Geological Survey/ Can ada. 37 



The ruins of the crystalline limestone constitute a most fruitful 

 soil, so much so that the lots first cleared in any settled area of 

 the Laurentian country, usually coincide with its range. In these 

 limestones phosphate of lime is sometimes present in great abun- 

 dance, and there is scarcely ever any large exposure of them ex- 

 amined, in which small crystals of the phosphate are not discern- 

 able by the naked eye. Mica and iron pyrites are present, to fur- 

 nish other essential ingredients, and the easily disintegrating cha- 

 racter of the rock readily permits its reduction to a soil. The 

 effects of these limestones and lime-feldspars are not however con- 

 fined to the immediate localities in which the beds are found, for 

 boulders of them are met with transported to southern parts, even 

 far on the fossiliferous rocks beyond ; and there can be little doubt 

 that their fragments are very generally mixed with the soils of 

 the Laurentian country. Thus while the diversity of minerals in 

 the different rocks of the series furnishes the ingredients required 

 to constitute good soils, the agency of the drift has mingled them, 

 and considering the resistance to disintegration offered by most of 

 the rocks, with the exception of the limestome, the deficiencies that 

 may exist will rather be in the quantity of soil covering the rocks 

 in elevated parts, than in its quality where the materials have 

 been accumulated." 



The question of the agricultural value of the Laurentian dis- 

 trict thus hinges on the proportion of limestone and lime-feldspar, 

 but especially of the former, as it alone gives a deep and low-lying 

 soil, containing the elements of fertility. The settlers, without 

 knowing anything, of the causes, have discovered the relative 

 value of these soils, and hence we are informed that the clearing s 

 stretch along the limestone valleys almost exclusively. These 

 narrow belts, which we may roughly estimate as amounting, in the 

 districts referred to in this report, to from one-sixth to one-tenth 

 of the whole, may be regarded as of great agricultural value. 

 Such portions of the intervening hilly country as have received a 

 considerable share of calcareous debris, and are not too steep, 

 rocky, or stony, to admit of cultivation, may, when labour becomes 

 cheaper, be profitably converted into farms or sheep pastures. In 

 the meantime, they will supply an enormous quantity of valuable 

 timber. Gradually there will grow up in the glens of the Lauren- 

 tian territory, a race of hardy Canadian hill-men, who, if suffi- 

 ciently leavened by the elevating influences of Christianity and 

 education, will be of inestimable value to the country, both in 

 peace and war. For a long time, however, it is evident that the 



