230 ' NEW YORK. 



perhaps June. Early frosts, which destroy the tender garden vegetables, occur about Septem- 

 ber 26th ; corn ripens as late as the middle of October. The leaves of the forest trees feel 

 the early frosts, although they are not commonly killed before the 15th or 25th October, about 

 which time fliuries of snow may be expected. December is usually cold and showery, with 

 fiequent and long storms from the E. and N. E. with rain, hail, and snow. Sleighs are little 

 used till the end of the year. The Indian summer begins about the last of October, and 

 extends, with occasional interruptions, into December. 



9. Soil. This extensive State exhibits every variety of soil. In the level country of the 

 northern part, on the east of Lake Ontario, and along the St. Lawrence, the soil is a warm, 

 sandy loam, and constitutes a large tract of the best land for agriculture. Around Lake Cham- 

 plain there is an extensive district of clayey soil, extending to the hills that skirt the Mohegan 

 mountains. The alluvial flats of the Mohawk valley are highly fertile. The other parts of 

 diis valley have a stiff' loam as far W. as the Catskill mountains extend ; beyond which the soil 

 partakes more of the character of the western region. In this last region the hills are rocky 

 and precipitous, and the valleys consist of black, vegetable mould. The Genesee flats in the 

 western part of the State have long been celebrated for their fertility. West of Albany are 

 extensive sandy plains interspersed with marshes, which are rather cold. From the Highlands 

 north to the Mohawk, the soil is dry and warm, being in general either a gravelly or sandy loam. 

 East of the Hudson, in this region, are rich alluvial tracts. Below the Highlands, the soil is 

 principally dry and warm. The west end of Long Island is fertile and well cultivated. In the 

 eastern parts are sandy, barren plains. 



10. Geology. With some inconsiderable exceptions, the rock-formations belong entirely to 

 the primary and older fossiliferous, or transition series. The primary rocks, which occupy the 

 smaller portion of the surface, occur in two disconnected tracts in the southeastern and north- 

 eastern sections, but in both cases are ofi^sets from the great primary region of New England. 

 The southern tract includes the Highland range as before described, which passes into Massa- 

 chusetts near the southeastern corner of Dutchess county, the southeast corner of the mainland 

 between the highlands and the sea, and the nortiiwest part of Long Island wiih Staten Island. 

 The prevailing rocks of this district are gneiss, mica-slate, and primitive limestone, with some 

 other stratified rocks ; granite occurs only in beds or veins in the other rocks. The northern 

 primitive district lies between Lakes Champlain and Ontario. Felspathic granite, traversed 

 by greenstone dykes, gneiss, hornblende, and primitive hmestone, are the prevailing rocks 

 of this region. The remaining rock-formations, occupying much the greater part of the sur- 

 face, belong to the older fossiliferous group, and are characterized by a great simplicity of 

 arrangement, arising from the great extent of the several members of the group, and their 

 undisturbed horizontal position. They present a series of terraces rising by successive steps 

 from the north toward the south, stretching nearly across the State, south of Lake Ontario and 

 the Mohawk, from east to west, and intersected at right angles by numerous valleys of denuda- 

 tion, some of which are occupied by fine lakes, and others form the fertile and beautiful 

 abodes of a prosperous population. Shales, fossiliferous limestones, sandstones, and slates, 

 here alternate with each other in an endless variety. 



11. Minerals. The most important metallic minerals are iron and lead. Galena or sulphu- 

 ret of lead occurs in several localities, but most abundantly at Rossie and other places in St. 

 Lawrence county, in Lewis county, at Ancram in Columbia, &c. ; but it seems doubtful 

 whether it occurs at these last places in true veins. Iron is very generally difl^used over the 

 eastern part of the Slate, under the various forms of magnetic oxide, the red or specular oxide, 

 and bog-ore, all of which are worked. Beds of magnetic ore extend, with little interruption, 

 from Canada to the vicinity of New York. The most important localities are in Orange, 

 Rockland, Putnam, and the northeastern counties. One of the beds at Newcomb, where the ore 

 ii of great purity and easily wrought, has been traced more than a mile, with a width of above 

 300 feet, and appears to extend more than four miles, and there are others of similar extent. 

 Rich beds of the specular ore occur at several localities In St. Lawrence and Jefferson coun- 

 ties, among which the Kearney and Parish beds, of the brown or argillaceous variety, are of 

 extraordinary richness. The bog-ore is also abundant, except In the northern primitive dis- 

 trict. Sulphuret of iron, or Iron pyrites, abounds in various localities, and at Canton is used 

 ill the manufacture of copperas and alum. Gypsum is pretty generally diffused through the 

 western part of the State, and is highly valued as a manure. Hydraulic limestone, furnishmg 

 good water-cement, abounds in Madison, Onondaga, and some of the neighboring counties. 

 Mar^jle, freestone, gneiss , and othar building stones are plentiful, and of excellent quality. 



