238 
ANALYSES OF SOILS. 
in Elizabethtown, is made up of coarse and fine grained particles of light-colored hyper- 
sthene rock. The finer portion was separated from the coarse by a sieve, giving about 
twenty per cent of finely divided matter. The analysis gave 
Water_ 2-00 
Organic matter_ 1*00 
Silex_94 *00 
Peroxide of iron and alumina_ 2*50 
Carbonate of lime_ 0*50 
Magnesia_ trace. 
This soil had never been cultivated, and seemed almost valueless, but it contains about 
as much lime as many very good soils now under cultivation. It is a sample of the coarsest 
and poorest soil of the granitic district, but which might bear one, two or three crops of 
potatoes, or grass for a few years only, if removed from the field. 
Another specimen of soil was examined from Lewis county, which gave a better result: 
there was less sand and silex, a greater percentage of iron and alumina, and about the 
same proportion of carbonate of lime. All the trials made with the granitic soils of this 
district yielded carbonate of lime, but only a mere trace of magnesia. 
A specimen of uncultivated sandy soil from Westport, gave the following result: 
Water_ 4*00 
Organic matter_ 3‘25 
Peroxide of iron and alumina_ 5*00 
Silex_85*25 
Lime_ 1*00 
Magnesia_ 0*12 
98*62 
This specimen was derived also from granite or gneiss, as, under the microscope, it was 
found to be composed of quartz and schorl, with a few particles only of felspar, mica and 
garnet. 
Another specimen of the sandy soil of this place gave 
Water_ 1*00 
Organic matter_._ 2*50 
Silex_ 94*00 
Alumina and iron_ 2*00 
Lime_ 0*25 
Magnesia_ 0*00 
99*75 
It is a gray sand, composed of quartz, garnet, and black schorl. The specific gravity of this 
soil is 2* 573. We give it as an example of the weight of a soil in which sand predomi¬ 
nates ; and alhough sand is considered one of the easiest varieties to work, still it is the 
