the westward, at the Cheputnecticook Lakes and River St. Croix, and also pursues a north-easterly course to Bull Moose Hill, near the Bellisle in King's county, soon after which it disappears on meeting the coal measures. The Nerepis Hills are in this belt, which is narrower and less elevated than that to the northward.

Both these belts of granitic rocks form anticlinal ridges, against which the stratified masses lean, or they border immense troughs containing the secondary and tertiary formations. The regions they occupy are generally stony, often rocky, and not susceptible of cultivation. In the less rocky portions excellent soils are frequently found when the loose stones are removed.

The trap rocks, which include felspar, basalt, porphyry, green-stone trap, and others of a volcanic character, are found largely in connection with these belts of primary rocks, into which they send numerous dikes, veins, and intruding masses. A tract of trap rocks, associated with granite and sienite, and frequently passing into the true granitic rock, extends from Chamcook, near St. Andrew's, to the eastern extremity of the county of St. John. This tract is on the average about ten miles in width, and about ten miles distant from the northern shore of the Bay of Fundy, with the north-easterly course of which it runs nearly parallel. These trap rocks occupy a large space in the counties of King's, St. John, and Charlotte; the lofty columnar basalt, of the island of Grand Manan, is espe cially remarkable. They form in general a poor and rugged country, but do not necessarily indicate the presence of unfertile soils, because they contain a large percentage of lime. This chemical character eminently distinguishes the trap from the granitic rocks; and the soils formed from each of these classes of rocks respectively, differ widely, and require entirely different modes of treatment. Whenever the trap rocks crumble, from the action of the weather or other causes, as frequently happens, they form reddish soils of much richness; and when these soils are deep,

they may be profitably applied as covering to other soils of an inferior character.

2. The lower Silurian rocks, which form a broad belt south of the Tobique hills, running parallel with the north-easterly course of that range, and sweeping around the western end of the coal measures. The slates of this formation are composed of beds of clay that have been gradually consolidated, in which there is no lime. They form soils of medium and inferior quality, which require drainage and the free use of lime.

3. The upper Silurian rocks, which cover nearly the whole northern portion of New Brunswick, from the Tobique hills to the northern boundary of the province, at the 48th parallel of North latitude, where this formation is met by the lofty mountain ridges of Gaspé. The counties of Carleton, Victoria, and Restigouché, rest principally on this formation, which furnishes a large portion of the richest upland soil of New Brunswick. Among the upper Silurian rocks of this region are beds of valuable limestone, frequently abounding in characteristic fossils. The rocks themselves are generally slaty clays, more or less hard, containing lime in considerable quantity as an ingredient, and crumbling down into soils of much richness, and sometimes of great tenacity. These soils are of a heavier character than those of the coal measures, and infinitely more fertile.

The upper Silurian rocks are also found skirting the Bay of Fundy, forming a belt of unequal width, from the Saint Croix to Point Wolf, at the eastern extremity of St. John county. The southern part of Charlotte, and nearly the whole of St. John county, are in this formation. The rocks of this district have been heretofore classed as lower Silurian; but the better opinion seems to be that they belong to the upper Silurian, and have been greatly changed by igneous action. This opinion is sustained by the presence of large beds of limestone, which especially distinguish this district; and by the presence of fossils in the slates

which are less metamorphosed. They are not altogether incapable of yielding good soils; but this portion of the province is, for the most part, covered with soils of an inferior character.

4. The lower carboniferous rocks, or red sandstone, which form a narrow belt everywhere between the Silurian rocks and those of the coal measures. They are also found extensively in Westmorland, Albert, King's, Queen's, Carleton, and Gloucester; with small patches in St. John and Charlotte counties. In these sandstones, which are sitnated beneath the coal measures, large deposits of gypsum are found, and salt springs often occur. This formation consists chiefly of red conglomerate, fine-grained red sandstone, and beds of red clay. The conglomerate does not produce so good a soil as the fine-grained red sandstone, which crumbles into red and sandy soils, light and easy to work, often fertile, and under proper management yielding good crops. The beds of red clay, often called red marl, are interstratified with beds of red sandstone, and crumble down into soils which vary from a fine red loam to a rich red clay. In the neighborhood of lime, these sandstones are themselves rich in lime; and when associated with gypsum, combine to form some of the most generally useful, and, when properly drained, some of the most valuable upland soils in the province.

