10 



Relations of Geology to Agriculture 



beginning now to attract a considerable degree of attention among 

 intelligent and well-educated farmers in the older States of the 

 Union, and nowhere more, I believe, than among those who cul- 

 tivate this naturally favoured region of Western New York. 

 Where the debris of this Niagara shale is mixed up with those 

 of the Medina sandstone and Clinton groups— which is frequently 

 the case along the lines of junction — the admixtures are said to 

 produce soils of " unequalled fertility." This fact illustrates the 

 observation of all agricultural geologists in every country, that 

 the economical value of the land almost invariably increases 

 along the line of junction of two geological formations; provided 

 that coverings of far-transported drift do not prevent the sub- 

 jacent rocks from exercising their legitimate influence upon the 

 nature of the soils that cover them. The overlying Niagara 

 limestone, where it is uncovered with drift, has crumbled down 

 into thin open soils which produce wheat, but are better adapted 

 for Indian corn, or for the turnip husbandry, should this region 

 ever become familiarized to it. The surface of the limestone, 

 however, is generally overspread with fragments of the underlying 

 more crumbling shale which have been drifted over it, and thus 

 the belt No. 3 is, for the most part, overspread with deeper and 

 richer soils than would have resulted from the decay of the 

 lime-rock alone. 



It will be seen in the cross-section (No. III.) given in page 

 18, that the rise from No. 2 to No. 3 is by a sudden step or 

 cliff. This cliff is comparatively low towards the east, where the 

 section is taken, but increases in height towards the west. This 

 is owing to the circumstance that the bed of limestone increases 

 in thickness in proceeding from the east towards the west. In 

 Wayne county, where the section is taken, it is only 30 or 40 feet 

 thick; while on the Niagara river, above the rapids, it is 164 

 feet, and it still increases in thickness as we proceed farther 

 towards the v/est, along the northern shores of Lake Erie. This 

 is owing, most probably, to the increasing depth in that direction 

 of the ancient sea in which this limestone was deposited. 



This increasing thickness exercises an influence upon the 

 agricultural character of the country occupied by the Niagara 

 group in its western range, but its most sensible and striking 

 effect in Western New York is on the physical features of the 

 district. The outcrop of the limestone forms a long cliff or es- 

 carpment, which skirts the whole southern edge of the lake, and 

 presents to the traveller most beautiful and extensive views of 

 the flat country below and far over the waters of the lake 

 beyond. From the Genessee to the Niagara rivers this cliff is a 

 characteristic feature of the country, and is familiarly known by 

 the name of the " mountain-ridge." Over this escarpment of 



