural or cultivated. I''ir!»t. Rich muddy flats line the shore, interse(ted in some places by creeks and swampy hollows. To these low lands the ncijroes repair at the proj)er season of tiu' year, and j)ut in, tend, or reap the sea-island cotton and the rice, which here yield ^^reat returns. The wiiite masters, or su})erintendents, visit them as rarely as possible, the climate in t\w hot season beimr rife with fevers fatal to the constitution of tlu^ white man. When these swampy flats are still in a state of nature, the swamp willow, the cy])ress, the swamp hickory, the ^reen j)alniett() — the proud badfi^e of North Carolina— the tall maj;nolia, tlu; r(>d maple, and the cotton-wood, form a distinj^uishini; natural vejjetatiijii, rich and beautiful to the eye, but reminding: the practised observer at once of a soil full of natural fruitfuln(>ss and of ui atmospliere j)rolific in siiiverinij a^ue and in depressing- and rapidly wastinu' fever. A few miles inland brinjjs him to liifjher pound. The allu- vial plain sjradually rises a few feet above the sea-level, and dry, rich soils support a natural «j,Towth of liickory, oak, beech, niaj;- uolia, walnut and tulip trees, and of Itolly. Tobacco and su<>:ar are the staple marketable crops, which the culti\at()r raises on these drier soils, where generations of exhaustinij culture have not already worn them out. They yield also large crops of Indian com— the main food of the coU)ured labourers — to which the warmth of the climate is fis propitious as the soil. Second. Pursuing his journey towards the hills, after twenty miles or thereby — a breadth which varies in different parts of the coast — he reaches the edge of the drier alluvial plain, and ascends a low escarpment of yellowish sand. He now finds hims(>lf in the midst of forests of unmixed natural pine, covering a belt of barren sand g(>nerally unfit for cultivation, and which for hundreds of miles girdles in the lower jdain of rich land he has already crossed. The worthlessness of this pine region for the purposes of the cultivator is illustrated by tiu? history of that ])()rti(m o." the belt which runs througli the State of Georgia. After the settleineni of the boundaiy line; between Georgia and Florid;;, the State Legislature of Georgia passed an Act ordering all the unsold lands of the State, after being surveyed, to he divided by lot anu)ng the resident populati(m. The cost of surveying and other exp(>nses imposed a charge of two cents an acre on these lands, which fell to be paid by tha allottees. But a great many of those who drew the pine barren lots refused to take out their grants, thinking them not worth the two cents an acre they had to pay for them. The State Legislature, therefore, subsequently T J i 1 T i. ...... ■< nn in Nortli- Eastern Aniertca. ;) ordered that all the laud ot this kind which was unclaimed after a ci'rtain period should i)e sold at four cents an acre to whoever would buy it. Larjje speculations were in conse(pience made hv indi- viduals and companies, chiefly with a view to <'ut down and sell tlie timber. The lumber merchants from the north-eastern States were conspicuous amonj; these speculators ; and I had the fortune to travel for some distance with a j^entleman who, amonf; other information, told me lu* was one of a small party who had boiiijht no less than 19(),()()() acres of tins Georjjian barren in one localitv, with the confident expectation of m;>kin<:^ much money by the sale of the lumber. The species of pine with which this barren is covered chansxes as we proceed towards the south and west — ])robably from the e of climate and exposure. In North Carolina it bears j)rin- cipally tlie Pitch pine (/'///?/ .v r/V/ZrA/), which yields lar shipjx'd from the p(»rt of Wilminffton in that State. In Geortjjia, ajrain, the j)revailin^ tree is the Yellow pine (^Pinus initis), which yields a harder and more valuable timber tlian the Pitch pine. The chief difTerence, as I was informed, is that the saj) or soft heart-wood in tlie ^ ellow pine is much less in diauu'ter than in the Pitch J)ine, and thus the j)roportion of hard resinous wood in trees of the same si/e is much fji'eater in the former than in the latter. Third. Farther inland the traveller ascends another terrace, and at once escapes from the forest into the o])en tr. eless prairie, where, fai* as the eye carries him over the flat, only natural jj^rasses wave in the wind, unless where settlements have been made, and the arts of husbandry have introduced a new vejjetation. Tin; thin soil: of this attractive plain rest upcm a rotten chalk or chalky marl, and, like the soils of our chalk downs, are absorbent of moisture and