6 Geology of Massachusetts. 
their unrivalled exuberance and beauty. ‘Those in Great Barring- 
ton, and Sheffield are scarcely less inviting. 
There is one variety of alluvial soil in this State, that deserves 
more attention from our agriculturalists. J refer to those numerous 
uncultivated swamps, which have for ages been the reservoirs of rich 
soil, that has been washed thither by rains and brooks. ‘To reclaim 
them, does, indeed, require not a little labor and expense. But 
where the effort has been successful, the great and continued exuber- 
ance of these spots, has astonished and amply repaid the experiment- 
er. Even in those cases where they cannot be reclaimed, which I 
believe to be few, they ought at least to be converted into manure, 
and spread again over those higher regions around, from which, by 
slow aqueous agency, they have been washed away. Very many of 
the most barren regions in the State, might, by this means, be cloth- 
ed with fertility and plenty. 
Diluvium. 
This occupies more of the surface in Massachusetts than any oth- 
er stratum. It is not generally distinguished from alluvium ; but it is 
usually much coarser, being made up commonly of large pebbles, or 
rounded stones, mixed with sand and fragments of every size, which 
are often piled up in rounded hills to a considerable height; and under 
such circumstances, as preclude the probability that it could have 
resulted from existing streams. Indeed, it is spread over the highest 
mountains, wherever it could find a lodgment, and appears to have 
resulted from some powerful current of water, which, in early times, 
swept over the globe. 
In a scientific point of view, this is one of the most interesting for- 
mations in the State; and in the proper place, I shall exhibit several 
facts respecting its relations and mode of occurrence. But in an 
agricultural point of view, it is the least interesting of all our strata ; 
for of all the soils, it is the most unfriendly to rich vegetation. And 
as it is spread in a good measure over every kind of rock, it often 
prevents the formation of a good soil, from the decomposition of the 
rock. It is in general easily recognized in the most sterile places, 
in the form of low-rounded hills, composed almost entirely of coarse 
pebbles, ox-cobble stones, and sometimes larger rounded masses of 
rock, called bowlders, mixed with coarse sand, and covered with a 
stinted vegetation. It was evidently deposited by currents rushing vio- 
lently over the surface ; since only the coarser materials, which were 
driven along, were left; while the finer particles were kept suspen- 
