INTRODUCTION. 



13 



boxes annually, to the value of over five millions of money, and that more 

 than two-thirds of these are exported to the United States. 



Such a survey as ought to be made, would exhibit another thing which 

 may soon be of vital importance to the state; a thing which comes home 

 especially to the farmers. It is well known that the supply of water is 

 yearly becoming less abundant. Such a survey would show where arte- 

 sian wells could be sunk, from which a never-failing supply of water 

 could be obtained. This may be determined by the scientific man with 

 as much certainty as the character of the underlying soil. A few years 

 ago, in Paris, when water was very much needed, an artesian well was 



sunk under the direction of scientific men, and water was found an 



everlasting fountain— though it was after eight years of labor, and at a 

 depth of 1,900 feet. 



It is said that the French in conquering Algiers, took with them men of 

 science, and as they progressed, they established villages and sunk arte- 

 sian wells, finding water even in the desert. The wandering Arabs 

 exclaimed, ■ what can we do with a people who make water rise out of the 

 ground wherever they please?' And they conquered, perhaps, as much by 

 the impressions made by their scientific knowledge, as by the force of 

 their arms." * * * * 



Let us look now to a few of the results of the geological survey of 

 Kentucky, which has been in progress since 1855. 



In some of the counties, where the labors of the geologist have estab- 

 lished the existence of beds of good workable coal, the intrinsic value of 

 the land rose, in a single season, twenty-five per cent, all over the county; 

 while thf- value of the land, in many locations of the same county, offer- 

 ing peculiar advantages adjacent to navigable streams, rose, in the course 

 of the same period of time, from five to ten dollars per acre, up to fifty 

 and sixty dollars. And these prices have remained firm and permanent 

 up to the present time, showing that the valuation was real, intrinsic and 

 substantial. 



Where the simultaneous occurrence of both coal and abundant beds of 

 rich iron ore has been proved, the rise in the value of the property has 

 been proportionally greater. These are, indeed, direct and tangible 

 advantages, which all can appreciate and comprehend, and which come 

 home to the owners of property, and to the citizens of the state. 



It will be apparent, that capital and labor must speedily flow towards 

 localities where such valuable mineral resources have been demonstrated 

 to exist. 



Further: the elaborate, comparative chemical analyses of the soils col- 



