Part I. Report of progress in 1869, by J. S. Newberry, chief geologist. Part II. Report of progress in the second district, by E. B. Andrews, assist. geologist. Part III. Report on geology of Montgomery County, by Edward Orton, assist. geologist.

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the development of the building stone, has sent the following interesting
and valuable statement relative to the region:
Concerning the economic value of the hills of Adams and Scioto counties in
the neighborhood of the village of Freestone, which is on the Ohio river,
near the point where the line dividing those counties touches it:
These hills being steep and rough are hardly cultivated at all, except
for fruit. The peaches from the orchards of Mr. Loughery, overlooking
the villages, have a high reputation in market, and what little wine has
been produced from a few vineyards near by, has been of uncommon
delicacy of flavor and richness. Without any analysis of the soil to
inform us, we know that it abounds in silex, is deficient in lime, has
some clay, and a good deal ot iron, as well as potash. Comparing it
with the soil of one of the best vineyards in one of the chief wine districts of Europe, Lafitte in Medoc, we find the latter to containSilicious pebbles........................ 629 parts.
Fine sand....283.................".................. 283 "
Pure silex................................................................. 62 "
Humus s..............-.... -... —-. —- 13
Alumina...................................... 7 "
Lime.......................................... 40 "
Iron................................................................. 86
In the limestone soil of the Burgundy wine district, the proportion of
iron is from ten to thirteen per cent., and of silica about thirty per cent.
These show that for the production of wines of fine quality, lime in
large quantity is not an essential constituent, and that in two, at least,
of the great French vine districts, the soil, like that of the hills of
Adams and Scioto, abounds in silica and iron.
The timber is chiefly white oak, poplar, chestnut, beech, hickory, sugar
tree and locust, of remarkable strength and durability, as compared
with the growth of the plains and valleys.
Ginseng, sarsaparilla and other medicinal plants of marketable value,
are found in the woods, and are gathered and disposed of in considerable
quantities.
Mineral springs of real or supposed virtue in healing disease, issue in
many places from the bases of the hills. One of these, in Adams county,
has already become an established resort for invalids.
The upper parts of the hills are formed of a very even and compact
stratafication of what are known as the Waverly sandstone, interlaid
with clayey shales. Though capable of yielding an inexhaustible supply
of very good building material, and though formerly quarried for that
purpose, to some extent, these sandstones are now abandoned in favor
of the harder and more beautiful ledge lying below them.
Immediately beneath the Waverly ledges comes a very thick bed of
fine bluish grey clay, excellent for brick, tile and potters' ware An
English potter finds in this clay the very material that has made Staf.
fordshire what it is, the pottery of the world. It is not of such clay that
the fine white ware and porcelain we get from Staffordshire are made,
but those wares must be enclosed, when baked, by a kind of matrix, to
supply which so large a bulk of common clay is needed that the finer
substances of which the ware itself is formed, and of which not a tenth
as much is needed, can better be transported to it than it to them.
Hence potteries are always established near the clay beds. The clay in
question is quite pure and free of grit.