naturally dry. They produce a sweet herbaj^e, grateful to the cattle, and yield fair crops of wheat while still in r virgin condition. The variety known in the market by the name of Georgian wheat is grown on these chalky j)rairies. They are attractive to the settler because they can be converted into farms without cost. Tliere is no forest to fell. As much land as can be skimmed with the plough may be sown with grain year after year by the first settler, and the aid of a reaping machine makes him almost independent of labour when the time of harvesting comes. It is upon jdainj; like these — so easy to till and so bare of trees — that in published accounts of some of the States we read of single fields of wheat containing from 400 to 700 acres of waving grain,* and from which a crop of ten or * I have never myself seen any of these large fields, probably because I was never upon any of these prairies where they were to be seen. I was told by a Rclotioiis of GeoliKiu to ^If/ricii/fnir twi'Uv. huslu'ls an acre leaves a profit upon tli(> lal)(>ur and capital expended. lUit tin' thin hlaek vir«;in soils wliieli e()ver tliein soon deteriorate. Deeper plou<;liinj; does not permanently restore tlieni, and the knowinj; eultivator now sells his inijn'ond lot to a n«;hanies consist. Mica-slate, gneiss, and j^ranite, liere mingle their dehris to form a character- istic red, clayey, but iViahle soil, which (rund)les readily, and, from the nature of the diniati', admits of a husbandry aj)proach- inir more to that of our I'aiLilish farmers, 'l^he marked features ol soil and ve<;etation which our traveller thus perceives entirely coincide with as distinctly marked ^eolo- ^ical features. This is seen in the following; sciction of the coast- line in ((uestion, from the sea to the mountains. The letterpress below the section indicivtes the <^eolo_sj^ical formations — that placed above it indicates the natural vegetation and the crops whicli grow best U])on each. No. I. Dry chiilk downs. Trt'eless prairies. Hroiul-Ieaveil lorcals. General hiusliamlrv. Kice Siijj.ir anil ami cotton. lo!)ario. I'ini! forests. Sauilv liiirrens. ??s*-,Ji!^ ^la. Post tcrliiiry, anil alluvial. Tfrti irv saniis. ."^I'Konilary chalk marls. l'rim:iry mclamorpliic lOL'k anil granite. In this section a dose general relation is seen between the ihanges in geological and agricultural character which appear on the several successive terraces ov flats of land across which the traveller proceeds on his way from the sluu'es of the Atlantic; to the slo])es of the Alleghany Mountains. Where the most recent t)r alluvial loams and rich clays end, there the tobacco, Indian corn, and even wheat culture, for the time, ends also. The tertiary sands belong to a more ancient epoch, and to them are limiteil, by a stri( tly defined boundary on each side, the dark pine forests which are so striking a feature of the country. On the older clialk, again, the treeless prairie ami flinty wheat country is as distinctly limited by the formations on either hand; and Mioliijrun f'aninr who invited uic to visit liiiii, that he liad 400 acres under wheat, and reapod with a iiiachiiK.. Tlie averapi' produce of the whole of this State of Miehifian is only lo,' htishels of wheat per acre. 11 X' in North- I'Myli'in Anwvica. " beyond tills, ;i<.r!iiii, the c !ian!ro;eolofj;ical conditions, therefore, confine the possibility of culti\ation to men of larj;*' means, Mnd, in present circumstances at least, necessarily ixdude all petty farniinj? and the subdivision of the land into small holdintJ;s. They dc'tennine, in other W(mls, the social ccmdition of the people, 'riiis sinj,de illustration is enoujjh of itself to satisfy any impr.rtlal persori of the close fjeneral relation which exists between the fjeolofrkcal eharacter and the agricultural capability of a country, and of the broad jreneral deductions in '•ejjard to its possible future pros- n(>rity in a rural sense — which may be drawn Irom a knowledjje of its geolojiy. I believe it is partly under the influence of this conviction "that the Senate and Cm time to tinu' have been admitted into the Union. II. Reldtiotisof Geohr/mit dmdure to Af/ric7iltural capahilitu in IVestern New York. — I take my second illustration from Western New York, partly because this has hm^' been celebrated as a rich wheat-firowinjj distvinerally tilted up, squeezed togetlier, as it were, and standing on edge. They thus occupy but little space, sf the primary rocks, distinguish<>d among l^^urojx'an geologists by the name of Siluritai, is there flattened and spread out over a large extent of lountry ; and the several beds of this T in North- Eattcrii Aincricn. 