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WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
\ 
PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT OF SANDY LAND. 
BY J. W. WOOD, BARABOO. 
The importance of this question to the industrial interests 
of Wisconsin can be best seen by examining a geological map 
of the state. The observer will be struck by the great develop¬ 
ment of the Lower Silurian rocks, and especially of that 
member of the series known as the Potsdam Sandstone. The 
disintegration of this rock gives character to the soil over a 
large area in the northern part of the state. 
Tracing this rock westward from the locality in the state of 
New York which gives it its name, we find it extending 
through Canada ; making a great bend to the north it crosses 
over into Michigan at Sault St. Marie, then passing along the 
sand dunes and pictured rocks of the south shore of Lake Su¬ 
perior it widens rapidly, and covers nearly the whole of the 
upper peninsula of Michigan. Entering Wisconsin, its north¬ 
ern border is coincident almost with the northern line of the 
state, being broken only by limited areas of primitive rocks 
and upheavals of trap, while its southern border, forming an 
obtuse Y, receives the first outliers of the lower Magnesian 
limestone south of the Baraboo river in Sauk county; thus 
covering, no doubt, one-third or more of the surface of the 
state. The drift forms a wide belt on the eastern wing of 
the Y, greatly benefiting the soil, but the disintegrated rock 
enters largely into its composition. 
The surface of this vast area is generally level, but through 
its eastern and southern parts it is sufficiently broken to secure 
good drainage. It is generally well watered, and furnishes 
sufficient timber to supply the necessities of a population, and 
lies so near to the great pineries of the north that buildingma- 
