130 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



of plants cannot penetrate it ; from the expense of cultivating it, much of 

 it is in trees. 



Oxford Clay — A tenacious, dark blue clay ; produces a heavy com- 

 pact soil, difficult to work, and one of the most expensive clays to culti- 

 vate. 



Elementary substances and their compounds being always the same, 

 the world over, we have every reason to believe that clays similar in com- 

 position to the above will be found, that were deposited by the drift, in- 

 sulated in our State. We hope the day is not far distant when chemists, 

 graduates from this Industrial University, will give us correct analyses of 

 our soils, clays and rocks. Our information in regard to these substances, 

 at the present time, is decidedly mixed. Our teachers slip up occasion- 

 ally. One of them — a gentleman learned in the law — in writing on the 

 geology of the northwestern counties of our State, says : "It cannot be 

 denied that the superficial deposits covering the bed rocks are in part 

 derived from their disintegration by rains and frosts, and other atmo- 

 spheric and chemical agencies. It is also true of the clays covering some 

 of the Niagara and Cincinnati outcrops, or beds of rocks, for they largely 

 partake of the underlaying rock.?,, from which they have been derived. I 

 think a chemical analysis of these clays would show a great similarity or 

 identity with the rocks under them.''' If the analysis was to be made by a 

 Justice of the Peace, he might be convinced by counsel that a soil, con- 

 sisting in part ot eighty-two per cent, of silicious matter, and containing 

 but four per cent, of lime and magnesia, was " derived" from a rock con- 

 taining forty-eight per cent, of carbonate of lime, and forty-three per 

 cent, of magnesia, or that clays containing from fifty-six to sixty-two per 

 cent, of silica, and thirty-six to forty per cent, of alumina, were identical 

 with magnesian limestones. But an appeal to the youngest student of 

 geology and chemistry would reverse the case, and send it back for a new 

 trial. The facts are, the soil was deposited by the drift. The clays, 

 found mostly from one to four feet thick, at the junction of the Cincin- 

 nati with the Niagara, and far down in the strata of the Galena, were 

 deposited by the old Silurian sea, and are a part of this formation. 



We have for some years past entertained the opinion that the study 

 of geology and soils should be taken up by the local Horticultural Socie- 

 ties and Farmers' Clubs. A series of investigations of rocks and soils, 

 accompanied with observations of facts in regard to the growth of varie- 

 ties of trees, fruits, and cereals, would, in my judgment, be of great use 

 in making up fruit lists, etc. Such papers, incorporated in the transac- 

 tions of the State Horticultural and Agricultural Societies, would be far 

 more interesting and instructive than reams of papers such as this — made 

 up of general statements and facts of no use, unless locally applied and 

 tested by the practical farmer, horticulturist, and tree planter. 



Mr. McWhorter — There is one little thought that strikes me in 

 connection with this report. The traveler who travels up north of Lake 

 Superior, in Canada, and notices the hard, crystalline condition of the 



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