5. The carboniferous rocks, or coal measures, which cover a large proportion of the breadth of New Bruns wick, consist chiefly of gray sandstones of various tints, but sometimes of a dark and greenish hue, and at others of a pale yellow color. The district occupied by these coal measures, extends along the whole gulf shore of this province, from the boundary of Nova Scotia, at Baie Verte, nearly to Bathurst on the Bay of Chaleur, without interruption. It constitutes a large part of the counties of Gloucester and Northumberland; the whole of Kent; the most considerable portions of Westmorland, Queen's, and Sunbury; and extends also into Albert, King's, and

York counties. This coal measure district is distinguished by the general flatness of its surface, gently undulating, however, intersected by numerous rivers and several large lakes, but consisting principally of table lands, more or less elevated, over which forests of mixed growth extend in every direction. The sandstones of this formation consist principally of silicious matter, cemented together by a small proportion of clay, chiefly decayed felspar; they crumble readily, form light soils, pale in color and easily worked, retaining little water, ploughed with facility early in spring and late in autumn, but needing much manure, and subject to being parched up in hot and dry summers. Some of these sandstones, however, contain greater proportions of clay, and form stiffer soils; others, that are green or gray internally, weather of a red color, and form reddish soils of good quality.

It has been remarked, that the coal measures of New Brunswick contain a smaller variety of sandstones than those of England and Scotland, and are free from those thick beds of dark-colored shale which occur in the coalmeasures of the United Kingdom. The soils there, lying above the richest coal-fields, are often miserably poor, and greatly inferior to those furnished by the carboniferous rocks of New Brunswick.

6. The tertiary deposits, which are found at numerous localities along the coast of the Bay of Fundy. These consist of beds of sand, marly clay, and marl, forming low and nearly level tracts, exposed to the sea, and frequently extending some distance from the shores. In the marl and marly clay of this formation, the remains of marine animals and plants are found in profusion. In the counties of Gloucester and Restigouché, on the coast of the Bay Chaleur, these are similar to animals and plants which still exist in the province, and the marls of that district may therefore be referred to the pliocene period of the upper tertiary formation.

There are two kinds of alluvium in the province, the

fresh-water and the marine, both exceedingly fertile. The first of these, composed of the particles of rocks detached by the frost, heat, and moisture, which cause rapid disintegration, are carried downward by the rains, and transported by the floods in early spring along the valleys and river sides, where, being deposited, they form the fertile intervales that border nearly every river in New Brunswick. The marine alluvia are carried inwards by the rapid tides of the Bay of Fundy, and spread along its estuaries, where, in the course of time, they become grassbearing marshes, and being rescued from the sea by embankments, finally produce clover and wheat. These "diked marshes," as they are termed, possess extraordinary and enduring fertility, and exist extensively in the counties of Westmorland and Albert, near the head of the Bay of Fundy, where the tides rise to the height of fifty feet and upwards.

For information under this head the writer is indebted to the labors of Dr. Gesner, Dr. Robb, Professor Johnston, and Mr. Logan of Canada, in addition to his own observations in every part of New Brunswick.

MINES, MINERALS AND QUARRIES.

As the geological character of New Brunswick can as yet be but imperfectly described, its minerals, at the present, are therefore only partially known. The principal mineral substances hitherto found in the province are as follows:

1. Bituminous coal, of good quality, found in numerous localities in the coal measures of the province, of the fat and caking description, like the Newcastle coal of England. No seam of this coal thicker than twenty-one inches has yet been discovered. The principal workings are in the vicinity of Grand Lake, Queen's county, and the seam is found, on the average, at about twenty feet below the surface. In 1851, nine hundred and forty tons were raised. 2. A highly bituminous mineral, found near the Petico