No. 50.] 
353 
2d. Wells, and boring for water. The place for boring for water 
may be determined by the direction of a fault. Springs may general- 
ly be found at a fault, whether that is in a solid rock or in a clay bed, 
for the layers of many stratified rocks, and of clay, being impervious, 
the water will flow along the layers till it finds some obstruction ; that 
obstruction will be in the line of a fault, when it may be brought to the 
surface by piercing to the layers on this line. 
Sd. Valuable materials below the surface. Substantial products for 
enriching the soil often exist a few feet only from the surface. It may 
be peat, or marl or marly clay. A little geological knowledge is use- 
ful for the determination of the question. 
4:th. Building materials. Durability is the main question to be de- 
termined. The layers of any given rock are not equally durable. 
Rocks, or those portions which are pulverulent, or are acted upon by 
atmospheric agents, though they are worked easily, are to be rejected, 
while those layers which project and have withstood the elements, may 
be selected. 
dth. Knowledge of soil, substrata and water. This knowledge may 
be valuable, not only as it regards crops, but cattle ; for, as in the ve- 
getable kingdom some species prefer a certain soil, so in the animal there 
are some species which express a similar choice, and manifest the re- 
result by health, thrift and a good condition. Goodness of soil does 
not wholly depend on chemical composition and a certain mechanical 
mixture, but is influenced by substrata, mostly in consequence of their 
conductibility of heat, and their power of absorbing water. Hence 
the questions of a change of crop, or change in the range for cattle, 
often rests on geological data. 
E. EMMONS, M. D. State Geologist. 
Albany, Jan. 1. 1840. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 
I am indebted to the following gentlemen for assistance in various 
ways, and for donations of specimens to the State collection : Messrs. 
Mclntyre & Henderson, proprietors of the iron works at Newcomb ; 
Mr. Burt, of the Chntonville iron works ; Messrs. Wheelock & Wil- 
son, of the Rossie lead works ; Drs. Sherman and Ambler, of Rossie ; 
Drs, Benton and Briggs, of Antwerp ; Dr. Brewster, of Fowler, and 
Mr. Dodge, of Gouverneur. 
[Assembly, No. 50.] 45 
