On Gypsum. 159 



advanced age. He informed me, that he had commu- 

 nicated his knowledge of it to one or two persons in the 

 country ; I think to the late Mr. Thomas Clifford and 

 another. He shewed me a letter, in German^ from one 

 who had gone over from Pemisylvania to Germany^ for 

 redemptioners ; as was customar}^ at that day. The 

 writer sent over a specimen of the gypsum ; and desired 

 Mr. Barge to seek for land in this then Province^ in 

 which it could be found. It was, probably, to assist in 

 this object, among other considerations, that I was taken 

 into a secret, then utterly unknown to others in this 

 country. But from that time to this, I have not been 

 able to discover any quarries oi gypsum^ proper for hus- ^ 

 bandr}'-, in this, or any other of the United States. There 

 are, in a variety of places, gypseous substances. On the 

 waters, far south, to wit, on the Alatamaha; and the other 

 parts of that region, gypsum, of the purest and best qua- 

 lity, and in immense quantities, is to be found, easily 

 accessible. The mountains skirting the Alatamaha, are 

 formed of marble and gypsum, in many parts ; apj>earing 

 like artificial walls on the sides of the river. The quar- 

 ries in A'ova Scotia, were to us unknown at the time of 

 the introduction of the gypsum here. Burr mill stone 

 makers, and stucco plaisterers, were the only persons 

 acquainted with an)^ of its uses. From one of the form- 

 er (the late John BroxvnJ I procured a bushel; \vhich 

 enabled me to begin my agricultural experiments; and 

 I faithfully pursued and extended them, as I obtained 

 more means. A quantity imported as ballast (I believe 

 20 tons) by the late captain Nathaniel Faidkner of Phi- 

 ladelphia, then in the London trade ; and thrown out on 

 a wharf, without knowledge of its value, was the first 