9 ' T sulHlivision — partiiillv «)V(Mi;»|H)iii.; ami risiiiu' aliovc v\w\\ otiu r ill a s«ui\'ssiat<'r «»r less lucadtli — plainlv cxhihit to tli'- cNc of the oUscrvcr the cliriiiiial ihaiactcrs of carli, *\\c kind of soil which in < ruml>liii;j: it na- ttnailv prodiuvs, and the spcrial Oswejro. But, as is occasionally the case with other sandstones, the partinj^s of clay increase in number and thickness towards the west, producing first sandy loams, and finally rich clay loams well adapted to the growth of wheat. Hence this same forma- tion, which at the east end of the Lake affords only poor himgry soils, yields between the mouths of theGenessee and the Niagara rivers some of the richest wheat-lands in the State. No. '2, the Clinton Group, forms a very narrow zcme, which is nearly cimccaled by the debris of the rocks svhich lie immedi- ately ai)ove and below it. This group amsists of green and blue sliaies with limest, the Nia;iara Group, consists of an enormous thickness of limestone above, resting upon a great thickness of dark blue irund)ling shales below. At Niagara, where the rivei' h.lls, the limestone^ has a tiiickness of 130, and the shale of about 80 feet. The shale alone, where it comes to day, produces stiff bhu; clays, which, from the sloping nature of the surfac>e, are gcnu-raily dry and susceptible of culture. Like many of our own still un- tom-hed clays at home, however, they are to l)e lierealter rcn- dercnl greatly nunc valuable by the introducticui ()f our liritish system'^of thorough drainage. This mode of improvement is 12 Rvhttiuna of Geologi/ to A(iriniltnro Ijejjiiinin^- now to nttnict a cons'ulcraljlc dciivoe of attention amonii iiitvlli-icnt and wcU-cducatcMl I'aimers in the older States ol' the Uni(«C !>n country, that the economical value of the land almost invariably increases aloni? the line of junction of two ffeolojjical formaticms ; provided that'^coverinss of far-transported drift do not prevent the sub- jacent rocks from exercising their legitimate influence upon the nature of the soils that cover them. The overlying Niagara limestone, where it is uncovered with drift, has crumbled down into thin open soils which produce wheat, but are better adapted for Indian corn, or for the turnip husbandry, should this region ever become familiarized to it. The surface of the limestone, however, is generally overspread with fragments of the underlying more crumbling shale which have been drifted over it, and thus the belt No. 3 is, for the most part, overspread with deeper and richer soils than would have resulted from the decay oi the lime-ro( k akme. It will be seen in the cross-section { No. 111.) given in poge i^, that the rise from No. 2 to No. 3 is by a sudden step or cliff. Ihis cliff is comparatively low towards the east, where the section is taken, but increases in height towards the west. This is owing to the circumstance that the bed of limestone increases in thickness in proceeding from the east tt)wards the west. In Wayne county, where ttie section is taken, it is only SO <)r 40 feet thick; while' on the Niagara river, above the rapids, it is 164 feet, and it still increases in thickness as we proceed farther towards the west, along the northern shores of Lake Erie. This is owing, most probably, to the increasing d(>ptli in that direction of tlie ancient sea in which this limestone was deposited. This increasing thickness exercises an influence upon the agricultural chariuter of the country occupied by the Niagara group in its western range, but its most sensible and striking effect in Western New ^'ork is on the physical features of the district. The; outcrop of the limestone forms a long cliff or es- carpment, which skirts the whole southern edge of the lake, and presents to the traveller most beautiful and extensive views of the flat (ountiv bdow and far over the waters of the lak(? Iieyond. iMfMii'the Cicmessee to the Niagara rivers this cliff is a charac teristic featine of the fouiitrv. and is iamiliarlv known by the name of the -^ mountain-ridge." Over this escarpment of in Noith- Eastern Amorica. 13 tlip limestone the Genessee and the Niaijarn, amons otlier rivers, preiipitate themselves, producing those magnificent tails which have given celebrity to Niagara, and an unlimited water-power and most rapid rise to the city of Rochester. The following section will give an idea of the appearance ol the mountain-ridge in the steepest and boldest parts of its course, and will sliow how it overlooks the flat plain of the Medina sand- stone and the waters of Lake Ontario. No. II. In this section the dotted mass above and below No. I is liie Medina sandstone, No. 2 is the Niagara shale, and No. 3 the overlying thick-bedded limestone. It is taken behind the town of Lewiston, at the mouth of the Niagara river, on what is called the American side. The view which the spectator enjoys from the top of the escarpment at this spot is worth going a long way to see. Sheer down .