in North-Eastern America, 



5 



walnut {Juglans cinerea) — or Butternut, as it is called from its 

 large oily nut — is one of those which appear to delight in calca- 

 reous soils. It is not known in the woods of Nova Scotia, but it 

 occasionally abounds on the blue limestone ridges of New Bruns- 

 wick. The Butternut ridcje, the seat of a thriving settlement, 

 about eight miles north of the Sussex vale, derives its name from 

 having been originally covered with these trees. It consists of the 

 blue limestone lying between the red conglomerate (1) on the 

 one hand, and the red marls (3) on the other, and the settlement 

 owes its existence altogether to these happy geological condi- 

 tions. The explorer of still untrodden regions, from a distance 

 of many miles, sees the setting sun in summer playing among 

 the broad leaves of the butternut, or marks their peculiar 

 autumnal tints when winter approaches, and records at once that 

 good land exists on the spot, and a place desirable for settle- 

 ment. The geologist may with almost equal certainty pronounce 

 that there also limestone rocks abound, and near them in all 

 probability the red rocks represented in our section. 



Above the blue limestone rest thin beds of soft red marl, in 

 which occur deposits of gypsum often of great extent and thick- 

 ness. The softness of these beds has caused them to crumble 

 readily and to form deep soils, and has also exposed them to be 

 washed away by the rains and by the currents of water which in 

 ancient times flowed over them. Hence the surface, where these 

 rocks prevail, is of an undulating character, or it is scooped out 

 into valleys of greater or less depth and breadth as is represented 

 in the section. The soil is strong and rich, and in its natural 

 state is covered with broad-leaved trees, where it is not over- 

 saturated with water. When cleared, it yields excellent crops of 

 wheat, and when laid sufficiently dry by arterial drainage, or by 

 smaller conduits, it becomes fitted for almost every crop to which 

 the climate is propitious. I mention arterial drainage, because 

 • the same soft character of these rocks which has led to the 

 scooping out of valleys, has also caused the production in many 

 places of flat plains possessing little natural inclination or outfall, 

 and on which the waters from springs and rains and melting- 

 snows continually rest. Such places are covered by sv. amps or 

 stunted forests of youthful pines. They can be laid dry and 

 fitted for agricultural labour only by drainage operations, some- 

 times on a large scale, and such as in the present partial settle- 

 ment of the colony, and while abundance of dry unoccupied land 

 still remains in the market, are not likely to be undertaken 

 either by individual proprietors, or at the expense of the pro- 

 vincial authorities. 



To the red marls with gypsum succeed the grey conglomerates 

 and sandstones of the coal measures (4, 5, 6, 7), of which I have 



