78 
MAGNESIAN SLATE. 
pounded with the calcareous matter of the Sparry and Stockbridge limestones, it forms an 
excellent soil suitable for maize. 
The hills capped with this slate are all rounded; the sides, however, are quite steep, 
particularly upon the northwestern slope. The scenery, through a great extent of country 
north and south, is very uniform, but is occasionally bold in the highest parts of the chain. 
The most interesting and generally admired view is that of the Hopper and Gray Lock, 
about five miles southwest of Williams College. The mountains here consist of two 
ridges : the western or lowest ridge, which is about eighteen hundred feet high, is broken 
through, or into two parts, quite to the foot of the ridge, nearly west of Graylock. Plate 
XIII. is a view of Graylock and the western ridge, which has been broken down so as to 
exhibit the higher and easterly ridge, the summit of which is known as the highest land 
in New-England. In some parts of this elevated region, rocks are bare for hundreds of 
feet in elevation, with a steep slope, and may, without much difficulty, be examined from 
the base to the top ; still the summits are thickly clothed with soil, and good pasturage is 
obtained upon the highest parts of the ridges. 
The view at the head of this section illustrates the appearance of the Taconic range gene¬ 
rally. It was taken from the south part of Stonehill in Williamstown (Massachusetts), 
looking south. The hills are composed of slate gravel, and the rocks are usually deeply 
covered with soil. Most of the hills and ridges of this range abound in chesnut, intermixed 
with black and white oak: the highest portions of the ridges are clothed with white birch 
as a second growth. Sugar maple (Acer saccharinum) frequently forms by itself large 
groves. Beech also abounds; and ash, bass, walnut and soft maple are intermixed, and 
assist in making up the forest. The northern slopes of the higher ridges are usually 
clothed with black timber, consisting of spruce and hemlock. The slopes of these ranges 
are beautiful in autumn, when they appear decked in all the gay colors that adorn the 
windows of a print shop; or arrayed rather in the brilliant robes of a bridal ceremony, 
than in the sombre habiliments proper to announce the speedy approach of winter as the 
grave of tire year. 
§ 6. Stockbridge limestone. 
Origin of its name. Differences in beds. Coloring matter of this limestone when clouded. Presence of sulphuret 
of iron and silex. Disintegration. Relative position. Its minerals. Range and extent. Doctrine of meta- 
morphism. 
This rock is widely and extensively known under the name of Stockbridge marble. 
Most of the white and clouded limestones in market pass under this general name, though 
they may have been obtained elsewhere. It is proper to remark that the Philadelphia 
marble consists of the same material, and is obtained from the same range of rock pro¬ 
longed into Pennsylvania. For a general name, I prefer that of Stockbridge limestone , 
