214 _ [Senate 



no place for the display of such specimens, they may be deposited in 

 the State Geological Cabinet at Albany, that geologists may study the 

 action of water and the roil of the ocean upon stones. 



AGRICULTURE OF SENECA COUNTY. 



BY SAMUEL WILLIAMS, WATERLOO. 



There is perhaps no county in the State of New-York, whose fine 

 picturesque configuration, fertile soil and mild salubrious climate, so 

 much entitles it to the character of the best county in the empire 

 State, as Seneca county. 



That part of the county north of the Seneca outlet, is a succes- 

 sion of parallel ridges from 30 to 100 feet in height, running noith 

 about 10° E. These ridges are composed of sand and gravel, green 

 and red sandstone, limestone pebbles and granitic boulders, with such 

 a redundant admixture of alluvion, as to give them a deserved charac- 

 ter for enduing fertility. The valleys between those ridges are more 

 clayey, but partake largely of the component matter of -the ridges 

 themselves. 



South of the Seneca outlet the county is bounded east by the Cayu- 

 ga and west by the Seneca lake. Through the center of the county 

 north and south, between the lakes, the land ascends gradually from 

 a few feet above the level of Seneca lake, at Waterloo, to 400 feet 

 above that lake at Ovid village, 16 miles south. This point may be 

 considered as nearly the summit level of the county, the land de- 

 scending gradually from the summit ridge to either lake. 



Our State Geologist, Dr. Lewis C. Beck, has said that the mine- 

 ralogy of Seneca county is " exceedingly limited." The common ac- 

 ceptation of this assertion would only convince the scientific farmer, 

 of the superior adaptation of its soil to agriculture, but if meant 

 to extend to the economical Geology of the county, the assertion is 

 contradicted by the facts, as no county in the State is richer in lime, 

 marl and gypsum, than the county of Seneca. 



South of the Seneca outlet the limestone ledge comes at or near 

 the surface in many places, covering an area of many miles. There 

 is also the Tully limestone further south and a water lime series of 

 the " saliferous group," at South Waterloo, which has of late been 

 burned and ground for use. Extensive quarries of gypsum are for- 

 tunately situated on the bank of the outlet, below Seneca Falls, di- 

 rectly on the banks of the Cayuga and Seneca canal. These quar- 

 ries supply all the domestic demand, with a considerable demand for 

 export to Pennsylvania, by the route of the Seneca lake and Che- 

 mung canal. 



South of Seneca outlet, the granitic boulders and red sandstone of 

 the north almost entirely disappear, giving place to fragments of 

 Tully limestone; in fact, compact blue limestone is almost the only 



