166 
GEOLOGY OF THE THIRD DISTRICT. 
which covers it is excellent wheat ground, the plant not being thrown out by freezing, in con¬ 
sequence of the dryness of the soil, owing to the goodness of its natural drainage. The 
dryness favoring also the action of the sun’s rays, makes it a warm soil. These are the ob¬ 
servations of Mr. W. Gaylord ; and when the same accuracy is universally obtained, and the 
conditions of each plant known and complied with, agriculture will become, in popular lan¬ 
guage, the most certain of sciences. 
On the east side of Skaneateles lake, the limestone is quarried on the lot of Mr. Hathaway, 
in a brook a short distance southwest of Borodino. It is about fourteen feet thick, and about 
one hundred and fifty feet above the lake. About three of its layers are thick ; others thin, 
with shale. 
It appears on the west side of the lake, nearly opposite to Borodino, and about a mile and 
a half from the lake ; and again at Vanetten’s mill to the southwest, on the road from 0wasco 
village to Kelloggsville. 
In the valley at the head of Owasco lake, it appears at Montville, just abijve the dam, 
extending under the mill and the village. The rock is here about one hundred feet above the 
lake ; the water falls from over the rock into a gulf cut into the shales below, to a depth of 
seventy feet. 
Further south it is again seen about a mile from Moravia, on Dry-fall creek. There the 
rock is about sixteen feet thick, divided into seven layers, the one next to the lowest being five 
feet thick. The water has cut through the limestone, and falls over the shale for about thirty 
feet. On the north side of the falls, the shale has been removed from under the limestone to 
a considerable extent, forming a deep recess, and exposing about one hundred feet of its lower 
surface. 
In ascending to Stuart’s corners from Moravia, the limestone appears in the hill-side west 
of the valley. It is of a lighter color than usual, and the Cuboidal atrypa appears to be abun¬ 
dant. This was the only locality where the rock was seen on the west side of Owasco lake 
and valley, being elsewhere covered by soil, etc. 
Towards Cayuga lake, it is first seen going south from Aurora to Ludlowville, about a mile 
below the town line of Genoa. Also in a road near by, which goes east, a considerable surface 
is exposed, the upper rocks having been washed away, and but a partial covering of soil re¬ 
maining upon the limestone. 
Further south, the Tally limestone appears in all the ravines or gullies to near the line of 
Tompkins county, being one of the rocks over which the little brooks of these ravines fall. 
Not far from the line, it makes its appearance on the lake, where it is finely exposed for some 
miles along the shore; continuing, with some interruptions, to Bloom’s lime-kiln, about half 
way between the mouth of Salmon creek and the head of the lake. Where first seen, it 
must be about forty feet above the lake, dipping to the south. Higher up the lake, between 
Bell’s ferry and Goodwin’s point, the lower surface of the limestone is within a foot of the 
lake. This is the point of apparent greatest depression ; the rock rising from thence, and 
attaining a height of thirty-five feet at the Devil’s den, and sixty feet at Ludlowville ; whence 
