192 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



Soils of the taconic region. 



We have already estimated this as forming one botanical region : 

 so too we may say of the soil, that it is but one, and similarly con- 

 stituted throughout the district under consideration. By this gene- 

 ralization, we do not mean to convey the impression that sand and 

 clay and other elements are so mixed together that neither predomi- 

 nates throughout the whole region, and that there is an entire uni- 

 formity of soil ; but we intend to say, that if any one town, or indeed l 

 almost any part of a town, is selected, its soil will represent that of 

 any other town in the region ; or the kinds of soil which are found 

 in any given place, are also common to other places. Then, again, 

 the adaptations as a whole are remarkably similar : or, to employ i 

 another comparison, the rocks, for instance, are mostly slates, yet 

 there are small belts of limestone and of sandstone ; but these are 

 so inferior in extent that they do not impart a predominating cha- 

 racter to the system, while the slates have a predominating cha- 

 racter. So we may say of the soil, that although sand and clay are 

 found, they are too limited to give character to the region. We of 

 course leave out of view the clays and sands of the tertiary formation. 



The first character we have to notice, is that the soil is a coarse% 

 soil : it is not only often full of cobblestones, but it is of a coarser 

 grain by far than the western wheat soils. This we consider as one 

 of its best characters : it admits air freely, and is not at all disposedi 

 to pack. We never see rain water standing in pools upon the sur- 

 face, but it invariably sinks out of sight. The color of the soil is a : 

 hght drab, darker when moist ; the lightest colored being the poorest. 

 As a whole, the soil is a proper admixture of the elements clay andu 

 sand, the former in combination with the protoxide of iron. 



The local distinctions which are made, are the following : First, ) We 

 clayey soils, which occupy the vallies and the lower elevations,, ori xl 

 the bases of the hills ; and secondly, gravelly and sandy soils, oc- 

 cupying also the vallies, but more commonly the hills : clay is often 

 beneath. The clayey soil has. not the tenacity which belongs to the 

 plastic clays ; that is, it does not adhere with a death grasp to one's 

 boots or shoes : it is usually a sandy clay. Where the clay is deep 

 beneath the surface, the soil is inclined to be leachy, though rarely 

 immoderately so, and there is scarcely a patch of this description 

 which may not be cured of this infirmity. The kind of sods termed 



ulj 



