DRIFT, ETC. 27 



'increase the importance and interest of the phenomenon here al- 

 'luded to. The first and most important fact is, that soils have been 

 icarried from north to south, and that in no well authenticated in- 

 stance in this country has this movement been from south to north. 

 From this fact, then, follows an easy, though practical application 

 of the fact, viz : that in searching for certain peculiarities of a 

 ^iven soil, we must go north ; for the rock itself which has fur- 

 lished originally the material composing the soil will probably be 

 bund only in this direction. Take, for example, the distribution 

 )f the Onondaga limestone, which forms the surface rock from the 

 iudson to Lake Erie, and where do we find its fragments ? We 

 j',ertainly never find them a mile north of the outcropping edge of 

 he rock ; but they are every where found south within a limited 

 ange, and wherever they are found in numbers they do modify 

 he soil ; — and wherever we travel, if we find the boulders or the 

 ravel of a certain character, we may, without experiment or even 

 irther observation, form some exact and definite conclusions in 

 egard to the nature and properties of the soil. These considera- 

 ons, then, show us one very important practical geological fact — 

 ne which every agriculturist ought to know, and which we are 

 jssured may be often applied in investigations upon the nature and 

 pmposition of soils in this country, and which will explain some 

 icts in husbandry which otherwise would remain inexplicable. 

 Again, the course or direction in which the drift or soil has been 

 ansported is determined by furrows upon the rock beneath* 

 hese furrows correspond in direction with the course of the drift, 

 hat they are made by gravel and sandstones passing along over 

 le rocks, is proved by actual observation ; for example, a boulder 

 often found at the extremity of the furrow which it has been 

 strumental in forming ; it is precisely in the position in which 

 ,e farmer leaves his plough in its furrow when he unyokes his 

 am at the sound of the dinner horn, and its course for a limited 

 "Stance may be traced with equal certainty. On this fact rests 

 le statement which we have just made in regard to the agents 

 uich have scored the strata. 



We now proceed to give the language of the paper which we 

 jepared on the subject of drift for the Associntion of Geologists 

 Ed Naturalists. The remarks we have already made do not form 

 a)art of this communication, but were deemed necessary in this 



