ONONDAGA LIMESTONE, 
Ml 
is true, but not to the extent which has been supposed. From a careful collation of facts, 
I am rather disposed to attibute the high character which the western counties have en¬ 
joyed, and do now enjoy, as a wheat-growing district, to the lower part of the Helderberg 
division. It is here, as I have just pointed out, that the green and red shales, the plaster 
formation, etc., are situated, and to which, from their peculiar composition and their ready 
decomposition, we may with greater probability attribute this important feature in the 
agriculture of these counties. Upon this limestone, however, we invariably find an excel¬ 
lent and productive soil, and it is one which this rock has assisted in creating, but it is not, 
in the eastern or western part of the State, wholly derived from it; neither has the soil 
which reposes upon it a greater amount of calcareous matter, than has the soil of the next 
rock above or below it. It is a mixture composed of drift from a distance, and some de¬ 
rived from the green shales. It is not a rock which is very much subject to disintegration, 
and hence there is not an accumulation of calcareous matter, or an excess of it any where 
disseminated through the superimposed soil. 
Mr. Hall, in speaking of this rock, remarks, that where it is thin, as in the eastern part 
of the district, it scarcely produces any effect upon the soil ; but where it is thicker, it has 
essentially modified its character. Where hornstone prevails, and when the larger masses 
are removed, the soil, though quite siliceous or abounding in angular fragments of this 
mineral, is nevertheless always of the best quality. This is supposed to be owing to a 
constant supply of fresh calcareous matter derived from broken down fragments, which 
constantly acts as a fertilizer.* This subject will be brought before the reader again, when 
the peculiar composition of the soil upon this rock will be stated in detail. 
Uses to which the Onondaga limestone is adapted. It is extensively employed for producing 
lime ; and much that comes to the Albany market is from the Helderberg, and mostly 
from the inferior part of this rock, or the gray and white portions which are free from 
shale and hornstone. Where the rock is sound and free from flint or hornstone, it may be, 
and is to some extent, wrought as a marble : it is gray, and sometimes reddish, and then 
receives a tolerable polish, and besides it is durable and strong. It is well adapted to 
works in which a durable material is essential: it is not at all subject to disintegration 
where the surface is well wrought; neither is it traversed by fissures that open by frosts, 
in case the stone is well selected. It is, therefore, one of the most important and useful 
rocks in the New-York series. 
* Hall’s Report, p. 170. 
[Agricultural Report.] 
23 
