ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY. 
365 
among them are numerous boulders of the trenton also. This last rock does not exist here, 
and hence these trenton boulders have all been derived from some other source. This fact 
has been noticed before ; but I state it again, for the purpose of saying that these boulders 
have all lodged upon the north or northeastern slope of this county, and do not appear to have 
been transported farther south. We find them every where among the rocks of the county, 
mixed with travellers from a distance; the rocks beneath have been broken, and their frag¬ 
ments strewed upon the surface. They have not been subjected to the wear that those from 
a distance have. All the facts which have been observed in this county coincide with those 
which have been observed elsewhere. The direction from which the drift came is unquestion¬ 
ably north or northeast. The boulders themselves tell this, and the marks or striae upon the 
rocks over which they were forced, point in the corresponding direction. 
Tlie boulders of this region are never very large, compared with some in the southern part 
of the Second district, but they make up in number what is lacking in size. 
From the preceding remarks, it will be seen that the surface rock of this part of the county 
has little or nothing to do with the soil; as this is made up mostly in some parts, and entirely 
in others, of drift. It cannot be expected that the rock under these circumstances can con¬ 
tribute to, or diminish, the fertility of the soil, or be in any way connected with the matter 
which it is composed of. The only way which the subjacent rocks can affect the agricultural 
character of a country thus situated, is by means of their structure or porosity, by which their 
relation to water is determined. The existence of an open jointed structure affects the per¬ 
manence of water upon the surface: for there it finds a ready passage into the rock, and 
passes through some of its layers by infiltration, or flows over the surface of some of the 
strata until it finds an exit at some distant point. Where the rock is porous, or with open 
joints, the surface is liable to suffer from droughts; but on the contrary, where the rock is 
destitute of a jointed structure, and is from any cause impervious, it retains the water, and 
thereby renders the soil too wet. These are points of great interest to the agriculturist, and 
control the productiveness of the soil as well as its composition. 
Simple Minerals. 
The simple minerals which occur in this county in the form of rocks, are, 
1. Primary limestone, or calcareous spar. Some of the interesting forms of this substance have been 
given under the head of Rossie lead mine. It occurs, however, in many places, and furnishes some 
of the same forms as at the mine. The ordinary limestone, however, when crystallized, often gives 
the dodecahedral prisms. Some of these solids are very large, particularly at the Belmont mine, 
where some have been taken out whic 1 weighed over a hundred pounds. Its colors are purple, 
straw-yellow and limpid. Fine transparent masses have been obtained from the Rossie mine, and 
also from Belmont. 
2. Rensselae -itc, in Fowler, Dekalb, Edwards, Russel and Gouverneur. In Canton and Hermon, it 
is crystallized. 
