326 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



rock, and hence may present a single feature not common in R. I., 

 viz., the presence of veins cutting across the pebbles. These veins 

 cut the pebbles in two, and one can break out the dissevered frag- 

 ments and fit them together again. We did this repeatedly here, 

 in one instance the halves of the pebbles having been separated 

 sixteen inches. The inhabitants of this region have often noticed 

 these distorted pebbles, and have reasoned respecting their origin 

 precisely as we have attempted to do. The proprietor of the In- 

 dian House, Mr. Prescott, had often been in the habit of exhibit- 

 ing them to his guests. We have now discovered four localities 

 of this nature in Maine, viz., at No. 9 of Washington county. 

 Gushing, Mt. Battie, and Sandy River plantation. We were in- 

 formed that a ledge of granite was contiguous to the conglomerate 

 on its west side, but had not time to visit the place. This might 

 be a case of the metamorphism of conglomerate into granite, simi- 

 lar to that described by my father in the Geology of Vermont, 

 vol. 1, page 40. The conglomerate belt runs across the east arm 

 of Rangely lake into Township No. 3 an unknown distance. 



Two or three terraces appear at the mouth of Saddleback stream, 

 as one sails over Rangely lake. On Birch point is a schistese 

 rock, apparently the same with that on Saddleback stream, dip- 

 ping 50° south-easterly. The same rock was noticed upon Ram 

 island and in the western part of the lake. The boulders on the 

 shores are largely made up of green grits and schists. 



It was a matter of surprise to us to see so fine an agricultural 

 region in Rangely. The hills about the lake are all rounding and 

 smooth, — that undulating character always found in fertile upland 

 countries. From our sail-boat not a boulder could be seen any- 

 where. Good crops can be raised here also, llay yields two tons 

 to the acre, which is a very good yield with scarce any cultivation. 

 Unless it be an alluvial meadow, it is very safe to say that it is 

 not common in the western part of the State to find land as good 

 as that in Rangely. Up the Kennebago stream, still nearer the 

 Canada line, the land is said to be even better. Here then is a 

 large tract of fertile land, probably equal to that in Aroostook 

 county, whose claims to settlement are urgent. This district has 

 the advantage over Aroostook county in its proximity to the 

 market, and is one whole degree of latitude south of Houlton. It 

 seems strange that such fertile tracts of land as this, with that in 

 Aroostook county and on the west branch of the Penobscot, should 



