CONNECTICUT. 205 



s 



so nearly to the adjoining States of Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, that tlie difFerence in the 

 chmate can be hardly sensible. The winters are perhaps a little more temperate, and the sum- 

 mer a few days earlier than in the western ])art of Massachusetts. 



7. Soil. The soil is generally good, but of various kinds ; the valley of the Connecticut 

 has generally a strong and fertile argillaceous loam, varying in different sections from a hard, 

 stiff" clay, to a light, sandy loam, according to the prevalence of aluminous, or siliceous earth. 

 The Quinipiack valley is generally fertile, but light and sandy in the southern part. In the 

 eastern portion of the State the prevailing soil is warm, strong, fertile, and excellent for graz- 

 ing. The northwestern part is in some places cold and sterile, but is generahy a good grazing 

 country. In the western part of the State are many fertile districts. 



8. Geology. The first two ranges of mountains beginning at the west are granitic, the next 

 is a greenstone range, corresponding with the trap or greenstone of the old continent. The 

 next, is also a greenstone range, and the fifth, and most easterly, is granitic. At New Haven, a 

 region of trap or greenstone commences, which completely intersects this State and Massachu- 

 setts, like a belt, passing into Vermont and New Hampshire. The Connecticut flows through 

 the whole extent of this district, except below Middletown, where it passes through a barrier of 

 primitive country, to the sea. The trap region passes olF southwesterly from the river, and 

 joins the primitive near New Haven. It is more than 100 miles in length, and varies in breadth 



from 3 to 25 miles. Its basis is com- 

 posed of stratified rocks inclined to the 

 east at a small angle with the horizon. 

 Sandstone is the most conspicuous of 

 these rocks, and it has every variety, 

 from very fine grained, to coarse ; some- 

 times it becomes a breccia or pudding 

 stone, and again is a mere conglomerate. 

 Under the sandstone are generally found 

 slaty rocks, often with impressions of 

 vegetables and fish, and containing small 

 veins of jet and coal. Ridges of green- 

 stone trap, traverse this region length- 

 wise, from the sea to the northern part 

 of Massachusetts. These repose almost 

 universally upon sandstone, and consist 

 of a dark green rock, whose constituent 

 parts are hornblende and felspar. At 

 Rocky Hill near Hartford, in a quarry of building stone, the junction of sandstone and trap is 

 conspicuously exhibited. Most of the ridges are parallel, and their v^-estern parts generally 

 precipitous, so that in many places the country seems divided by stupendous walls. Immense 

 masses of ruins are collected at their feet ; these consist sometimes of entire clifls and pillars 

 of many tons' weight, which are thrown off by the freezing of water in the gullies, and often fall 

 with a mighty concussion into the valleys. On the opposite side there is generally a gradual 

 slope, covered with trees. 



in Meriden, between Hartford and New Haven, is a J'i^dvral Ice Bouse., in a naiTow defile, 

 between ridges of greenstone. The defile is choked up with the ruins of the rocks which have 

 fallen from the ridges, and form a series of cavities overgrown with trees, and strewn with thick 

 beds of leaves. The ice is formed in the cavities of these rocks, and remains the whole year. 

 A portion of it melts during summer, causing a stream of cold water perpetually to flow 

 from the spot. The space between the mountains is called Cat Hollow, and presents the m.ost 

 wild and picturesque scenery in the State. 



9. Minerals. Iron ore is found in various places ; hematite ore occurs in the northwest, 

 and supplies several furnaces there ; the beg ore is found and wrought in the eastern part. 

 Copper is abundant in the greenstone mountains, and at Bristol there appears to be a copper 

 field of wide extent ; lead occurs on the Connecticut, two miles from Middletown ; plumbago 

 is found in New Milford and Marlborough ; and cobalt in Chatham. Porcelain clay is found'at 

 New Milford and Cornwall, and limestone abounds in tlie western parts. Marble is obtained 

 at New Milford, Washington, Brookfield, and Milford, and quarries of freestone are numerous, 



Bed of Sand-Stone, near Hartford. 



