ANALYSES OF SOILS. 
286 
This soil, treated with water in the usual proportion, gave 
Soluble matter_ 1 - 60 
Organic matter. 0-46 
Saline matter.. 1*15 
This consisted of 
Crenate of lime_ 0*60 
Silex_ 0*01 
Sulphate of lime___ 0-40 
Alumina_ 0*03 
Chlorides ofjcalcium and magnesium. 0-10 
1*14 
Another specimen of soil, taken from the range of hills between Manlius and Chitte 
nango, but uncultivated, gave 
Water of absorption_ 3*00 
Organic matter_ 5*15 
Silicates_78*00 
Peroxide of iron and alumina__ 13*00 
Carbonate of lime_ 1*00 
Magnesia- trace. 
100*15 
This field slopes rapidly, and is more washed than the preceding ; and hence the soluble 
matters, as lime and magnesia, seem to exist in proportion less than in the preceding 
examples. 
The analysis of these several specimens of soil was undertaken for the purpose of ascer¬ 
taining whether they were composed of mineral matter in about the same or equal pro¬ 
portions, and the result shows that there is certainly a great uniformity in the composition 
of the soils reposing upon the Marcellus slates. It is not, however, intended to represent 
this slate as a compound whose elements are combined in definite proportions, or that the 
soil will be found identical in the same range ; yet it seems that both soil and slate possess 
a composition quite similar, though taken from points twenty or twenty-five miles distant 
from each other. We deem this result to be one of the peculiarities of the New-York soils, 
and that it arises from the regularity of her geological formations. It is for this reason, 
too, that I have multiplied analyses. The mineral composition of the most important 
formations, when once ascertained, is susceptible of application to a wide extent of country. 
In support of this assertion, the reader may revert to the analyses of the soils resting on the 
Marcellus slate. The similarity of composition is seen in the quantity of silicates, and of 
lime, which each respectively furnishes, while the organic matter must necessarily vary 
with the circumstances of the example taken. The same fact is established in respect to 