>ne looks over the scattered town of Lewis- ton, upon the broad flat forest-lands stretching many miles back from the lake, and eastward along its shores farther than tlie eye can reach. Here and there only, at the time of my visit, in all this distance a clearing appeared"^ upon this often marshy flat. Right in front lay the endless lake and its occasicmally bolder shores beyond, Avith now and then a straggling sail or a distant steamer's smoke, all mellowed and blended by a four o'tlock sun. I was much struck both with the extent and with the unsubdued wildness of tlie prospect, when I unexpectedly reached the cliff on my way from the falls ; and I could not help thinking how some two centuries hence, when all this low plain before me shall have been cleared, drained, and cultivated— when smiling villages and cheerful homesteads, and scattered flocks and herds overspread its surface, and the blue smoke may be seen dying away from many chimneys as the Saljbath bell draws the gather- ing people towards the frequent house of worship— how many in those days for broad pictures of natural beauty, intense with countless little episodes of still life, will yet frequent this moun- tain ridge when the noise of the neighljouring cataract has wearied them, and softer scenes are wished for to calm and com- pose their fevered spirits. No. 4, ^^e Onondaga Salt Group, derives its name from the brine-springs which issue from it in >arIoiic parts of this western 14 R('/iili(»is of Gvohxiji fi> Aijricnltiirc iof2:i()n Salt Is larji^cly manutacturcd tVom the \vatr, round Lake Ontario, nnd far into Western Canada. An inspection of the map will sl;ow tliat this belt occupies a large proportion of the whole area of the district. Its average breadth is 10 or 12 miles, the latter being its breadth on the Niagara river. In the line of section N S, its breadth suddenly expands to between 20 and 30 miles. Towards the east it narrows off, and disappears as we approach Sclmectady and the Hudson river, while in Western Canada it expands to a maximum breadth of about 80 miles.* In this western region, therefore, the Onondaga salt group forms a large area of rich land, profitable in Indian corn, but especially in av heat. During a stay of a few days at Syracuse, I visited the farm of the Hon.'^Mr. Geddes, a member of the State senate, and, under his guidance, had the satisfaction of surveying a considerable extent of this formation, so very interesting in its geological, agricultural, and economical relations. This gentleman is the owner of 300 acres of the best quality of land which occurs on this formation, and, like nearly all the owners in this country, lives upon and farms his land himself. The soil I found to be a light- coloured calcareous clay, which crumbles readily and never bakes. It is generally shallow, and rests on one of the green shaly rocks above mentioned. This shale crumbles readily in the air, and, by exposure, becomes paler in colour, forming the light- coloured soil of which the farm consists. This neighbourhood, in its general aspect, appeared to me 1 ' ike a part of Old England than of a newly cleared or country. Of Mr. Geddes's 300 acres, 270 were in arable more settled * See some additional remarks on this point in tiio concluding paragraphs of the present paper. ^ — Wheat . . ]8to 35 bushels, of 60 lbs. Ikrley . . "20 to 55 „ 48 lbs. Oats . . . 40 to 100 „ 32 lbs. Indian corn . . 50 to 80 „ 56 to (JO lbs. Potatoes . . 100 to 300 bushels. It is least adapted, he said, to the growth of potatoes— which is more probably owing to the climate and the great summer heats than to any defect in the soi'. Turnips are as yet but little grown, and the feeding of sto>k is not much attended to.