MINERALS OF THE CUMBERLAND COAL-FIELD. 223 



also the principal localities of gypsum, which does not, however, 

 appear to be so abundant in the Lower Carboniferous rocks of this 

 county as in those of Hants and Colchester. 



A singular variety of limestone occurs in a number of places on 

 ilit- Joggins shore. It is the black bituminous limestone, so often 

 referred to in the section. This substance, though nut in sufficiently 

 thick beds to compete with the larger Lower Carboniferous limestones 

 for ordinary purposes, is the most valuable limestone in the county 

 for application as a manure, in consequence of the quantity of phos- 

 phate of lime contained in it, in the form of scales and bones of fish. 

 In consequence of its containing this valuable ingredient, it is worth 

 to the farmer more than three times the price of ordinary limestone, 

 and I have no doubt that it will be extensively worked for agricultural 

 purposes, when the use of mineral manures becomes more general 

 among the farmers of Cumberland. It is possible that even at present 

 the lime from the richest of these beds would be sufficiently appreciated 

 on trial to allow them to be profitably worked. 



The soils resting on the Carboniferous rocks of Cumberland are very 

 various in their quality, and run in lines across the county in corre- 

 spondence with the strikes of the groups of beds from which the 

 matt: rials of the surface soils have been derived. Rich loamy and 

 calcareous soils generally accompany the limestones, gypsums, and 

 marly clays and sandstones of the Lower Carboniferous system. The 

 soils of the coal measures vary from light and sometimes stony sands 

 to stiff clays. The Upper Coat formation produces soils approaching 

 somewhat to those of the Lower Carboniferous series. Hence along 

 the north .side of the Cobequid Hills we have a broad band of good 

 soil, and a similar one extending across the northern part of the county, 

 while between these are alternate belts of poor and rich soils; almost 

 the whole, however, being sufficiently deep and friable to be cultivable. 



The great fertility of the marsh-lands of the western coasts and 

 rivers, and the almost exclusive attention of the population on many 

 parts of the eastern shore to lumbering and shipbuilding, have caused 

 the value of the upland soils of Cumberland to be much underrated ; 

 but they are now constantly rising in the estimation of the people of 

 the county, and will do so more and more as improved methods of 

 cultivation become more generally diffused and appreciated. 



