Geological Reports on the State of Neio York. 21 



Sands, white and siliceous, are exported largely from the great 

 south beach to New York and the interior, for sawing marble, 

 making glass, &c. 



Bricks. — 300,000 to 350,000 are made annually near Jamaica. 

 Water is not abundant on Long Island, and is not permanent 

 on account of the porous nature of the strata, except at about the 

 ocean level. On Hempstead plains the wells are dug from 60 to 

 120 feet, through beds of gravel and sand, before water is reach- 

 ed. On most of the farms on Long Island, basin-shaped cavities 

 are made in the soil, puddled with clay, and filled by the rain wa- 

 ter ; they are called watering holes. 



Fossil shells and lignite are often found in digging wells on 

 Long Island. 



The soils in Q,ueens, Kings, and Richmond counties are dress- 

 ed with the sand, and the light soils with loam or clay, to pro- 

 duce a soil at once pulverulent and argillaceous, penetrable by 

 roots and retentive of moisture. 



Near New York city, many farmers expend from $50 to $70 

 per acre for street manure, which, with that of the yard composts, 

 mixed with lime, rotten sea weed, ashes, barilla, bone manure, 

 and fish, is in common use. 



Lime answers well on the light soils of Long Island and New 

 Jersey, and costs at Barnegat 6^ cents a bushel. 



The Clupea Manhaden of Mitchill, (Bony fish, Hardhead, or 

 Marshbanker, or White fish,) is very abundantly used for manure. 

 100,000,000 are said to be used annually on Long Island. 



Marls. — There are immense bodies in the State of New York, 

 particularly in Columbia and Dutchess counties, — in one lake 

 100,000 loads of fresh- water shell marl, and on a small island in 

 it, many bushels of Uniones and Anodontas were seen in piles, 

 having been carried there by the muskrats. 



There are also vast accumulations of peat in places too numer- 

 ous to be cited, and containing many millions of cords. 



Marbles. — It is impossible even to name the numerous places 

 where good workable marble is found ; that of Hudson was de- 

 scribed in this Journal, Yol. YI, p. 371. 



The primary rocks we pass without a remark. 



" Iron Ores. — The iron ore of Columbia and Dutchess county is very 

 abundant, and makes iron of the best quality. The mines are numerous, 

 and in general they are easily worked and free from water. The ore con- 



