430 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
posits, however, are found along ranges of fissures, or more es¬ 
pecially where ranges of different bearings intersect each other. 
These points of contact are the richest places, and seem to be 
centers from which this material diverges, gradually growing 
poorer as the distance from them increases. Where the oxide 
of iron in this form is most abundant, the sand-rock is very 
coarse and very friable, and easily reduced to its original 
grains. 
This oxide of iron is not chemically deposited in the sand¬ 
stone, that is, it has not a crystalline texture, it is easily separat¬ 
ed from the sand by washing it in water. Water takes it up 
very readily when it is stirred, and allows it to settle readily 
when undisturbed. When separated in this way and dried, it 
is a very fine red powder, as fine as the oxide of zinc; and 
when mixed with or ground in oil, it will make a paint of a 
brilliant red color that gives as fine a finish on wood as either 
zinc or lead. Since I first discovered it in this form (that is 
since last July) I have been experimenting with it as a^aint 
by exposing it to the extremes of climatic conditions. Thus 
far it does not seem to be effected by heat or cold, wet or dry, 
any more than the best qualities of lead or zinc paint under 
the same conditions. The brightness of its color, which I at 
first feared would not stand light and moisture, remains thus 
far unchanged, or if changed at all, it is a deeper red. 
As a pigment this material is equal, if not superior, to any¬ 
thing we call ochre or mineral paint, and if its durability should 
prove to be, when tested by time, what it appears to be under 
experiment, it cannot fail to be valuable, for it will take the 
place of lead and zinc paint for most out-door work and com¬ 
mon buildings. And if in this form it will furnish material 
for paint of a bright red color that will put on a finish as fine 
as lead, and that will be as durable or even approximately so, 
and can be furnished for le3s than one fourth of the cost of 
lead, it certainly must be as valuable to the state as lead itself. 
What our state is most deficient in for manufacturing pur¬ 
poses is fuel; and any material that can be manufactured into 
useful commodities for commerce without coal is especially 