* An average weight of 32 lbs. a busli '1 does not indicate a climate well suited to the oat crop. As a general rule indeed the climate which ripens Indian corn well rarely producer a crop of heavy oats. The fact that this land has been ploughed for fifty successive years without receiving any manure will give the reader an idea "of its innate richness. I walked with Mr. Geddes over two fields which have never been manured during the fifty years which have elapsed since his father first cleared them, and he thinks the land as good as ever it was. It yields from 50 to 60 bushels of Indian corn, and in 1848 it gave 30 bushels an acre of wheat. The soil consists, for the most part, of crumbling fragments of the green shale. When the older land appears to become exhausted the plough is put in a little deeper, so as to bring up a little of the crumbling rock (green shale). It is then said to produce wheat as abundantly as before. The most sceptical as to the influence of geological structure upon agricultural capability can scarcely doubt after such an illustration as this. The rotation on this farm was— 1. Indian corn after lea, with * When the necessity for manure becomes more urgent to the land, the feeding of stock will no doubt take in American the same place it occupies m English agriculture. 11) Relations of Geoloyij to Ayrkulture manure, il" any is applied; 2. Oats; 3. Parley or Pease; 4. Winter Wheat with seeds in sprinjr ; 5. Grass, cut twice for liay ; (>. (irass pastured with sheep and milch cows. li" the land be foul, it is now summer fallowed and sown with wheat, followed by seeds as before, after which Indian (orn comes in auain. If it is not foul, the rotati(m commences with Indian corn innnediately after the two years' fjrass. On soils derived from this extraordinary green shale, such severe— what we should call scourging treatmeiit — may be con- tinued a great many years with apparent impunity ; although it is seen even here to tell very soon on land of inferior quality. But in this naturally rich land also its effects become visible at last. Hence it is that this celebrated wheat region of eastern New Yi)rk AS a whole is gradually approaching the exhausted condition to which the more easternly wheat growing, naturally pDorer districts, had earlier arrived. Of course where the subsoil or subjacent rock is so full of natural fertility as this green shale is sai(i to be, the exhaustion can only be superficial, and fertility may again be restored to tlie surface soil. But to do this will require both a more skilful and a more expensive system of husbandry — conditions which manifestly imply that crops can never again be raised so easily or so cheaply as during the early and virgin freshness of this deservedly lauded district. Monroe county is in the centre of this district. Tiie Genessee river runs through it, the city of Rochester stands in it, it embraces a large portion of the richest land in the Genessee valley and on the Onimdaga salt group, and the corn averages of this county, as published by the New York State Society, are higher than those of any other county in the State. It may be supposed therefore at the present moment to be the most fertile. Now the averages per acre of Monroe '^ounty are as follows : — Wheat Barley Oats 19^ bushels 19 32 J) Indian corn Potatoes 30 bushels. 110 „ For a highly and deservedly lauded, fertile, wl'.eat-growing district, the pride of the State of New York, the happy home to which the longing eyes of British and Irish agriculturists have long been directed, these are but low averages. Either the land is net so good as it has been called, or it is, and has been, badly treated. The general treatment has certainly been bad, but as surely large portions of the land are naturally very good, and may still be made very productive. But if they can, it must be, as with us at home, by the application of more skill and by a more prudent husbanding of the natural riches which the soil contains. The trouble of preparing, collecting, and applying manures must not henceforth ))e thought too great for a free and independent I i in Nurth-Eastern America. 17 ^.•i North American farmer. This is well understood now by tiic leading? promoters of ajfrieultural improvement both in the United States and in the British Colonies. But in this district of Western New York they feel the influence upon local prices of the jijreat importations of wheat and flour from the new States west of Lake Erie. The tide of this commerce in grain has n()W turned in direction. Instead of sending? westward from Buffalo its thousands of barrels of flour, as it did in former years, New York now yearly receives from the west, throuf^h the same port, its hundreds of thousands of casks of flour and of ])ushels of wheat. So that, besides the imi)rovements which the advance of know- ledfje suggests, self-interest is now urging tlie farmer of New York to the adoption of wiser and better modes of culture. " VViiat," said the President of the Oswego Agricultural Society, in his address at the close of 1850—" What, I ask, is to meet this competition of the west, but greater skill and care in the mode of agriculture?" This is precisely the language which speakers and writers in our own country have of late years been almost daily addressing to British farmers.