212 
DISTRIBUTION OF SOILS. 
as the furrow extends no further than the point at which the plough was arrested in its 
motion, so the groove formed by the moving rock stops with the rock itself. From these 
and kindred facts, we infer the general transportation of the soil, or at least of that portion 
of it which is called drift, and which in some parts of the country forms three-fourths of 
its entire contents. 
In order to put the reader in possession of all that relates to this subject, we must dwell 
a little longer upon it, and state some exceptions to the statements above given. The 
direction we have assigned as that of the general movement of the boulders and drift, is 
that which is indicated by extended observations; but some instances of deviation have 
been observed, in which the drift has been spread over a wider area, and surpassed the 
limits we have given as those of its direction. In some cases, drift has been forced from 
its wonted direction by obstacles to its progress; and in others, it has evidently followed 
the course of pre-existing vallies. As examples of both cases, we may state that the di¬ 
rection of the grooves upon the slate of the Hudson and Champlain vallies is conformable 
to the direction of these vallies; and where the direction of the grooves of a number of 
vallies is compared with that of the vallies themselves, there is quite a coincidence. The 
most remarkable exception we have observed to the general direction of the grooves above 
stated, occurs in the Catskill mountains. As we approach these mountains from the north, 
we find the grooves directed towards the base of the mountains ; but on reaching the base, 
on the side toward the Hudson river, the grooves are deflected decidedly to the east, and 
this deflection is the greatest in the gorges and mountain vallies. On the several routes 
which wind around the spurs, the grooves point directly east and west by the compass, in 
all cases where the vallies themselves run east and west, thus forming a right angle with 
the direction of the grooves at the northern base of the range; a change of direction evi¬ 
dently produced by the obstacles met by the moving current, and which deflected it to the 
eastward. These exceptional cases, however, are local, and very few in comparison to 
those in which the grooves maintain the general direction from north to south ; nevertheless 
they are invested with much interest, and seem to point out that the general shape and 
contour of the surface, at the time our soils were undergoing transportation, were much 
the same as they are now, although that surface itself was essentially modified by the 
operation which accumulated upon it these loose materials from a distance. 
§ 2. Distribution of soils by diluvial action. 
We come now to the consideration of the local distribution of soils, and more especially 
the particular manner in which the soil of New-York has been distributed. Boulders, in 
the first place, are usually distributed in belts upon the hills or elevated grounds, and val¬ 
lies are comparatively free from those which have travelled a great distance. Boulders 
are rarely found in vallies, flat lands, or meadows; but they are so much the more nume¬ 
rous upon hillsides, that some special condition must have favored their tendency to lodge 
in these situations. We merely advert to this general fact in this place, however, and pro¬ 
ceed to inquire into their geographical distribution. 
