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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF MAINE. 

 We find in the New York Journal of Com- 

 merce the annexed synopsis of the results of a 

 partial geological survey of the State of Maine, 

 made under direction of the Legislature by E. 

 Holmes, of Winthrop, Me., naturalist, and C. H. 

 Hitchcock, of Amherst, Mass., geologist. Many 

 interesting and important facts are brought to 

 light by the survey : 



Late in the season of 1861, these two gentle- 

 men with a number of assistants and a flotilla of 

 canoes, explored a large district, known previous- 

 ly only to lumbermen. They went up the east 

 branch of the Penobscot its whole length, ex- 

 plored the vicinity of Mount Katahdin, examined 

 the country around the Allequash Lakes, descend- 

 ed the Allequash river, explored the St. Francis 

 river to the State line, travelled down the St. Jolin 

 river from Number Eleven, or the latitude of Que- 

 bec, to Woodstock, N. B., and explored the Eagle 

 Lakes in the north-cast part of the State, making 

 in all over 800 miles travelled in birch canoes. 

 Besides these routes, they have also explored the 

 whole of the eastern boundary. The results of 

 these labors are given in an octavo volume of 400 

 pages. The following ai-e some of the most in- 

 teresting results of these explorations : 



1. There is a fine agricultural region in this new 

 country. The eastern parts of Aroostook county 

 are said to be the finest portions, while no part of 

 the whole region examined can be said to be poor ; 

 good farms can be found anywhere north of civil- 

 ization. The rank vegetation of some townshii) 

 reservations reminded the explorers of tropical 

 luxuriance. 



Some have supposed that the climate was too 

 severe to permit Indian corn to flourish in the 

 northern part of iMaine. But these ex])lorers saw 

 fields of it above the latitude of Quebec, nearly 

 ready for harvesting. They discovered some in- 

 dications of a milder climate in the extreme north. 

 There is a bolt of country from thirty to fifty miles 

 wide in which sub-arctic plants were found, indi- 

 cating cold climate. But north of this cold zone, 

 and embracing the greater portion of the territo- 

 tory, were found a number of plants which no 

 botanists had ever seen before as fur north as New 

 England or Massachusetts. Hence the agricultu- 

 ral region of Northern Maine Avas found to pos- 

 sess advantages over the West. Tlie climate per- 

 mits the cultivation of all the important products, 

 and the communication with the markets is ten- 

 fold easier. Moreover, new .settlers are never 

 troubled with the Western fevers. It is one of 

 the healthiest regions in the country, being visited 

 in the winter by consumptive invalids even, with 

 benefit. 



A number of large beds of natural fertilizers 

 were discovered in the eastern part of Aroostook, 

 chiefly beds of marl, with some indications of gyp- 

 sum. Many of those northern townships are held 

 by private parties, who are opposed to the pro- 

 gress of civilization, because of the injury result- 

 ing thereupon to the timber lands. But the State 

 still owns a large part of the finest agricultural 

 districts, and it encourages emigration by grant- 

 ing to new settlers one or two townships every 

 year. 



2. Valuable quarries, of mai'ble and other min- 



erals, were found. The marble, in particular, is 

 very abundant, and occurs in a belt of land sev- 

 eral miles wide, running north-east and south- 

 west, perhaps f jr a hundred miles. The marble 

 is pure white, of the statuary variety. Specimens 

 of it were shown to experienced sculptors, who 

 declared it to be superior to the best imported 

 marl:)le. 



Quarries of limestone for the manufacture of 

 quick lime, and of roofing slate, were found to be 

 abundant. A few opportunities for the smelting 

 of iron are described. The extreme north-west 

 part of the State, or on the upper St. John river, 

 is pronounced to be a gold region, whose value 

 was not determined for want of time. Sugges- 

 tions are made that in the eastern part of Aroos- 

 took and the northern part of Washington county 

 valuable ores of copper may be found. 



In another part of the State this report states 

 that a large mass of tin ore has been discovered, 

 and that the indications for a tin mine are better 

 than anything yet discovered in the country. It 

 is to be hoped that this indication will bring a 

 good tin district to light, since all our suppUes of 

 this metal are foreign. 



3. Numerous important geological discoveries 

 are noticed in the report, which are mostly of 

 technical interest. The ex])lorers found a highly 

 fossiliferous region,where unfossiliferous rocks had 

 previously been supposed to predominate. One of 

 the new localities of fossils is said to have attract- 

 ed much attention from savans already. The new 

 belts of rocks discovered are partly equivalent of 

 the Lower Helderberg Group and the Oriskany 

 sandstone of New York. 



The operations of the survey will be carried on 

 vigorously the coming season. As soon as the 

 snow is gone, an examination will be made of the 

 wild lands bordering on Canada, from the New 

 Hampshire line to the latitude of Quebec, a re- 

 gion as unknown to science and the public gener- 

 ally, as the Russian American possessions. Later 

 in the season a vigilant search Avill be made in 

 Wasliington and Aroostook counties for copper 

 ore. Meanwhile a party of naturalists will cruise 

 oft" the seacoast the whole season, collecting spec- 

 imens of marine animals by dredging and with 

 lines, as well as visiting many points and islands 

 rarely explored. 



GOOD TASTE. 



Good taste is the "luminous shadow" of all the 

 virtues. It is social discretion, it is intellectual 

 kindness, it is external modesty and propriety, it 

 is apparent unselfishness. It wounds no feelings, 

 it infringes on no decorums, it respects all scru- 

 ples. A man thus gifted, even though he be not 

 a wit, spreads a genial influence about him from 

 the trust he inspires. The stift' man can unbend, 

 the cold can thaw, the fastidious can repose on 

 him. No one is committed to more than he choos- 

 es — no ungenerous use is made of an unusual or 

 transient impulse. Good taste is practical, though 

 not deep, knowledge of character ; it is jiorceptiou 

 of the distinctive points of every occasion ; and 

 thus it reconciles and harmonizes where bad taste 

 perpetuates differences and necessitates separa- 

 tions. And yet we by no means wish to make good 

 taste a synonym either for virtue or intellect — it 

 is rather that quality which sets ofi" both at their 