* Nos. 5 and G. The Ilelderherg Limestones and Sandstones (5), rise immediately behind the Onondaga salt grouj). Where 1 drove along the edge of this limestone with Mr. Gcddes it formed a high escarpment, from which tiie view of the flat lands below, and of the country towards the lake, was beautiful and extensive. Though far from what it was half a century ago, this great stretch of undulating i)lain still seemed strange and savage to an eye accustomed to the finislied and artificially picturesque appearance of an English landscape. Swamps and lakes, and rude natural forests, with intervening tracts of land under waving corn, remind the spectator how much nature yet rules, how long human in- dustry must patiently labour still before the asperities of a new country can be rubbed off, how many generations of the enter- prising men who now possess it must still toil and adorn this fine land before it will smile at their feet like that which their fore- fathers left. At this limestone the natural richness of the country as a wheat region begins to fall off. The soil upon the limestone itself, and upon its subordinate sandstone, is often thin, resting on a hard rock, but, where it happens to be deep, it is full of frag- ments of limestone, and is of excellent wheat-growing quality. The Marcelbis Shale (6), which overlies the Helderberg lime- stone, is thin, varying from a few feet in thickness to a maximum * Those -who are interested in the wheat-producing capabilities of the United States generally, and in their future relations to our own wheat markets, will find the subject discussed at some length in the 13th aud 25th chapters of the author's ' Notes oil North America.' 18 Relations of Geolo:ricuitural capabilities. When first cleared th^. virjrin surface produces croi)s of wheat, but after the first crops— as is the case m many parts of New Brunswick, which rest upon similar rocks— winter wheat becomes uncertain, and spring? grain only can be sown. PxMug thus found naturally poorer, it is less cleared and culti- vated than the more favoured land in the plains which border the lakes. Like poor land among ourselves also— 1 may say like poor land in all countries — it is occupied for the viost part by a poorer race of cultivators, wlio direct their chief attention to the rearing of stock and to dairy husbandry. , The cross section, taken along the line N S in the map (p. 4^, • exhibits at a glance tlie relations— pay sical, geological, and agricultural— of this interesting district. It commences from Lake Ontario on the north, and is continued nearly to the Penn- sylvanian border on the south. The above section sufficiently explains itself. It exhibits m brief what in the preceding pages it has been necessary to state verbally a little more in detail. The points it is intended chiefly to illustrate are — . a. The physical and geographical position of this celebrated wheat-region in reference to Lake Ontario. b. The special agricultural relations of the several groups of rocks which in this district form the Silurian system of English geologists. . c. The sudden and striking change of produce and capability which manifests itself when we ascend fr;Mn the calcareous soils of the lower region, to the stiff clays of the more elevated Hamilton group of ro(ks. The wheat region, par excellence, is then entirely left behind, and a dairy country commences. ^ And d. The still further contrast presented by what in our island would be the heathy hills and moors of the Portage and Chemung groups— destined, like our own poorer hills and high- lands, to rear the hardier breeds of stock. ^ On all these points I have already dwelt probably in sufficient detail. * Ontario itself is :>31 feet above tide-level. 20 Relations of GcolorfU fo A(/riailfnrr u II I '/, =■ W/y ■£ « S /«/, mi » 3 mil: II ^ y'/'y CO to H in Norf/i-Ftistcrn Amorint. n TIktc arc two additionnl oljscrvations liowovcr which I will venture to introduce! as likely to interest the general reader. Thev are l»otli in substance somewhat scientific, yet both cntuely practical in their hearinj;. First. In speaking of the soils which rest upon the Marcellus shales ri'presented in the above section, I have allude«l to the ilitliculty experienced in keeping them clean, and to their bemg especially infested with the corn gromwell (Lithospermum arvense), known in North America by tlie various names (d pigeon-weed, red-root, steen-crout, stnti(m ; and as oil-cakes are chiefly bought by farmers, some may rcimrd it as a kind of poetical justice, that the idle farmers in (me country should be the means of punishing the less dis- cerniii"- of their own class in