2 I 2 DISTRIBUTION OF SOILS. 



as the furrow extends do further than the point al which the plough was arrested in its 

 motion, so the groove formed by the moving rock stops with the rock itself. From these 

 and kindred facts, we infer the genera] transportation of the soil, or at least of that portion 

 of it which is called drift, anil which in some parts of the country forms three-fourths of 

 it- entire contents. 



In order to put the reader in possession of all that relates to this subject, we must dwell 

 a little longer upon it. and state some exceptions to the statements above given. The 

 direction we hare assigned as that of the general movement of the boulders and drift, is 

 that which is indicated by extended observations; but some instances of deviation have 

 been observed, in which the drift lias been spread over a wider area, and surpassed the 

 limits we have given as those of its direction. In some cases, drift has been forced from 

 its wonted direction b] obstacles to its progress ; and in others, it has evidently followed 

 the course Ol pie-existing vallies. As examples of both cases, we may slate that the di- 

 rection of the grooves upon the slate of the Hudson and Champlain vallies is conformable 

 to the direction of these vallies; and where the direction of the grooves of a number of 

 vallies is compared with thai of the \ allies themselves, there is quite a coincidence. The 

 most remark aide exception we have observed lo the general direction of the grooves above 

 stated, occurs in the Catskill mountains. As we approach these mountains from the north, 

 we find the ^roo\ es directed towards the base of the mountains : but on reaching the base, 

 on the side toward the Hudson river, the grooves are deilected decidedly to the east, and 

 this deflection is the greatest in the gorges and mountain vallies. On the several routes 

 which wind around the spurs, the grooves point directly east and west by the compass, in 

 all cases where the \ allies themselves run east and west, thus forming a right angle with 

 the direction of the grooves at the northern base of the range; a change of direction evi- 

 dently produced by the obstacles met by the moving current, and which deflected it to the 

 eastward. These exceptional cases, however, are local, and very few in comparison to 

 those in which the grooves maintain the general direction from north to souih : nevertheless 

 ihev an' invested with much interest, and seem to point out thai the general shape and 

 contour of the surface, ai the time our soils were undergoing transportation, were much 

 the same as they are now, although that surface itself was essentially modified by the 

 operation which accumulated upon it these loose materials {rem a distance. 



§ 2. DISTRIBUTION OF SOILS BY DILUVIAL ACTION. 



We come now to the consideration of the local distribution of soils, and more especially 

 the particular manner in which the soil of New-York has been distributed. Boulders, in 

 the BJ81 place, are usually distributed in bells upon the hills or elevated grounds, and val- 

 lies are comparatively free from ihosc which have travelled a great distance. Boulders 

 are rarely found in vallies, flat lands, or meadows; but they are so much (he more nume- 

 rous upon hillsides, thai gome special condition must have favored their tendency to lodge 

 in these situations. We merelj adv< n to this general fact in this place, however, and pro- 

 ceed to inquire into their geographical distribution. 



