2 



Relations of GeoBgy to Agriculture 



of which it consists impart their prevailing physical characters 

 to the soils of this large portion of the colony. 

 1 It may be said with truth that the extensive prevalence of this 

 coal-field in New Brunswick forms alone a striking illustration 

 of the close natural connexion which exists between geological 

 structure and agricultural capability. Of every extensive coal- 

 field this might, to some extent, be said ; but there are two 

 circumstances in connexion with the coal measures of New 

 Brunswick, which in an especial manner determine the agricul- 

 tural relations of the soils which rest upon them. 



The first is the chemical nature of the numerous beds of rock 

 of which this coal formation consists. These are, for the most 

 part, grey sandstones, sometimes dark and greenish, and some- 

 times of a pale-yellow colour. The siliceous matter which they 

 contain is cemented together or mixed with only a small propor- 

 tion of clay (decayed felspar principally), so that when these 

 rocks crumble, which they readily do, they form light soils, pale 

 in colour, easily worked, little retentive of water, admitting 

 therefore of being ploughed early in spring and late in autumn ; 

 but hungry, greedy of manure, liable to be burnt up in droughty 

 summers, stnd less favourable for the production of successive 

 crops of hay. 



Of course, among the vast number of beds of varied thickness 

 which come to the surface in different parts of this large area, 

 there are many to which the above general description will 

 not apply — some which contain more clay and form stifFer soils ; 

 and some which, though green or gray internally, weather of a 

 red colour, and form reddish soils : but lightness in texture and 

 in colour forms the distinguishing characteristic of the soils of 

 the whole formation. The generalization drawn from this single 

 fact, therefore, gives us already a clear idea of the prevailing 

 physical character of the soils over a large portion of the pro- 

 vince, and illustrates the nature of the broad views which make 

 the possession of geological maps so valuable to the student of 

 general agriculture. 



In other countries, as in England and Scotland, the coal 

 measures contain a greater variety of rocks than is found over 

 the carboniferous area of New Brunswick. They are distin- 

 guished in our island by the frequent recurrence of beds of dark- 

 coloured shale, often of great thickness, which form cold, stiff, 

 dark-coloured, poor clays, hard to work, and, until thoroughly 

 drained, scarcely — except in rare seasons — remunerating the 

 farmer's labour. Numerous sandstones do indeed occur, pro- 

 ducing poor, sandy, and rocky soils ; but it is the conjoined 

 presence of the cold clays and the poor sands, which, in the 

 midst of their mineral riches, have caused large portions of the 

 counties of Durham and Northumberland to remain among the 



