The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1839-11-19
REPORT ON GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Your Committee on Education, to whom was
referred that portion of the Governors message
which refers to geological survey, Respectfully
report,
Grafton, and are strongly impressed with the i'm
porance Of the object. The advantages OF such
surveys are no longer prohemnllcai lhey
have been long completed in many states OF our
Union, md are now in proSes III New nahp-
shire, New York and some OF The western
States The effect has been in New Jersey. to
render her barren plains the most productive
land in the State, to increase their value from
10 30 dollars an acre, and so retain upon them
n rich and Industrious population: who
were about to abandon them for the more
fertile parties Of the west In Massachusetts
IN impetus has been given 10 every branch OF
agriculture and means of improving their
soil have been discovered, which have already
added much to the wealth of her intelligent far
Iners. Similar results have been produced in
Maine, and New Hampshire has been so much
impressed with the advantages conferred up.
on her eighbors, that she has this season com
menced Il similar survey. Probably no State in
n. England furnishes a better field for the geolo-
gist than Vermont. Her mine al Treasures al.
ready developed are of incalculable value, md
would, if she possessed the means of easy ac'
cess to markets, produce an income nearly equal
to that of her agricultural products. Iron, the
most valuable of all minerals, is found of an excel
lent quality in many parts OF the State, 81 would,
without doubt, should this survey be made,
be brought TO light in many other places, where
its existence is not now suspected OF her gran.
ite her state house furnishes beautiful and i'm
perislable ersample. Already she exports every
variety Of marbe-the qualles Of trcestOne and
slate are becoming sources OF wealth, ana she
| could now stock all the markets OF the world
with coperas, an article OF indispensable !mpoTn
lance TO our manufactures 1t cannot be sup.
posed that all her mineral resources have been
disclosed. A geological survey will point out,
where these and other valuable minerals are to
| be sought and where they may reasonably be
expected TO be found. 1t has been too much
| the custom to consider geological survey mere
ly as matter of scientific interest, that its only
object was to examine the several rock forma-
tons, determine the order in which they are sit
uated ascertain their mineral contents, and from
this information to overthrow some old theory
or establish new one, with regard 10 the causes
which have operated to produce such arrange
ments. Ii your committee viewed the subject
in that light, they would not certainly, in the
present state of our treasury, with no other rev.
enue bat that derived from direct taxation, i'm
pose the slightest burden on the people to pro-
mote it. They would leave il TO Individual en-.
prise. But ms measure of economy, calculated
10 increase the resources OF The tax payers, ami
thus render the support of government less one
rous, slhey feel justified in recommending:a small
appropriation.
The geologist of Maine estimated that more
! than the whole expense of the survey had been
saved to the State, by putting an end to the in.
discriminate digging for minerals in places whe,e
never known to exist, and TO the waste OF mon
! ey in endeavoring to render ores productive
which entirely valueless
| But the addition which it furnishes to the ag.
ricultura resources of the country, is what rem.
ders know ledge Of is geology peculiarly i'm.
portant. Geology has 20 do, not only with the
rocks which form the crust fthe earth, but with
the soil which covers them, and which is form
from, their ,iisi .-EyprV rock forms
a peculiar soil which varies in productiveness
according to the materials which it Is composed,
and which naturally produces ii vegetation pc
culiar to itself. The remiansSof vegetable and
I animal decompositions, form, in the course of
time, Il very important ingredient. THIS is
found to exist i'll very different proportions
in different soils. But important us this
materially is, its quantity furnishes no exact
measure of fertility. 1t may exist in IL state
which units it for Eourishnent OF certain
plants and requires The addition of some sub
stance which will produce chemical change
that will adapt it to the nature of the crop inen
ded to be raised Thus, peat meadows, COM
posed entirely of vegetable remains produce
nothing but coarse bog grass, but when mixed
with other soil, from the most productive lands,
may be converted into nost valuable manure.
The mineral contents of the soil are of no less
importance. Wheat cannot be raised on soil
destitute of lime, while Indian corn requires but
little. Prof. Hitchcock remarks, thar facts III.
deed seem TO warrant the conclusion that with.
out lime in some form, land will not produce
any valuable vegetation Without chemical
analysis, it can with no certainty be determined
that any soil, although situated upon lime rock
contains a sufficient quantity of this article. 1t
may have been exhausted by repeated cultivation
Or the giual soil may have been washed away
aud another deposited in its place. This WAS
found to be the case in Massachusetts-the land
in the lime stone district possessed hut little more
of this substance than the most primitive portions
of the State.
The vegetable principle is not the same in all
soils, and this account, different chemical n
gents are required to render it active. Some
lands require lime aud others potash. These
are not now supposed to act as furnishing an np
propriate stimulus to the plant, but:hy produ-
cling chemical change in the nurious parts OF
the soil. Without the aid of science or the light
Of experience, the practice of the agflcuturalst
must be entirely empirical
While some soils are deficient in vegetable
r,,.tors otbarS are (ouaI COtnuoSed almost II.