298 Messrs. Jackson and Alger on the 
of the North mountains, and the neighbouring sandstone; its 
vegetation being less luxuriant, and requiring for its culture great- 
er labor from the husbandman. This is a fact which the travel- 
ler, in passing through the country, can scarcely fail to observe. 
The soil has been much improved of late years ; and the present 
state of agriculture in Nova Scotia is much indebted to Mr. John 
Young, the author of a series of interesting and practical let- 
ters published in Halifax under the signature of “ Agricola,” to 
whose labors, we believe, the country is indebted also fcr many 
of its agricultural societies. 
The continuity of the strata of this rock is interrupted in two 
places by dykes of trap porphyry, which, entering the rock nearly 
at right angles with its stratification, completely cut off or inter- 
cept the bed of iron ore, which is continuous and parallel with the 
strata. We shall notice these dykes more particularly in another 
place, as also the granite represented on the map in Annapolis 
county, which is undoubtedly subordinate to the clay slate, and 
all the other rocks in Nova Scotia. 
The bed of iron ore alluded to, is apparently about sixteen 
feet wide, though, as it had not been explored at the time we 
visited it, we are unable to speak positively on this point. Its 
direction, like that of the strata in which it is included, is north 
60° east; and it may be traced for some distance into the forest, 
until obscured by soil and under-brush. The ore on the surface, 
from which it may readily be detached, is usually of a compact 
strueture, sometimes inclining to slaty. Its external color is brown 
and reddish-brown, but its streak and powder are deep red ; con- 
sequently, it is in the state of peroxide ofiron. It is destitute of 
magnetism and metallic brilliancy, and in these respects differs 
greatly from the ore in other parts of this bed, in another coun- 
