♦GEOLOGY AND SOIL FORMATION 



It is always wise to start at the beginning; hence, since the 

 foundation of agriculture is the soil, it is well to know something 

 of how it was formed. This takes us back millions of years to 

 the time when u the earth was without form and void/' as the 

 rocks amply testify. A subject BO vast can be touched only in the 

 briefest manner in a work of this character. With the twofold 

 purpose of laying a wide foundation and impressing the thought 

 of the tremendous forces which have been, and still are, working 

 on the earth, making it a fit habitation for man, the crowning 

 glory of creation, and with the hope that this brief recital of the 

 working forces of nature through the cycles may create an interest 

 that will lead to further study of this most interesting subject, 

 the following outstanding facts are presented without attempt to 

 be scientific. 



THE BEGINNING 



Ages ago a great sea covered most of the state. The Adiron 

 dacks stood out as a great island, doubtless considerably higher 

 than at present. 



At a later ; eriod the Appalachian Mountains were raised up, 

 which created B barrier extending from the St. Lawrence River to 

 Alabama. All of eastern Xorth America was at that time raised 

 well above sea level ; in Xew York, the exception was about the 

 month of the present Hudson River. Later, toward the end of 

 what is known as the " Mesozoic " period, practically all the area 

 of Xew York State, except the Adirondacks and the Catskills, 

 had been reduced to a plain. Present ridges and valleys were not 

 in existence except potentially in the hidden differences of rock 

 structure. Then came a physical disturbance, the effect of which 

 was to produce a broad dome, sloping eastward, westward, and 

 northward toward the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and southward toward 

 the Gulf of Mexico. 



• This article is taken from an extensive agricultural work that was being 

 prepared for publication at the time of his death by the late Edward van 

 Alstyne, then director of farmers' institutes in this department. 



[20] 



