Notices of Mount Washington and the vicinity. 73 
The manner also in which the layers of clay, sand, and other 
soils are distributed is important, and comes within the province 
of geology. I noticed in one town a spot where this was very 
evident, the soil being sandy, and resting on a clay substratum. 
In one part of the field the corn was then four feet high, and in 
the other only two, although the soil was exactly alike and the 
manure the same in nature and amount. The cause was traced 
to the difference in the depth to a certain stratum of clay which — 
was near the surface, where the corn was luxuriant, and deep be- 
low, where the corn was feeble. So the manure sank in the lat- 
ter case too low to be reached by the roots of plants. 
I have discovered the actual bituminization of peat in a bog, 
at Limerick, in Maine. The substance is in fibrous masses like 
brown coal, and burns with yellow flame and smoke. It is found 
ten feet from the surface of the bog. When this substance is 
heated in a glass tube, it gives out an abundance of coal gas, and 
bitumen distils off freely. This, I believe, is the first instance 
in which peat has been observed actually passing into bitumin-~ 
ous coal. J have also found another curious fact, viz. three beds 
of anthracite coal in slate that has been melted into hornstone by 
— @ great mass of trap rocks. 
Art. 1V.—Popular Notices of Mount Washington and the 
vicinity; by G. W. Nicuots,—zwith additional remarks by 
the Editor. 
Bedford, N. Y., Jan. 10th, 1838. 
TO PROF. SILLIMAN. 
Dear Sir—Havine made a short tour through New England, 
in the summer of 1836, I now send you for the American Jour- 
nal, some notices of scenery and other objects, which fell under 
my observation while passing through the White mountains of 
New Hampshire. 
On Wednesday, August 17, 1836, I left Bath, (a neat and 
enterprising village on the Amonoosuck river,) for the White 
mountains. The ride from this place was truly delightful ; for it 
was under a clear sky, and very agreeably diversified by beau- 
tiful and splendid scenery. Our road lay, a part of the time, 
along the picturesque banks of the Amonoosuck, and it led us also 
Vou. XXXIV.—No. 1. 
