286 ANALYSES OF SOILS. 



This soil, treated with water in the usual proportion, gave 



Soluble matter 1-60 ' - 



Organic matter ■ 0*46 



Saline matter 1*15 



This consisted of 



Crenate of lime 0*60 



Silex... 0-01 



Sulphate of lime 0-40 



Alumina 0-03 



Chlorides of Jcalcium and magnesium O-IO 



1-14 



Another specimen of soil, taken from the range of hills between Manlius and Chitte- 

 nango, but uncultivated, gave 



Water of absorption 3-00 



Organic matter 5"15 



Silicates 78-00 



Peroxide of iron and alumina 13-00 



Carbonate of lime 1-00 



Magnesia trace. 



100-15 



This field slopes rapidly, and is more washed than the preceding ; and hence the soluble 

 matters, as lime and magnesia, seem to exist in proportion less than in the preceding 

 examples. 



The analysis of these several specimens of soil was undertaken for the purpose of ascer- 

 taining whether they were composed of mineral matter in about the same or equal pro- 

 portions, and the result shows that there is certainly a great uniformity in the composition 

 of the soils reposing upon the Marcellus slates. It is not, however, intended to represent 

 this slate as a compound whose elements are combined in definite proportions, or that the 

 soil will be found identical in the same range ; yet it seems that both soil and slate possess 

 a composition quite similar, though taken from points twenty or twenty-five miles distant 

 from each other. We deem this result to be one of the peculiarities of the New- York soils, 

 and that it arises from the regularity of her geological formations. It is for this reason, 

 too, that I have multiplied analyses. The mineral composition of the most important 

 formations, when once ascertained, is susceptible of application to a wide extent of country. 

 In support of this assertion, the reader may revert to the analyses of the soils resting on the 

 Marcellus slate. The similarity of composition is seen in the quantity of silicates, and of 

 lime, which each respectively furnishes, while the organic matter must necessarily vary 

 with the circumstances of the example taken. The same fact is established in respect to 



