214 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Sei 



Interesting Extracts of Letters from Chautauque. 



AGRICULTURAL GEOLOGY, &c. 

 Were our soil not of that class denominated 

 acid soils, we might be much benefited by the 

 use of gypsum. Having no marl in our vicini- 

 ty, we have to use the more tedious and slow 

 process of a clover ley ; and (in most cases,) 

 barn-yard manure that has been leached by the 

 snows and rains of winter and spring. Such 

 farmers I think cannot get a very great dividend 

 on their bank (1 mean manure bank) stock. I 

 am aware that there exists much perplexity as to 

 the correct treatment of soils here, for they are 

 of several different kinds, on the same farm. — 

 They seem to be the disintegration of different 

 strata of rock, and at different epocs. There is 

 also the very marked appearance of the two first 

 tables as you recede from Lake Erie, being once 

 the beach of the lake, from the similar manner 

 of the position of the large stone under the sur- 

 face, and also the vast amount of washed pebble- 

 stones intermixed with coarse sand and dirt. — 

 The second flat is, as I before stated, an acid soil, 

 gypsum giving no known results either on grass, 

 grain, or cloven 



The third flat is a deposit made by the many 

 streams that flow into the lake from the hill, 

 which is from two to five miles from the lake. — 

 Here is a fine chance for the geologist to display 

 himself agriculturally. I should be delighted to 

 see Dr. Lee, in this sectipn during some of his 

 vacations, to take a peep at our country and soils, 

 and say to us what we need to walk up by the 

 side of old Monroe and Genesee. 



I have bought me a farm of fifty acres, lying 

 on the third, and running up to the hill nearly. 

 It is in rather a low state. I shall drop the 

 handsaw and plane for the hoe and plow. Any 

 advice relative to our soils and their manage- 

 ment will be gladly received. I shall write still 

 more on the soils and what grains seem best 

 adapted. Yours respectfully, 



B. S. E. 



Mr. Editor : — Again I will trespass on your 

 time for a few moments, while I renew my en- 

 gagement in my previous letter. As I stated, 

 •the lake level has three distinct, different soils, 

 unlike in their general features. The first, com- 

 mencing at the shore of the lake, is a sand inter- 

 niixed with yellow dirt, or a species of loam, 

 varying from ten to twenty feet in thickness, ly- 

 ing directly upon strata of black slate, strongly 

 impregnated with carbureted hydrogen gas. — 

 This strata of rock is underlaid with a thin layer 

 of hard, grey stone, much used for building pur- 

 poses, lying at and under the surface of the wa- 

 ter. Immediately under this is the Lockport 

 fossiliferous limestone, of a thickness not here 

 ascertained. Mr. Hall, state geologist, visited 

 here, but I did not get the depth. 



The stratum of rock as presented at the shore 



of the lake, exhibits various contortions, evident- 

 ly the action of volcanic force, which force the 

 surface presents ; the soil, lying in layers of the 

 same shape of rock, underlaying. This soil is 

 also impregnated with the above mentioned gas ; 

 and, also held in solution by water, are alumina 

 and sulphate of iron, which is oflen found chrys- 

 talized by evaporation of the water as it exudes 

 and drips down the edge of the rocks. This 

 soil is well supplied with moisture, it being ex- 

 cellent grass land, and excellent for spring grains, 

 and in some places for winter, giving a larger 

 yield than either of the others. The timber 

 growing upon it is the same generally found in 

 this latitude and climate. The beech, linden or 

 bass, sugar maple, iron wood, hemlock, and some 

 ash and whitewood, &c. This range varies from 

 a half to one mile in width. Between this and 

 the gravel range, as it is termed, is a strip of 

 spouty land, varying in width, termed swail, fill- 

 ed with durable springs of excellent water, some 

 of which are sufficient to carry machinery. 



The gravel, or second range, generally rises 

 from ten to fifty feet above the first, and gradu- 

 ally rises until it strikes the third range. It is 

 denominated the gravel ridge from the fact that 

 it is formed entirely of small round washed peb- 

 bles, as found on the present beach of the lake, 

 intermixed with soil formed by the abrasion of 

 the different kinds of stone of which the ridge is 

 composed. In digging for wells and other pur- 

 poses, the gravel is found in layers of coarse and 

 fine gravel alternating ; in some of the layers of 

 both is found a substance, white and sometimes 

 of a yellowish cast, which unites the pebbles so 

 that it is almost impossible to break it up with 

 a pick. There are occasionally large flat stones 

 interspersed, as they would naturally be thrown 

 upon the beach of as large a body of water as 

 Lake Erie. The soil is loose, having a deep 

 loose sub-soil, so that the superabundant water 

 passes freely off; in summers too dry many times.. 



You discover that whatever we apply as ma- 

 nure does not remain long, consequently a con- 

 stant application is necessary for the increase of 

 the elements necessary to the increased produc- 

 tiveness of the soil. The general custom is to 

 apply the manure before plowing — in my opin- 

 ion incorrect for a loose soil, preparing top dress- 

 ing after plowing, ivell mixed by the use of the 

 liarroxo ; not merely once or twice passed over, 

 but a continuation until both soil and manure 

 become finely cut and united ; then apply the 

 seed and well harrow in. The rains will then 

 decompose the manure, and carry the elements 

 to the roots of plants ; while, on the other hand, 

 I the manure is at once placed deep below the 

 roots of n)Ost plants while growing, and by the 

 time that they are matured suflicient to reach the 

 manure, most of it has been carried down, by 

 rains, to enrich the sub-soil, and by discount the 

 farmer suffers a loss of more than one-half of his 