another. * Transiictious of the New York Stite Agricultural Society, 1846, p. 436. t In the Tiaiisuctions of the New York State Agricultural &()ciety for I So!) p -,10 I find it stated that this seed yields two or three quarts of oil from a bushel of seed As a gallon of such oil weighs about 7^ lbs., we may take/our pounds us the average yield of this seed per bushel. But linseed of 52 lbs. a bushel yiHds 17 lbs of oil • and the best rape of 5(i lbs. yields 16 lbs. a bushel. Supposing the .rronuvell seed to be about 50 lbs. weight per bushel, 4 lbs of oil would barely pay the cost of expressing, were it not for the value of the cake Kngl.sh crushers redion that, for an additional shilling in the price of linseed per quarter, about .•5 lbs more of oil should be yielded, so that in their reckoning, Is. 6(/., tiie price of the gVomwell seed, would require 4^ lbs. of oil to pay the cost of the seed alone. Thi- value of the cak.' therefore, as I have said in the text, must be waat the Yates County crushers mainly look to. •n Hefations of Gi'olof/i/ to Ajiriiultine. Tlir pliysi<»Uni(!il history ol this Lithos|)<'rmuiii t<'a< hcs \is lM)th how ncrcsstiry ii certain Jiniount of |)hysioh>i2;i« al kiiowh'djjc, in reference especially to the plants of his own hniil llora, is to the practical farine.- ; and also how unexpectedly the careless farmer may be punished for a nef>;lect of what may he called the very first rule of stronp;-land farminp;— that is, of keepinr a lon^ series of \ ears with- out cleaninjj; had led to this result. The peculiarities in the character and habit of this weed consist, first, in the hard shell with which its seed or nut is covered ; Second, in the time at which it comes up and ripens its seed ; third, 'n tiie superficial way in which its roots spread. Tiie hardness of its coverinj; is s'jsch that " neither the gizzard of a fowl nor tlic stomach of an ox can destroy 't." Thus it will be for years in the ground without perishing— r ady to sprout when an opportunity of germinating occurs. It grows very little in spring, but it shoots up and ripens in autumn, and its roots spread through the surface soil only, and exhaust the food by which the young wheat should be nourished. A knowledge of these facts teaches us, first, that unless care be taken to exclude the seed from the farm, it will remain a troublesome weed for many years, even to the industrious, careful, and intelligent culti- vator. It is said to be so pi< lific as to increase " more than 200 lold annually !" In the seco7id place, that spring ploughing will do lirtle good in the way of extirpating it, as at that season it has scarcely l)egun to grow. United spring and autumn ploughing is " the only reliable remedy." Thirdly— i\i^i raising whea; year after year allows it to grow and ripen wi*^ the wheat, and ♦o seed the ground more thickly every surcessive crop. It is said that when it has once got into the .. ii i Iv/oor three successive crops of wheat will give it entire possession ' >f the soil. It is noi there- fore the immediately exhausting effects of successive corn crops which have alone almost banished the wheat culture from large tracts of land in North America, especially on the river St. Law- rence. The indirect or attendant consequences of this mode of culture— the weeds it fosters, &c.— have had an important in- fluence also. These observations are not without their value at home. For although with us a continued succession of corn crops is rarely now seen upon any land, yet foul and weedy farms are unhappily still too frequent. And tlie more one studies the history and habits of the weeds, which almost every district can boast of as T T OnflMl /'// North- F.astirit America, 2) pr( uliarly !itt;ulu'«l to itscll, the more one iH-corncs satisficMl of I lie viiliu' of a lainiliar accjiiaintancc with tlirin, t(j the improvt'- incnt of thr art of ciilturo, of the coiKlition of those who prac tise it, and of the a^ricultuial pro(lu( tivem-ss of a country. No one will readily acctise ine of a desire to undervalue the usefulness of chemistry to ay:rieulture, and yet I have often hod occasion to ve\iyvX tlu! evil inlluence of opinions hastily expressed by 'M- inf«»rined persons — as if this branch of knowledfre alone were able to brin-j this most important and diOicult of arts to speedy per- fection. The longer a cautious and truth-seckinj; man lives, the wilier will appear the van;;e «jf knowledjje, theoretical and prac- tical — the more numerous the circumstances to be taken into consideration — before he can arrive at an accurate solution even of what some look upon as simi)lON : PHINTEI) »Y WILLIAM CUIWKS ASi) ?ON«, STAHIFOIin STRFFT.