112 THE TRIAS OR NEW RED SANDSTONE. 



It is worthy of note, that this ridge, probably marking the site of 

 a line of vents of the New Red Sandstone period, and occurring in a 

 depression between two ancient hilly districts, so nearly coincides in 

 direction with these older lines of disturbance. The trap rocks asso- 

 ciated with the New Red Sandstone do not precisely coincide in mineral 

 character with any that I have observed in other parts of Nova Scotia, 

 though it is possible that some of the igneous rocks which have pene- 

 trated and disturbed the Carboniferous rocks of various parts of this 

 province may belong to the New Red Sandstone period, or are of a 

 date not long anterior to it." 



The red sandstone formation affords fine loamy friable soils, 

 especially adapted to the culture of fruit and of the potato. The red 

 sandstone valleys of Annapolis and King's are celebrated for their 

 apple orchards, which furnish large quantities of excellent fruit for 

 exportation to the other parts of the colonies, and even to the United 

 States and Great Britain. The same districts are well adapted to the 

 growth of Indian corn, large quantities of which are annually pro- 

 duced ; and in those years in which the potato has failed over nearly 

 the whole of America, it has remained uninjured in the red sandy 

 loams of Comwallis, the farmers of which have in consequence realized 

 large sums by supplying the markets of the New England states. 

 The calcareous matter which serves as a cement to the sandstone, 

 and the alkalis derived from the fragments of trap which have been 

 scattered through the soil in the Drift period, add much to the fertility 

 of these districts. 



The agricultural capabilities of the trap are very different from 

 those of the red sandstone. The soil, formed of decomposed trap, is 

 very rich in the mineral ingredients most necessary to cultivated 

 plants. It produces in its natural state a most luxuriant growth of 

 timber, and yields excellent crops when recently reclaimed from the 

 forest ; but, perhaps from its porous and permeable texture, it is said 

 not long to retain its fertility. I fear, however, that very bad 

 methods of farming have generally been applied to it. The situation 

 and exposure of the trap are singularly different from those of its con- 

 temporary the red sandstone. The latter usually appears in low and 

 sheltered valleys. The trap, on the other hand, forms steep acclivi- 

 ties and high table-lands, exposed to the full force of the storms and 

 changes of an extreme and variable climate ; while its ranges of 

 rugged cliffs, with their cascades, their terrible landslips, and the wild 

 beating of the winds and waves upon their bare fronts, present nature 

 in an aspect altogether different from that which she wears in the 

 quiet valleys of the red sandstone. These differences are, even in this 



