SOUTH CAEOLINA PHOSPHATES. 97 



SOUTH caeoli:n'a phosphates. 



FRANKLIN". 



An Essay by R. N. Oakman, of Montague. 



Early in March last I left this cold, frozen northern clime 

 in the midst of a succession of the coldest days we had during 

 an uncommonly cold winter, and in three short days was set 

 down in fields clothed with summer verdure, and in gardens 

 and lawns filled with flowers, and at tables supphed with fresh 

 fruits and vegetables. The change is sudden and incompre- 

 hensible when, as it were with a single step, we go out from 

 frosty winds and frozen ground, and visions of ice and 

 snow, into soft and gentle breezes and midsummer fruits and 

 flowers. 



I had read much of the wonderful discovery, or, I should 

 rather say, the discovery of the wonderful deposit of fertiliz- 

 ing material on the banks of the rivers about Charleston, and 

 was anxious to see and learn more of it. I had the pleasure, 

 at our meeting in May, of exhibiting for your inspection what 

 I esteem a fine collection of fossils from the beds, and in com- 

 pliance with your invitation I will now proceed to give you, 

 as plainly and briefly as I may, a description of what I saw 

 and learned of this truly wonderful deposit. 



disco"vt:rt. 



The discovery of the great utility of this "rock" is of 

 recent date. From the time when the banks of these rivers 

 began to be cultivated, it had been considered an incumbrance, 

 cropping out in some localities on the Ashley River so abun- 

 dantly as to impede the plough in preparing for the cotton 

 row, and was gathered from the fields and lawns and put in 

 waste places or piled by the roadside, precisely as we see the 

 stones in our hill-towns disposed of, without any apprehension 



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