dition of things, combined with abundant supplies of good, pure water, is productive of a fine quality of milk; and great skill, with long experience superadded, in the manufacture, have rendered this County famous at home, and celebrated for many years all over the Union, for the best and finest quality of butter. This, of itself, is no mean praise of the County at large, and of her mothers and daughters in particular. This product of which we speak, however fine its quality and agreeable its taste, is now rapidly on the decrease, and will continue to diminish in quantity for some years to come, as the farmers find it more profitable to send their milk to New York than to make it into butter. Those, at least, are pursuing this course of husbandry who reside within a convenient distance of the Hudson, and the track of the N. Y. and Erie Rail Road. The quantity of milk produced is as great as at any other period. During the year 1845, 6,138,840 quarts from Orange and Rockland found a market in the city of New York by the Rail Road. This converted into butter would make 500,000 lbs. to be supplied from other counties. If to that quantity we add one-fifth for the number of quarts which went to the same market by steamboats on the river, we may have some adequate idea of the quantity of milk produced in the County. The last estimate, of one-fifth, is thought to be far too low. In one week, from the 6th to the 13th of June, 1846, 219,312 quarts were carried to New York by the Rail Road.

According to the census of the County for 1845, the number of milch cows was 42,256; the number of pounds of butter, 4,108,840; the average per cow is 90 lbs.; the value of the whole at 18 cts., $739,471; the value per cow, $16,20. No. of cattle, 59,712; sheep, 45,819; hogs, 57,263. The above statement shows the large quantity of butter still made in the County, notwithstanding the millions of quarts of milk carried to the city. By comparing the estimated value of this butter with the value of wheat, rye, corn and potatoes, as the quantity of each appears in the same census, it will be found that the butter of the County, alone, equals them in value. In this comparison, the reader will be forcibly struck with two things-the great value of the butter interest in the County, and the comparative small yield, per acre and value, of the grains raised; the latter justifying our remarks, that the wheat culture must be abandoned.We have been chided on that point, since our newspaper publication, and we refer the gentleman to the table, showing an average of 83 bushels per acre.

The farming interest in some towns, for a few years past, has taken a new direction in another particular. More attention has been bestowed on raising and feeding stock for market, than formerly. This more agreeable and less laborious mode of farming, when pursued for a number of years, will largely and surely contribute to enrich the land, and restore it to its original strength and fruitfulness. Those who pursue this course, prefer to purchase the young stock rather than breed it.

The farmers evince a laudable zeal to improve their lands, and elevate the standard of agriculture; for they expend annually from $40,000 to $50,000 for Plaster of Paris, as if that were the best and only manure to be had. This lavish expenditure is thrown away, to some extent, and shows a wrong or false economy; for had they turned their attention to the limestone, marls, and bog earths, found every where, almost on every farm of any magnitude, they would have discovered an inexhaustible supply of excellent and more durable manure; and in the form of compost, admirably adapted to almost every kind of soil, and all modes of culture. We commend this more economical and beneficial method of supply, which spends the money still more immediately at home; and the sooner commenced on a large and permanent scale the better. This, we think, is the only true economy to remedy the disease-all other applications are mere tamperings with it. We do not know what other portions of the County are doing on the subject of composts, we believe there are many individuals, farmers and horticulturalists, in the town of Newburgh, and in the vicinity of the village, who, from personal experience, are deeply impressed with its value, and are preparing to use it on their lands in very liberal quantities. There are localities on the farms of Messrs. Thomas Powell and I. Carpenter, which can furnish any quantity of the black bog earth, the principal ingredient of the composition; while lime, in like manner, is abundant in the same vicinity. Durability is one great recommendation of this fertilizer, and makes it economical in the long run. The public survey of the County has developed many valuable deposites of this earth.

The mountain districts, though rugged and forbidding, contain the best qualities of iron ore, and still abound with wood and timber. The manufacture of iron is very extensive in the southern portion of the County, principally in the towns of Warwick and Monroe, and has been vigorously worked at ever since the Revolution. The names of these

iron manufactures will be mentioned under their proper heads in the towns in which situated.

The Shawangunk mountain, a spur of the Allegany, from the south, stretches across the extreme western angle of the County, and passes into Sullivan. The eastern face is of easy and gradual ascent, and, in many places, cultivated to the top. The western side is more precipitous and less susceptible of improvement. The elevated range of the Highlands is found in the eastern part of the County, principally in Cornwall and Monroe. It runs in a northeast direction, approximating the Hudson as it proceeds north. The highest summits of the range are known by the names of Butter Hill, Crow's Nest, and Bare Mountain. The range is not continuous, but broken up into abrupt hills. The central portions are most agreeably diversified with hills of gentle ascent and moderate elevation, and with numerous rich and extensive vallies. The rocks and mountains in the southern part of the County, from Butter Hill in the east to Pochunck Mountain in the southwest, are what geologists denominate granite, a primitive formation, and of that kind called gneiss. These various formations surround the County south, like the segment of a broad and elevated, yet broken, mountain circle. Isolated elevations of the same formation are found in the towns of Warwick, Monroe, and other localities, of which Mounts Adam and Eve, and Snake Hill are examples.

