WESTERN DISTRICT. 
295 
Analysis of a sandy soil from Albion , Orleans county. 
Water of absorption.. ______ ___________.____ 1*50 
Organic matter.___________________ 1 *70 
Silicates and sand.92*82 
Carbonate of lime.... _.......... 2*10 
Phosphate of alumina_____ 0*17 
Peroxide of iron and alumina. 1*49 
99*78 
The soil of Orleans county contains usually more sand than that of Genesee, Livingston 
or Onondaga. 
A question which I have attempted to solve in the analyses which have been recently 
made, is the constitution of the soils of the west, which are well known wheat soils ; and 
how they differ from those of the Taconic system, which are well known producers of maize. 
I consider the question a difficult one to solve, and I deem it quite doubtful whether the 
facts which have been obtained will justify me in the adoption of an opinion. There are 
facts which may be still brought out, which will bear upon the question, and serve to 
elucidate it more fully. 
The following results have been obtained in relation to the two classes of soils, which 
seem to be important, especially when taken in connexion with elements which enter into 
the composition of wheat on the one hand, and those which constitute maize on the other. 
Thus wheat is by no means rich in the phosphates, while corn or maize is ; and hence the 
former will come to maturity in soils poorer in phosphates than the latter. Both grains, 
however, require silica, which must necessarily be in a soluble state. The straw, in one 
case, must be supplied with silex, or it will be weak and imperfect. Corn stalks require 
silex also, but a less amount than wheat. If then we search for the phosphates, and for 
soluble silica, I had hopes that some light would gleam upon the question. For illustra¬ 
tion of this point, I took 400 grains of Harmon’s wheat soil, and tested it for the phosphates ; 
but not a trace of them appeared. The soil from Mr. Geddes’s farm gave scarcely a trace 
of any in 100 grains. The same was observed in a good wheat soil, though not the best, 
on Manlius hills. The subsoil, or clay on Cayuga lake, near Aurora, gave no evidence 
of phosphoric acid in one hundred grains. 
It is not designed to convey the impression that the phosphates are entirely wanting, 
but that they are contained in a proportion less than in soils, which, in New-York and 
New-England, bear good crops of maize, but are not so productive in wheat. 
The following analysis of the soil of the Genesee Hats is instructive, and bears upon the 
subject. It was taken horn near Mountmorris, and may be considered as illustrating the 
composition of a large tract of country, that particularly which is of an alluvial kind. 
