:?30 



SOIL OF THE TACONIC DISTRICT. 



manifest in our analysis of the soils of the Wheat and Taconic districts : they differ, and 

 those differences can not be accounted for by supposing tliat they are due to local accidents. 

 Then again there is a similarity in the soils of the same geological regions, and this 

 similarity is not due to accident, but to tliose general inlluences which have prevailed and 

 operated over a widely extended territory. 



It is this uniformity in the composition of the New- York soils, which has led us on from 

 step to step, and kept us at work in this part of the survey ; and as this fact could not be 

 known at the outset, but must develop itself only in the progress of the work, it will 

 appear as a reason why some things have been omitted and others performed. 



We may now proceed to state in detail those more thorougli analyses, by which those 

 interested will be able to compare the composition of the soils of the several districts with 

 each other, and perceive the foundation upon which the pursuits in husbandry receive their 

 special impulses ; for the husbandry of a country can go only in certain channels with 

 much profit. Especially is this the case with the direct products of the soil ; and the im- 

 pidse which starts it, and impels it forward in this channel, is derived mainly from the 

 composition of tlie soil. The local influence of small markets affects merely the minor 

 products, or those wliich are derived from high garden culture. 



We shall first lay before our readers the constitution of the soil of the Taconic district. 

 By reference to the map, the extent of this district will be seen ; l)ut for a more perfect 

 understanding of its character, we must refer to the geological structure, and the peculiar 

 influence which diluvial action has exerted on this territory. 



Our attention has been directed to the soils of Rensselaer and Washington counties. 

 The first analysis is of a soil remarkable for the production of maize, and which has been 

 cultivated thirty or forty years. It is in the south part of Hoosic, on high ground, and 

 vmderlaid by the taconic slate. The analysis was made upon a dry soil, which lost on 

 drying at 300^, 4" 40, which is set down as water, but not reckoned as an element. 



ANALYSIS. 



First process. Second process. 



Organic matter 9-31 00-00 



Silicates and silex 77-00 70-87 



Peroxide of iron and alumina 11-58 4-50 



Lime ._ 1-31 1-63 



Magnesia 0-25 0-00 



99-45 77-00 



SoIuWe silex 2-12 



Phosphates 1-25 



3-37 



This soil is remarkable for its amount of vegetable matter, of soluble silex and the phos- 

 phates, especially when taken in connexion with the fact that it has been cultivated so 



