172 
[Assembly 
an abundant supply of wood, and limestone of excellent quality can 
be procured from quarries in the vicinity of Syracuse. 
An indifference to, or want of credence in, this mode of improv- 
ing soil, is unfortunately general throughout all portions of the dis- 
trict, and may often originate in the supposition that calcareous 
earth enters largely into the composition of the natural surface. 
This is never the case north of the Erie canal, and only occurs in 
limited area on the south. A satisfactory proof of the efficiency 
of carbonate of lime may be cited in the following instance. A 
farmer near Genesee mistook for gypsum, a shaly limestone, which 
he caused to be ground and extensively used, in his neighborhood, 
when it was pronounced superior to the best Wheatland or Cayu- 
ga plaster. The great abi^ndance of well preserved fossil shells 
which accompanied this rock, proves that it was limestone and not 
gypsum, because in the latter, we find no trace of organic remains, 
although the strata, both above and beneath it, often abound in 
shells. 
No doubt when limestones are friable or shaly, and readily reduc- 
ed to powder by mechanical means, as in the case cited above, the 
expense of burning would be rendered unnecessary, because the use 
of calcareous marls applied to the soil in the same condition as they 
are found in the earth, proves that calcination is not necessary to 
render limestone a fertilizing agent of great and enduring efficacy. 
Thus shaly limestones may either be ground in the plaster mills, 
or scattered over the fields, where the frosts of a single winter 
would reduce them to a state of subdivision adequate to supply the 
wants of vegetation, and enrich the soil. 
Brine Springs. 
Over the surface of the Niagara sandstone nearly all the numer- 
ous brine springs of the district flow, but the origin of these springs 
is still involved in obscurity. Our researches in the salt region 
were of a general nature, and intended to determine the extent 
and appearances of the muriatiferous rocks, so far as they were de- 
veloped on the surface and their relation to the older or inferior 
rocks upon which they repose, in order to ascertain the probabili- 
ty of the existence of salt in a solid state. The importance of 
rock salt to the State of New-York, is most clearly presented in 
the report of the Secretary of State to the Legislature of New- 
York, January, 1836. The same report also contains references 
