y67 



ted at 31,680 cubic feet. The amount of lime which the bed is capa- 

 ble of furnishino; at 96,000 bushels. 



Marl, in small quantity, has also been found in town of Canton, sec- 

 tion 9. 



No experiments have been made in the employment of marl as a 

 manure, in this county, nor, as far as I am informed, elsev here in the 

 State. This is somewhat a matter of surprise, since trials of plaster 

 (gypsum) and quick lime are acknowledged to have produced extraor- 

 dinary results. It is, however, scarcely known to our farmers that marl, 

 or bog lime, may be used with equal profit, while it has the advantage 

 of being obtained at a much cheaper rate. It deserves to be made the 

 subject of immediate and ample experiment, particularly upon sandy 

 soils and those which are found to contain but small proportion of that 

 essential ingredient, lime. This is often the case with the lands in the 

 immediate vicinity of the marl beds. 



PEAT. 



Peat, or vegetable alluvion, is found in considerable bodies in town of 

 Plymouth, overlying the marl, and in the marshes or wet prairies of 

 GreenfieKl, Hamtramck, Ecorce, Brownstown and Huron. These latter 

 deposits have been already noticed under the head of marshes. 



The gieater proportion of peat found in this country belongs to the 

 variety called fibrous, being a mere mass of spongy fibres of grass roots, 

 partially decomposed and elastic to the tread. A small proportion is of 

 the sphagnous or peat moss variety. Comparatively little is compact, 

 or in a state which would render it of much value for fuel. 



A bed in the taraarac swamp on sections five and eight, Plymouth, 

 to the depth of five feet, was found to consist chiefly of the kind de- 

 nominated ligneous. It disclosed a half decomposed mass of tamarac 

 logs, with moss, roots, (fee. At depth of several feet, I found entire 

 stumps, trunks and limbs of a former growth of timber, retaining their 

 form, but so soft as to yield readily to the spaile. 



The body of fibrous peat which composes the marshes in Hamtramck, 

 includes about 1,900 acres, with an average depth of four feet. 



The adjoining marsh in Greenfield and Royal Oak, comprises about 

 3,000 acres of this deposit, with the same average depth. Probably a 

 portion of this peat is of ligneous origin. 



