252 ANALYSES OF SOILS. 



ment, etc. ; and for the higher and sub-alpine region, see Plate xiii.) . The sub-alpine 

 region is thirty-five hundred feet above tide, but is covered by a dense vegetation ; and in 

 the highest part of the region, the spruce and Canadian balsam abound. 



Climate of the taconic district. 



From the great extent of this district, some constant difference of seasons must prevail 

 in it ; and some difference will also be found to exist, when the higher situations are con- 

 trasted with lower ones in the same latitude. One or two remarks will exemplify our 

 meaning. Williamstown in Massachusetts, and Lansingburgh in New- York, are nearly 

 on the same parallel : Williamstown is elevated about eight hundred feet above tide level, 

 and Lansingburgh but thirty feet ; the mean temperature of the former place is 45° " 59, 

 and that of the latter 48°* 17. Again, Poughkeepsie, at the point where the observations 

 were made, is in 41°41' north latitude, and has a mean temperature of 50° "74. The dif- 

 ference of observed mean temperatures, then, between the most southerly and northerly 

 points of the district, is 5°"15, the range of latitude being 2°11'. For further particulars 

 in regard to climate, see Chapter III. , . 



Quantity of rain in the Taconic district. Few observations have been made in this im- 

 portant inquiry, and hence only a few statements can be offered in this place. The average 

 quantity of rain which fell in Kinderhook, Columbia county, for nine years, was 35' 55 

 inches; in Mount-Pleasant, 23"31. In 1832, in the latter place, 53'46 inches; and in 

 1834, 40' 97 inches of rain fell. In Granville, near the northern termination of the district, 

 28' 88 inches fell in 1844; and in Lansingburgh, 2G'94 inches. 



Suggestions arising from the anlyses of the soils of the taconic district. 



1. The silex, when separated from the alumina and oxide of iron, is often in the form of 

 fine grains, or hyaline grains of sand, derived from the milky quartz of the slates, or from 

 the sandstone of the Taconic system. What is set down as silex, then, is quartz in grains, 

 and this performs merely a mechanical office in the soil. Another portion consists of sili- 

 cates of the alkalies, which remain undecomposed by the acids employed in the analysis. 



2. The peroxides of iron and alumina exist in the soils in a large proportion, though the 

 soils are by no means clayey. We obtain as much alumina frequently from these soils as 

 from the tertiary clay : they are far removed, however, from this clay in texture, though 

 the proportion is as great as has been stated above. This is a good feature, and indicates 

 a durable soil, and one upon which manure may be expended without an annual loss. 



3. These soils, without exception, contain less lime than is requisite to form the best and 

 most productive kinds of land. Magnesia, which has been found in every analysis of 

 these soils, may be regarded perhaps as sufficient : it is less soluble than lime, and hence it 

 remains longer ; and, besides, it is furnished by the decomposing slates in quantities sufficient 

 for the purposes of vegetation. 



4. The phosphates, though usually present in some form or other, are in too small a 



