310 AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM. 



LUCUBRATION ON SOILS. No. 3., 



The third great shelf or region, we have called the 

 hilly or tidelcss region,! which begins at a line drawn 

 from the head of tide water, and extends to the foot of 

 the mountains, presenting a very uneven surface, but by 

 no means incapable of cultivation, and comprehending 

 an immense range oi'soils, no less various than those iii 

 the alluvia! region. Here the gravel of the alluvial regi- 

 on, has assumed the full size ofwhat may without hesi- 

 tation be called stone ; and the marl which in the allu- 

 vial region, is found upwards of 20 feet underground, 

 may here be seen in many places consolidated into 

 limestone and marble, shewing itself above the surface ; 

 the washing of ages having worn and carried away the 

 soil that once covered them, to the depth in which marl 

 is found. Here the complexion of the soil is no longer 

 of that pale and faint colour, which is observable in the 

 greater portion of the alluvial region, which is given to it 

 by the coat of decayed vegetable matter, washed clay 

 and sand which form its surface, and were deposited in 

 the manner w^e have already described ; but, in the hilly 

 region, the greater part of this upper stratum has been 

 "washed away, and presents a surface that has been more 

 deeply coloured with age. The colours are various ac- 

 cording to circumstanes, and the strata which have been 

 uncovered. 



The silieiouspartof the soil in this region, instead oa 

 being found in a great state of division, as in fine sand 

 and fine gravel, such as generally prevails in the alluvial 

 region, and particularly in the first shelves of the land as 

 we ascend from the mouths of the great rivers that emp- 

 ty into the ocean, here presents itself in a more concen- 

 trated state, in the form of large stones. The argil o^ 

 this region is also more pure, that is, less mixed with other 

 eubstances, more firm and frequently ochrepus. These 



X Mr. Volney and other naturalists, include it in the 

 alluvial. 



