WDIAN^-B^jpfflf
INDIANA   FARMER.
Devoted to Ajrlculturs,  Horticulture, Mechanic! and the Useful Arts.
P. P. Holloway, W. T. Dennis,
R. T. Reed.—JSrfitvrr.
}.   RICHMOND, APRIL 15,1854.
(Holloway & Co., Putlithtrt.
j    Vol.3 • IVO. 13.
T£rAS or Tnr InfiUifjL r*AKMr,K.--One copy, per annum, $1;
four copies, 33; nine copies, 86—Invariably in advance.
Table of Contents.
Page 212—Fruit Report of the Winter Show at Indianapolis.
11 213—Cultivation of Corn—Union Agricultural Society,
"   215—Tobacco.  - -
"   216—Cut Worm—Colts—BUnd Teeth—Baby Show.
"   217—Melons—Ohio Cultivator—Potato Hot—Curculto—
Butter—SeedCorn.
.".  218—Culture of Rural Taste.        „
'*   222—Breeding ia and in.
"   223—Washington and Orange Counties Society.
"   224—Culture of Melons—Wheat  Crop   in   Michigan—
Pigs and Poultry for Indiana—To Clean Paper Walls
—Cultivation of Osier  Willow—Sunshine in  the
, Sanctum—Wheat. at   $2   per  bushel—Cruelty   to
-    Animals
•'■-'■'      For the Indiana'Farmer.
LETTER PROM R. T. BROWIfi-No. 2.
Gov. Wright—Respected. Sir:—Before proceeding to the details of the Geology of Indiana,
a few general remarks on the geological position
of the dife.-cnt portions of the State, will be necessary to a correct understanding of those details. Rocks seldom lie perfectly level, but generally have an inclination to the horizon in some
uniform direction.    In Indiana the general direc-
Shale, Coal, Iron Ore, Bituminous Limestone,
&c. In addition to these regular formations we
have, spread out over a great-part of the middle
and northern portions of the State, a promiscuous mass of clay, sand, gravel and boulders; the
latter consisting of fragments of Granite, Gneis
and Basatt, all water-worn and their angles
ground off by friction against each other. This
is called the Diluvial or Drift formation, or simply
"The Drift." The important relation which this
formation sustains to the agricultural interests of
Indiana, as the source from which is derived
most of the foil of the State, will demand for it a
more extended notice than would be proper in
this place. We therefore pass it for the present,
and promise to devote i~> its consideration an ample space at the proper time.
To define the Out Crop, or appearance on the
surface of these several formations, take a map of
the State and draw a line from the mouth of Indian Kentucky, a few miles above Madison, on
the Ohio river, in a northernly direction, passing
near Versailles and a little east of Napoleon in
Ripley county, continuing this line on through the
western portions of Franklin and Fayette coun-
tion of the inclination or 'Dip' as it is technically
called, is from the east toward the west—or j ties until you have reached the central part of
more accurately, west 15 deg. south. , Hence the
older, or lower formations will be found cropping
out along the eastern boundary of tbe State, and
as wo proceed westward, loosing themselves by
dipping under the highermembers in the geological scale, which in turn, are lost in the same manner. A line, therefore,-crossing the State from
east to west would traverse 1st: The lower Silurian, or blue, shell limestone of Cincinnati, which
is the lowest rock, exposed on the surface, any
where between the Alleghany Mountains and the
Mississippi River. 2d. The "Cliff Rock" of the
Ohio Geologists, the Equivalent of the Niagara
Lime Stone of New York and-perhaps the "Upper Silurian" of the English Authors. . 3d. A
soft earthy Sandstone, which I regard as identical
with the "Chemung Sandstone," of New York,
aud the American representative of the great
Devonian, or "Old Red Sandstone" formation of
Europe. I have approached this latter conclusion with great cautkn, and some misgivings of
its correctness, as it is a question on which the
most eminent Geologists are far from unanimity,-
whether that formation has any representative in
the Mississippi valley. I have, however, in my
possession, characteristic fossils from this formation, which taken iu connection w i.h its position
in relation to the formations above and below it,
are sufficient to satisfy my mind of the correctness of the above statement. '4th. The Carboniferous group; embracing a floor of Mountain
Limestone in heavy strata, resting on which we
«.- have a coarse grained Sandstone, "The New Red
I , Sandstone" of  the ■writers, interstratified with
the western line of Wayne - county, where the
strata looses itself under the drift; and you will
have defined the eastern margin of the "Cliff
rock" and the western boundary of the lower
Silurian. To the westward of this line the Cliff
Rock extends to a line drawn from the Falls of the
Ohio, by Columbus, Indianapolis and Delphi to
Montecello in White county. • Immediately west
of this line, and forming the lower member of the
".Chemung Sandstone" formation, we have running in a narrow band across the State, a black
Aluminous Slate. The out crop of this is seen at
low water, immediately below the falls of the
Ohio, overlapingand resting upon the Cornifer-
ous or the upper member of the Cliff rock group
—it is seen in several places along Silver Creek
in Floyd county, at Slate-fordon the Muscatilack,
and on a few of the most easterly branches of
Salt Creek—indications of it appear above the
bluff of Whiteriver, where it disappears under
the heavy drift, but again makes a bold out crop
in perpendicular escarpments along the Wabash
near Delphi, and finally disappears near the mouth
of the Monow in White county. This slate always contains sulphur and sometimes bitumen
enough to make it burn, which circumstances
have misled persons unacquainted with its geological position, to suppose that coal would be found
connected with it, and considerable expenditures
have been made in fruitless search for it. It lies
at least 1000 feet too low for coal and is only
valuable for the manufacture of "Alum, for which
purpose it may some day be turned to a good ao-
count. . *-