' J\L\ Barnes^ Section of the Canaan Mountain^ -^-c. 9 



tide into the market; but it failed, and has beeirslnce aban- 

 doned. The opening for thi^ purpose, was made by Jesse 

 Torrey, on the laftd of Andrew Hunter, in the township of 

 New-Lebanon, about half a mile north-west of the springs'. 

 The peat of the upper part of the bed is coarse and light, 

 but at the depth of three feet its texture is fine and compact, 

 and its colour a deep chesnut brown. It barns with a clear 

 white flafrie, and in general resembles that described by the 

 Rev F. C. Schaeffer, in the Am. Jour, of Science, Vol. t, 

 pp. 139 and 140. Tlie peat of this region is supported by 

 ^Jine blue clay^ remarkably viscid and tenacious, and free 

 from ail other substances. It is used for setting v^ats and 

 cisterns, and is a good material for making brick- The soil 

 of the low grounds is well adapted to the growth of grass, 

 and where it can be sufficiently drained, to the growth of 

 grain also. The prairie is surrounded by an abundant 

 growth of swamp ash, Fraxinus Jvglandifolia ; e\m,u1mns 

 Americana; soft maple, gc^t rubrum; and alder, alnus ^er- 

 Tulata. The shrubs are chiefly berry-alder, Prinos verti- 

 ciUatus; several species of willow, salix; and spice-bush, 

 haurxis Benzoin^ 



Ascending the fikst step* of our section, we find a sol- 

 id table land of a clayey loam. It is a good strong soil, but 

 tough, and of difficult cultivation. Wheat and rye sown on 

 it are frequently "winter-killed." The surface is overspread 

 with bowlders of gray-wack(b)5 and zchite qnartz(c). The 

 gray-wack appears to be the ruins of an extensive stratum 

 not at present found in place, any where in this region, to 

 which my observations have extended. It is of the coarse 

 granular kind denominated rubblestone,| and appears to 

 have bad its position immediately above the highest rock in 

 our section. It is sometimes of a. porphyritic $tructurey{d) 

 as appears from the specimens before you. Wells sunk in 

 this table-land give us frequent opportunities of obsejving 

 the suh-soif^ or what the farmers call the '^haril'j)an.^'* It is 

 the blue clay 9f the peat bottoms wit!) a large admixture of 

 gravel, so firmly cemented as to render it difficult to be brok- 

 Bp with a pick-axe. Wells of the usual diameter, are 

 sunk to any required depth without the least danger of "rav- 



*See the plate. tEatoa. 



Vol. V,-^No- !. 2 



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