5 SO PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



not so essential to the growth of crops in the calcareous areas as else 

 where. Nevertheless, I have observed that where lime is the most 

 abundant, the farmers are apt to use a great deal of it, even burning it 

 for their own use from the ledges on their acres. If chemical analyses 

 are reliable, we ought to find large returns of potatoes, peas, beans, 

 clover, and rye from the calcareous area. 



Besides the sources of lime mentioned, there are beds of the best 

 quality of limestone for agricultural purposes in Plainfield, Lyme, Orford, 

 Haverhill, Lisbon, Lyman, Littleton, and elsewhere. Nothing except a 

 demand for the manufactured lime is necessary to cause the proprietors 

 of these beds to produce this valuable mineral in large quantities. 



Slaty Soils. Of the two, the slaty soils of the Connecticut valley are 

 superior to those along the coast. The rock is apt to be a schist con 

 taining much alumina, a little lime and magnesia, and ten or twelve per 

 cent, of soda and potassa ; other members are soft slates, which are rich 

 in alumina, and sometimes lime. The area south of Claremont is more 

 apt to contain lime than potassa. When pulverized by the ice of the 

 drift period, they give rise to beds of clay. The second class of slaty 

 soils receives many boulders of granite through ice transportation, which 

 are not so beneficial as the lime brought into the Connecticut valley from 

 Vermont and Canada. 



Granitic Soils. The greater portion of the state is underlaid by gneiss. 

 This is practically the same as granite; so that the words granite and 

 gneiss convey the same meaning, so far as mineral composition is con 

 cerned. I think that the gneiss is apt to produce better soils than 

 granite. The soluble element present is usually potash, from ten to 

 twelve per cent. This is certainly a very valuable substance to be added 

 to the soil; and nature is crumbling down the granites continually. It 

 is done by the action of the atmosphere. The burning of wood and 

 coal sends out carbonic acid. Whatever of this is not utilized by grow 

 ing plants is left in the air to be dissolved in rain-water. The rain soaks 

 into the rocks, and thus the acid acts upon the feldspars, setting free the 

 potash, perhaps combining with it to form the carbonate (or saleratus). 

 Should this mix with earth, the result will be beneficial to the crops. I 

 doubt not that the pulverization of granite will benefit soils. No one 

 could expect to accomplish great things in this way, since the decompo- 



