ELISIIA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 95 



Soon after the passage of the above act, Governor Hammond 

 appointed to the position of " Agrienhiiral Surveyor for tlie 

 State" Mr. E(hnund Riiffin, of Virginia, who, early in the year 

 1843, assumed the (hities of his office. 



A word or two will suffice to show the fitness of the app(jint- 

 ment. It was Mr. Ruffin, who, in 1818, had discovered the 

 agricultural value of marl and other calcareous manures, by the 

 use of which the producing capacity of much of the land in 

 Eastern Virginia was nearly doubled. In 1832 he pul)lished his 

 *' Essay on Calcareous Manures," which soon passed through 

 three editions and was widely circulated. From 1832 to 1842 

 he edited and published the Farmers^ Register, an agricultural 

 periodical, which had a wide circulation and exerted an important 



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influence, especially in Eastern Maryland, Virginia and North 

 Carolina. In all of his writings Mr. Ruffin advocated the 

 improvement of soils by drainage, by use of manures of all 

 kinds, and especially by the use of marls and lime; and his opin- 

 ions were based upon the fact that by the use of marl he and his 

 neighbors in Virginia had nearly doubled the productive capac- 

 ity of their lands. 



All of this gave Mr. Ruffin a reputation second to none in the 

 South Atlantic States in matters pertaining to agriculture. 



In South Carolina a few leading planters, among them Gov- 

 ernor Hammond, under the guidance of Mr. Ruffin's advice, 

 had begun to use marl extensively and with success. It was 

 l)elieved that marl existed in abundance over the eastern part of 

 the State, but a general ignorance })revailed with regard to it, 

 and it was especially desired that the agricultural surveyor should 

 examine this region and show the people where marl existed, 

 and how to procure and use it. 



Mr. Ruffin's ap|)ointment was then in every way a suitable 

 one; and he accepted it for one year with the understanding that 

 he should ''direct his efforts, for the most part, to discovering 

 and examining the beds of marl and other calcareous deposits, and 

 urging their use upon the people of the State."* He devoted the 



*DeBow\« Rev. < ). S., VoL XI, 1851, p. 435. 



