New York State 23 



water, and a narrow arm of the sea extended through the Hudson 

 and Champlain valleys, reaching up the St. Lawrence valley and to 

 the Ontario basin. On the Champlain beaches have been found 

 the bones of whales and walruses. In the lower Hudson valley 

 the deposits of this age are about seventy feet above sea level ; at 

 Albany, a little over 300 feet. 



The most recent movements of the earth's crust gradually 

 expelled the Champlain sea and left the land at its present altitude. 

 During the past century surveys show that the upward movement 

 is still progressing about the Great Lakes at the rate of from 

 live inches to 100 miles in a century. 



The most casual study of the above readily indicates how these 

 gigantic upheavals have built our soils and changed their char- 

 acter, explaining their diversity and the oft-repeated statement 

 as to the immense quantities of mineral matter stored in them for 

 crop production from the disintegration of the rocks. 



LIMESTONE LANDS 



The existence of limestone ridges extending over so much of 

 the state -and most abund-ant along the main path of the glaciers 

 is thus explained. Besides limestone of glacial origin, there are 

 some deposits — though insignificant compared with the total- 

 amount of limestone land — formed by chemical action. Xatural 

 water contains carbon dioxide in solution. By heat or exposure 

 the carbonic gas is driven off ; whereupon the various forms of 

 lime are precipitated and collect as a deposit. The farm lands 

 containing, or adjacent to, limestone of any sort are some of the 

 most productive in the state, lime being an important factor in 

 the growth of many plants, particularly the clovers. 



It is interesting to note in this connection that today, in some 

 instances, these lands are benefited by an application of lime; the 

 available supply being too small after years of leaching and genera- 

 tions of cropping. Over most of the state the application of 

 lime is a comparatively inexpensive process, the limestone rock 

 simply needing to be ground and brought to the soils requiring it. 

 A generation or two ago the use of lime was quite common. It was 

 usually obtained in a more or less caustic state as a by-product 

 from kilns where lime was burned for commercial purposes. Dur- 