As we should expect, in an undulating, hilly and mountainous district of country, the County abounds with a great number of ponds, lakes and large streams, including several rivers, which, in the aggregate, offer and furnish an immense hydraulic power, a large part of which is in useful and profitable employment. The beauty and beneficial nature of this water power is, that it is not located in any one particular region, but every where in general. It is as universally and widely disseminated over the broad surface of the County as the rain showers which fall upon it, or the winds which blow over it. We believe there is not one town in the County but has water power to some extent, Goshen the least. In the extreme western portion flow the Delaware, Mongaup and Neversink, which just touch and leave the County, and seek the ocean by a southern course. In the eastern, the majestic Hudson, with gentle and unruffled bosom, white with the canvass of a rich and varied commerce, rolls her silent flood to the south, washing the whole eastern boundary. Through the central portion, the Wallkill, rising in New Jersey, breaking from the slough of the Drowned

Lands, pursues her uneven and winding way to the north, with smaller tributaries, and rich in hydraulic power, enters the County of Ulster, and unites with the Hudson at Kingston. The Otter Kill, Murderer's, Chambers', Gray Court, Ramapo, and a hundred other creeks, which run in every di. rection through and fertilize the County, will be particularly mentioned in their proper towns.

In many localities the hills abound with limestone of superior quality, while the mountain districts yield inexhaustible masses of granite for all building purposes. This latter stone is compact and durable in structure, and free from the presence of the minerals which discolor and mar its beauty, after exposure for a length of time to the action of the atmosphere. In some localities near Butter Hill, and at other points in the Highlands, quarries have been opened and worked, answering in all respects, as to quality, the most sanguine expectations formed of their excellence. Most of the buildings at West Point are constructed of this stone.The late geological survey of the State has contributed to recommend these quarries to public favor, and bring them into more immediate notice.

The limestone is found in extensive masses in almost every town, and its ranges can be traced as definitely and continuously, as they pervade the County, as the granite formation. Too much cannot be said in favor of this stone, in an agricultural point of view, nor our farmers too deeply impressed with its value as a manure, in preparing composts-considering the exhausted and run-down condition of their lands. The time has come when the great staples of the County, grain and butter, are brought into competition in their own market, with those of the West, and fail to yield a living profit to the producer; and Orange must devote her lands. largely to horticultural purposes, and supply the daily wants of the city, and leave breeding stock and growing long crops

to others.

In connection with this reference to limestone we further remark, that there is one location worthy special notice in this review, which is now interesting the geologists and naturalists of the Union, on account of its curious and important minerals. The whole subject will be best and most concisely explained by the following extracts:

Dr. Samuel Fowler, of New Jersey, a scientific gentleman, in some published remarks, speaking on this subject, observes, "That perhaps there is in no quarter of the globe found so much to interest the mineralogist as in the White Crystalline Valley, commencing at

Mounts Adam and Eve, in Orange Co., N. York, about three miles from the line of New Jersey, and continuing thence through Vernon, Hamburgh, Franklin, Sterling, Sparta and Byram, about twenty-five miles in Sussex, N. Jersey. This limestone is highly crystalline, containing no organic remains, and is the great imbedding matrix of all the curious and interesting minerals found in this valley. When burned, it produces lime of a superior quality. Some burned near Hamburgh is preferred in all kinds of masonry to Rhode Island lime. Some varieties, particularly the granular, furnishes a beautiful marble. It is often white, with a slight tinge of yellow, resembling the Parian marble from the island of Paros; at other times clouded black, sometimes veined black, and at other times arborescent."

We observe, that at a meeting of the geologists and naturalists of the Union, held in the city of New York, in September, 1846, Mr. Alger made the following observations, which support the remarks of Dr. Fowler, and bring to light new and interesting facts connected with the mineral wealth of the County:

"The zinc mines are situated in the Wallkill Valley of New Jersey, which extends nearly in a north and south direction through Sussex Co.Towards the south limits of this valley, near Sparta, there commences a long range of hills, which extend through Sterling to Franklin. These hills consist principally of granular limestone, (the altered blue limestone of Prof. Rogers,) and it is in these formations that the zinc deposites occur. The bed visibly exposed at Sterling is about 600 feet. Assuming its present average width at four feet, and its depth at 100 feet, we have 240,000 cubic feet of ore. Each foot of this contains 170 lbs. of red oxide, and as the oxide of zinc contains 81 per cent. of pure metal, the whole amount at this single locality is 33,048,000. At five cents per lb., the average price, this one deposite would be worth nearly two millions of dollars.

Mr. Alger stated that in Edenville, N. Y., he had met with a curious substance, the nature of which he had no means of determining at the time. It came from the village of Amity, Orange County, in this State-has no crystalline structure, but appears in thin layers or seams, of a peach blossom or purple color, penetrating limestone. He soon discovered it to be Yttrocerite, both by an examination of its pyrognostic character and a careful comparison of its physical character with the mineral from Finbo in Sweden. On being placed in a crucible, and on the application of heat, hydrofluoric acid was obtained, producing the usual reaction on a plate of glass. Mr. A. thought this must be considered as the first well authenticated instance of the occurrence of this exceedingly rare mineral in the United States, or at least the first undoubted locality. He was aware that President Hitchcock had found a specimen which he had supposed to be Yttro-cerite, which was analyzed by Dr. Jackson and proved to have been that mineral. Prof. Hitchcock supposed he had taken that specimen from some part of Worcester Co., Mass."

The clay beds of the tertiary deposites are extensive in the County, out of which a coarse pottery is made; but their principal economical use is in the manufacture of brick, of which there are about 10,000,000 annually made. These deposites extend along the vallies of streams, and are found