78 m.u;nesi.\n slate. 



pounded with ihe calcareous manor of the Sparry and Stockbridge limestones, it forms an 

 excellent soil suitable for maize. 



The hills capped with this slate are all rounded; (he sides, however, an- quite steep, 

 particularly upon the northwestern slope. The Bcenery, through a great extenl of country 

 norlli and south, is very uniform, bul i- occasionally bold in the highest parts of the chain. 

 The most interesting and generally admired view is that of the Hopper and Gray Lock, 

 about five mde-: southwest of Williams College. The mountains here consist of two 

 ridges: the western or lowest ridge, which is about eighteen hundred feel high, is broken 

 through, or into two pans, quite to the foot of the ridge, nearly west of Graylock. Plate 

 XIII. is a view of Graylock and the western ridge, which has been broken down so as to 

 exhibit the higher and easterly ridge, the summit of which is known as the highest land 

 in New-England. In some parts <>l this elevated region, rocks are bare for hundreds of 

 feet in elevation, with a Bteep slope, and may. without much difficulty, be examined from 

 the base tn the top j st ill the summits are thickly clothed with soil, and good pasturage is 

 obtained upon the highest parts of the ridges. 



The \ iew at the head of iln> section illustrates the appearance of the Taconic range gene- 

 rally. It \\;ts taken from the south part of Stunt-hill in William-town (Massachusetts), 

 looking south. The hills are composed of slate gravel, and the rocks are usually deeply 

 ■ red with soil. Musi of the hills and ridges of this range abound in chesnut, intermixed 

 with black and white oak : the highest portions of the ridges are clothed with white birch 

 as a second growth. Sugar maple (.leer sacc/tarinum) frequently forms by itself large 

 grox---. Beech also abounds : and ash, bass, walnut and soli maple are intermixed, and 

 assist in making up the forest Tin- northern slopes of the higher ridges are usually 

 cluthed with black timber, cunsisting uf spruce and hemlock. The slupes uf these ranges 

 are beautiful in autumn, when they appear decked in all the gay colors th it adorn the 

 windows of a print shop; or arrayed rather in the brilliant robes of a bridal ceremony, 

 than in the sombre habiliments proper to announce the speedy approach of winter as the 

 grave of the year. 



§ 6. Stockbridge limestone. 



(h-izin of it) name. Differences in beds. Coloring matter of this limestone when clouded. Presence ofsuljihurtt 

 of iron and siler. Disintegration. Relative position. Its minerals. Range and cittnt. Doctrine of mtta- 

 morphism. 



This rock is widely and extensively known under the name of Stockbridge marble. 

 Most of the white and clouded limestones in market pass under this general name, though 

 they may have been obtained elsewhere. It is proper to remark thai the Philadelphia 

 marble consists of the same material, and is obtained from the same range of rock pro- 

 longed into Pennsylvania. For a general name, I prefer that of Stockbridge limestone, 



