40 Geology of Massachusetts. 
fine grass plats; while the sandy and more elevated land, enriched 
by the peat, would produce large crops of Indian corn, rye, and 
other vegetables. That this is not mere hypothesis, has been de- 
monstrated on a small scale, at least, upon one farm, that of the 
Hon. John Reed, of Yarmouth. Since the inhabitants of Cape 
Cod are beginning to turn their attention more and more to the cul- 
tivation of the soil, may we not expect that such a transformation will 
ere long be common. 
A few other mineral substances, interesting in an economical point 
of view, may perhaps be appropriately noticed in this place. 
1. Granular Quartz and Sand for the Manufacture of Glass. 
From some unknown cause, the granular quartz in Cheshire, 
Berkshire County, is so much disintegrated, that it easily crumbles 
into a beautiful white sand. This forms a good material for glass, 
and has been employed for this purpose a number of years; formerly 
in Cheshire and Warwick, Mass., and in Utica, N. Y.; and at present 
in Keene, N. H. It answers well for crown and cylinder glass. 
The quantity is inexhaustible. It is sold at the road, one mile from 
the bed, at 6} cents per bushel. This sand is employed extensively _ 
in Berkshire in the process of sawing marble. 
I am inclined to believe that some of the sand associated with 
the tertiary and diluvial formations in the state, particularly in 
the gneiss region, is pure enough to be employed in the manu- 
facture of coarse kinds of glass: such for instance as is found in 
Pelham and Leominster. The purest and coarsest variety, how- 
ever, that I have met with, forms the shores of Lock’s Pond, in the N. 
West part of Shutesbury. Similar sand, I believe is used for glass 
making in the eastern part of Connecticut. 
When examining the milk’ white quartz, that exists in mountain 
masses in the east part of Cumberland, R. I: the enquiry forced it- 
self upon my attention, whether it might not be employed in the man- 
ufacture of glass? Those particularly acquainted with that manufac- 
ture, can, however, judge better of this matter than myself. 
2. Buhrstone. 
In the same hill that furnishes the fine stratified quartz rock for 
architectural purposes, in Washington, three miles from Pittsfield, @ 
porous quartz is found, which greatly resembles, and is used instead 
of buhrstone, for millstones. Whether geologists would allow it to be 
