216 REMARKS ON THE 



feet, and the average annual temperature 47 J°. In the se- 

 vere winter of 1836, the thermometer descended more than 

 30° below zero ; the highest I ever observed it in the sum- 

 mer, was but little above 80°. This, however, gives a won- 

 derful range, compared with England, though by no means 

 uncommon in the northern parts of the United States. ^ No 

 doubt this intense severity of the winters affects much the 

 Entomology of this part of America. 



At the back of the house was an extensive range of woods 

 skirting the banks of the Creek on the western side, up to 

 the village of Prospect, situated close to where the Creek 

 enters the ra^dne. In front the country is more open, but 

 beautifully diversified by large patches of wood, for every 

 farm has its wood. Here and there are patches of boggy 

 soil, in which grow^ thousands of Cypripedium spectabile, 

 and a variety of ferns, of which the most interesting, perhaps, 

 are Onoclea sensihilis, and Struthiopteris Pennsylvanica. 



In general, the soil is a rather shallow stratum of black 

 vegetable mould, on a limestone bottom. This is very fertile, 

 the Indian corn often producing from sixty to eighty bushels 

 per acre, where the soil is not a foot deep. In some places 

 there is a great deal of sand, generally forming small hills. 

 I am no geologist, so wdll not venture to say any very great 

 deal about the limestone ; however, I know this, that it con- 

 tains a vast quantity of Encrinites, Orthoceratites, Trilohites, 

 and other ites, of which I know nothing. Moore has a vast 

 many beautiful specimens of fossils, amongst which the most 

 interesting to me were the very perfect individuals oilsoteles 

 gigaS) and some fragments of the same, showing that it must 

 have sometimes much exceeded afoot in length. From this 

 account of the contents of this limestone, I leave others to 

 judge whether it be transition, or any other ition limestone.^ 



The woods here ai'e distinguished by the want of all the 

 oaks, and all the Conifer (B, except the white cedar [Thuja 

 occidentalis), the hemlock fir {Pinus Canadensis), and the 

 yew, or, as it is commonly there called the running hemlock 

 ( Taxus Canadensis.) I do, it is true, remember, that just 

 by the bridge where the road from Little Falls crosses the 

 creek, there was a solitary oak, and a solitary pine, but they 



1 In that most valuable publication, the 'American Almanack, is a table 

 for Dover, N. H., in latitude 43" 13', which shows a mean annual range of 

 1 13", and one year the range amounted to 127^". 



2 Let not my readers think that I am disposed to undervalue the science 

 of Geology. I regret much my want of knowledge of it, but mn omnes 

 p ossumus omnia. 



