FROM THE WESTERN DISTRICT. 
343 
ANALYSIS. 
100 grains, in drying, lost 6*16 grs. 100 grs. of the dried soil gave 
Organic matter_ 15*92 
Silica_-_72*76 
Peroxide of iron and alumina_ 7*76 
Potash_ 1*26 
Carbonate of lime_ 0*86 
Magnesia_ 0*28 
Soluble silica_ 0*35 
Phosphate of alumina, and phosphate of the per¬ 
oxide of iron 
0*43 
99*62 
The formations which succeed the Marcellus slate are much coarser ; and we often, or 
perhaps generally, are able to detect mica in the strata, and distinct grains of quartz. The 
soil also contains occasionally primary rocks ; and it is possible to recognize, by the aid of 
the microscope, comminuted hornblende ; but this is by no means a common ingredient, in 
a form which can be distinguished, as in those soils which are derived more immediately 
from the primary ranges. 
We believe the phosphates are derived from the formation upon which the soil reposes, 
inasmuch as they appear to be composed of materials similar to those of the formation itself. 
That the phosphates, as has been maintained, are generally distributed, there can be no 
doubt; but some formations are richer than others. We believe that those wheat soils 
which give but a moderate crop of maize, require only the addition of those manures that 
furnish the phosphates, particularly ground bones, and the ashes of vegetables. The same 
fact, we believe, holds good also in relation to the cultivation of wheat in the slate district 
upon the western slope of the Green mountains. This opinion is supported by the frequent 
occurrence of good crops in this district, when the soil is properly prepared. Even a part 
of the range furnishes a true wheat soil, and quite similar to that of Western New-York. 
We refer to the Albany and Champlain tertiary clay, which is a homogeneous formation, 
extending through the vallies of Lake Champlain and Hudson river, and even onward 
northerly through the St. Lawrence basin. 
A few soils only upon this formation have been critically examined. A single example 
of a soil upon this clay, and largely mixed with it, we annex, for the purpose of adding 
something to the few examinations we have as yet made of this particular formation. The 
soil was selected from the farm of the Rev. David Lamb, of Bridport, Addison county, 
Vermont. The slope was gently to the west. Soil rather light-colored, and a portion of 
taconic slate is mixed with it, undergoing disintegration. 
The yield of this piece of ground was at the rate of 53| bushels of winter wheat to the acre. The 
soil gave, on analysis, soluble silica, and the phosphates were distinctly appreciable in 100 grains. 
