CHAPTER VL 
THE NEW-YORK SYSTEM. 
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. CLASSIFCATION OF THE NEW-YORK ROCKS. I. CHAMPLAIN DIVISION : ITS RANGE AND 
EXTENT, PHYSICAL CHARACTERS OF THE COUNTRY OVER WHICH IT EXTENDS, AND AGRICULTURAL RELATIONS 
OF THE SAME. II. ONTARIO DIVISION *. LITHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS, DISTRIBUTION, FRACTURES, etc. ; SUMMARY. 
III. HELDERBERG DIVISION : LITHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS, INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS, FAULTS OR FRACTURES ; 
SUMMARY. IV. ERIE DIVISION ’. LITHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS, INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS, FAULTS OR FRACTURES ; 
SUMMARY. V. CATSKILL DIVISIONLITHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS, CHANGE IN FOSSILS, POSITION AND DISTRIBU¬ 
TION SUMMARY. CONCLUSION. 
GENERAL VIEW OF THE NEW-YORK SYSTEM. 
§ 1. Preliminary remarks. 
I have now disposed of those rocks which I have denominated Taconic : rocks, which 
underlie that part of the State included between the Hudson river on the west, and the 
base of the Green mountains on the east. Their agricultural characters and relations will 
form the subject for a chapter in another place. I shall now proceed with the report on 
the plan I have already marked out, namely, that of bringing before my readers first those 
subjects which may be considered strictly geological; after which, we will be prepared to 
enter upon the consideration of the agricultural relations sustained by the several individual 
rocks, and the influences they exert upon the superincumbent soil. 
The series of rocks immediately succeeding the Taconic, in the ascending order, constitute 
a full and distinct system in themselves, even if considered only within the geographical 
limits of New-York ; and inasmuch as the series is complete, and they form by themselves 
one of those great and leading divisions of rocks, they have been brought under one head, 
which has been denominated the New-York System. Under the word system (p. 36), 
the reader will find what is to be understood by the term when geologically used. In 
New-York, the change between the period occupied in the formation of the Taconic rocks, 
and the commencement of the New-York system, is marked both by a change in the posi¬ 
tion of the former, and by a change in the character of the fossils of the latter. One 
of the most remarkable facts observed, is the introduction of the mollusca. I can speak 
[Agricultural Report.] 15 
