369 
their lines. The charge at the pits was, a few years before the war, six or seven 
cents a bushel. 
These beds thus described in New Jersey leave that State by crossing the 
Delaware river, and pass into the State of that name; the general strike or 
direction is southwesterly, and they can be traced in eastern Maryland at the 
head of Chesapeake bay, whence they pass into Anne Arundel, Prince George’s, 
and Charles counties, where they cross the Potomac into Virginia, and thence 
pursue the general southwesterly trend through the southern States into Alabama, 
Mississippi, and Texas, where they turn round north and pass into the Indian 
Territory and New Mexico. As the formation passes south, it changes its 
mineral character. In New Jersey the fossil shells are not numerous and of a 
few species, chiefly of the oyster and allied species, (Ostrea, Gryphea, Exogyra,) 
and not pervading every bed. Some of the Jersey greensand beds are destitute 
of any shell remains. In Maryland, on the contrary, ail the beds are shelly, 
the species are much more numerous, and embrace many of the more familiar 
conchiferous molluse shells, as the pecten and znoceramus, and abound in some 
layers, almost to the exclusion of the greensand. ‘This intrusion of shell 
remaius alters very considerably the chemical nature and the agricultural value 
of these beds as materials for top-dressing the land. The value of the New 
Jersey greensand is in proportion to the amount of the green grains present. 
These grains, being of a peculiar mineral character, have received the name of 
glauconite. Dana gives the following as the mineral constitution of glauconite, 
in 100 parts: Silica, 50; protoxide of iron, 20-25; potash and soda, 8-12, 
(mostly potash;) phosphate of lime, traces; moisture, 7-10. In this mineral 
the amount of lime is very trifling, while the quantity of potash is very great, 
as much as would ordinarily be yielded by scme felspars, and much more 
readily decomposable; hence the great value of the Jersey greensand lies in the 
large quantity of potash which it contains, and which the soil receives in a few 
years. The Jersey marl is not, however, all glauconite, as may be seen from 
the following analysis: 
1. Marl from Squankum, Monmouth county: 
ici CEme Si Pk s Sae EON ee a a eS ee ee a ee oes Bese 10.60 
SiliGH esc alee 1 Ea se be eee ee Oats Shere Bele Reet reper eta Bo 51.16 
(ERG LOST MOROM INO Me a es ones a coe meree Melcninna stele el sea eaten aac eae oasieee ees 16.20 
TAN ELEM Seo ey ee ee ee Neetae stsiain c.clte sa AAO cieeecieceercataer OVOI 
tees ETUC 0 CLEA oe eta ee ere eee Ane crs as. tae en I ou ec wc acpoiee’ Ampodt 
vii gees Bees oe oe Te Re De Da ne ee 5 2 ee A ER Beas 17 
IEA 220s hele ie lee oa a Re leo m= oie walsh oalachas a Aeip Sie e's soca Ss), ee 
PGs PIOTIC RCL Cl pans meme eater aeaea tiene ona s' 721s /at tale te ayo ota tat sia) atovore Sater = ova wine ial oO 
Pita UCM a sie ets oe ade ee er is, o'5 oS maya wei oop ern pale ease sean rp ade 
In 100 parts. 
2. Marl from Mullica Hill, Gloucester county: 
Tete) oS a ee G Oc So 6 bd CRS Ce ee Oe BACNET ees CO), 
COME TO Sao eee ae Po eUOo >> 0+) cde eee epee Teaco sebersecrese oo s- 
SHG) coe SC OSU ROCEIG pee eo 4 atic Uc dea Men eae ea ae oe Se esreoe seamen sess) (al) 37 
Adumipacand, protoxide Of iron 2 2. 2 sees oe ot -. -- nos re <= = oe n= sO 
iebosphate OlmrO Dis) ote ener meee Sc 5. - nie site setote = aleia al toe aE, 
WIESAOS EY Coes on eo op ee toe oo aaa ce 255556 Ho geeeEe oS Seance ssoseccdce ds WEY 
Pobashand SOG aye ooo eo tae ES. 2m. ==, -)vla ee piniam aij moran cctaepeem COU 
eal NETIC ELGG) ko) aha aialae 2 aie a oD ociaw ne a4 emis am ooo. eee. Une 
In 100 parts. 
From the foregoing analysis we may conclude that Squankum marl contains not 
more than forty per cent. of glauconite, and the marl of Mullica Hill about fifty- 
six per cent. But even these quantities of’ potash are very Jarge, and the influ- 
ence of the marls upon some kinds of vegetation wonderful in its results; the 
quantity of lime in these samples is small, and shows how small an admixture 
of shelly particles exists in them. In the Maryland marls the very reverse holds 
good. ‘The glauconite grains are very much less in those from Prince 
2 
