140 
[Assembly 
Trap Rock Greeenstme, 
A range of this rock was observed west of the Serpentine ridge. It 
^\^s traced to a breadth of 200 to 300 yards, and it is probably much 
broader. It forms a gentle swell of land parallel to the Serpentine hilJs. 
A quarry is opened in it, about three miles from Tompkinsville. The 
stone is used for basement walls, and is very durable. 
Iron Ore. 
Dr. L. C. Beck, in his first Annual Report, described the hematite 
beds of Staten Island.* During the geological investigations of the 
island the past season, I have observed numerous slight indications of 
the same ore along the east base of the Serpentine hills. The ore beds, 
where I have seen them, are directly contiguous to the serpentine rock, 
which contains an abundance of carbonate and hydrate of magnesia, and 
which seems to have performed the same office in the deposition of the 
ore, as the limestone beds of Columbia and Dutchess counties. 
Agricultural character of the Soils of Queens, Kings and Richmond 
counties. 
The soils of these counties are very variable, but at least four-fifths 
of the surface will be characterized by the terms sandy loam and loamy 
sand. There are many tracts of land where the soil is a heavy loam, 
and even a stiff clay, and others of a pure sand, which drifts and is piled 
by the action of the wind. The variation of the soil is due to the dif- 
ferent strata which form the country. Beds of sand and gravel are in- 
terstratified with those of loam and clay, and where irregularities occur 
in the contour of the ground, arising from denudation, a field of a few 
acres may exhibit almost every variety of soil, from a pure sand to a 
stiff clay. The art of the farmer is here put in requisition, to modify 
the natural texture of the soils, and fit them to receive nutritive and sti- 
mulant manures with the greatest advantage. The heavy soils are 
dressed with sand, and the light soils with loam or clay, with a view to 
transform the whole into a loam of such texture as to make a pulveru- 
lent soil, and yet have it sufficiently argillaceous to retain a suitable 
quantity of water. The cultivated soils within twenty miles of New- 
York, are so much modified by art, that their natural qualities could 
scarcely be determined without geological investigation. Many of the 
farmers expend from $50 to $70 per acre for street manure, once in two 
or three years, and they are well repaid for their enlightened views and 
* Dr. Pierce described the iron ores of Staten Island in 1818. Vide. Am Jour. Science, I. 
p. 145. 
