444 
[Assembly 
character ; that of the valleys being produced by the destruction of 
northern rocks, contains the materials of those rocks, or a large pro- 
portion of lime. These facts are known to every farmer, and v^rheat is 
never grown on the upland soil, although the conclusion may not have 
been attained by the same course of reasoning, the results are the same, 
relied on and confirmed by practice. 
As a general rule, the finer materials of the valley soil, will be found 
towards its outlet, and the coarse near its head and along its margins, 
the latter being irregularly accumulated, according to the direction and 
quatity of the water received and transmitted. Sometimes the finer 
deposits are found covering the coarser, or vice versa ; this must be 
either from a change in the direction of the main current, or the sup- 
pression or augmentation of some lateral one. The valley or one side 
may be covered with coarse materials, and directly opposite may be a 
finer deposit ; this results from similar causes. 
In the Genesee valley near Angelica, we find an extensive plain of sand, 
supporting a large growth of pines ; it presents some features difiering 
from the surrounding valleys. The circumstances of its formation were 
these : while this upper valley remained a lake, the Angelica creek, 
then a much larger stream, flowed into it a little distance south of the 
present outlet, in a direction nearly at right angles to the current pass- 
ing through the lake from south to north. The meeting of these two 
currents formed an eddy, which crossed to the eastern side of the lake, 
and deposited the finer materials, which the more rapid stream had be- 
fore held in suspension. 
Similar eddy currents have produced accumulations of sand, clay, &;c. 
over greater or less areas ; and these differing from the surrounding 
soil, are often characterized, as in the present instance, by a different 
vegetation. Maple and beech trees grow luxuriantly over the alluvial 
soil ; while evergreens prevail among the hills, whose forests of dark 
and stately pines have a character peculiarly wild and sombre. 
Siuamps. — The swamp deposits consist usually of a substratum of 
clay or sand, covered with vegetable, muck or peat, with sometimes 
an intervening layer of marl. The history of many of these, comes 
almost under observation. First, a shallow pond deposits the clay, &;c. 
held in suspension ; next succeeds a growth of aquatic plants, which 
decaying, cover the bottom ; this is annually repeated until the pond 
becomes a marsh ; other plants succeed, and the accumulation goes on. 
