WESTERN DISTRICT. 
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rock. There is, it is true, some show of truth in this view of the question ; nevertheless, 
the view is fallacious, and has but a small foundation to support it. Calcareous matter is 
an important element in a wheat soil; but this is not all, and even if it were so, the Onon¬ 
daga limestone would fail to furnish the amount required to fertilize this large district. 
Now in looking about us for the solution of this question, we find that the true elements 
of the wheat soil exist mainly in the shales associated with the limestones, particularly 
those of the Onondaga-salt group. In addition to these, the rocks of this group, the gray 
and red marl of the Medina sandstone, and the shales and slates of the Ontario division, 
exert an important influence on the soil, which bears favorably upon the growth of wheat. 
In support of this view, we may observe that the Onondaga and Niagara limsetones are 
but slowly converted into soil; they are too hard and compact to be reduced to the condi¬ 
tion required : hence, we regard them as performing an inferior part or office in this matter. 
The cause is truly geological; but the part these comparatively pure limestones perform, 
is quite subordinate to that of the shales and marls. This is necessarily true, from the 
feeble action of the weather and other decomposing agents on these rocks, as well as the 
nature of the product which is produced by these causes. The debris of the pure lime¬ 
stones does not favor the growth of the crop with the same power and permanence as the 
debris of the shales, neither mechanically nor by composition. 
The rocks which have been just referred to as those which give to this district its dis¬ 
tinctive crops, extend from the base of the Ontario division, the Medina sandstone, to the 
Onondaga limestone, the upper rock of the Helderberg division. By reference to what 
has been already said of the lower members of this last division, it will be seen that they 
are largely developed in the district under consideration, but it is known that they do not 
extend to the limits of this district on the south. There is no difficulty on this point, so 
long as it is plain that the debris of the fragile and easily decomposing masses are found far 
south. To the transportation of this debris of the shale, must be attributed the extension 
of the wheat district beyond the limits of the rocks which give origin to it. They have 
been used abundantly for this purpose, and their nature aids materially this process ; while 
the hardness of the limestone, and its small depth compared with the shales, disqualify it 
to perform the office assigned it. An inspection of the materials proves the position we 
have taken. A perceptible quantity of the peculiar debris of the shales can always be 
discovered in the wheat soil, and may be known by the peculiar color which it imparts to 
the soil. 
An inspection of the nature and composition of the soil explains to us the reason why 
this district is more productive in wheat than those adjacent to it. Where the soil is thin, 
but reposes upon the shales of the Salt group, additional matter is added to the former soil, 
by the rapid decomposition of the rocks at or near the surface ; and where we detect, by 
ocular inspection, the small angular masses of the shaly limestones of the gypseous rocks, 
or find a soil of the peculiar drab color of those of Onondaga and Livingston counties, we 
may be satisfied that it will produce wheat, and that this is its natural crop. 
