236 



At EIy''s mill the marl is very impure, being almost entirely 

 composed of siliceous sand; and doubts may exist whether it 

 belongs to the marl bed, or the overlying clay. 



At Mr. John Johnson's, Nut Sioamp, the marl consists, towards 

 the top, of the usual ferruginous yellow clayey bed, containing a 

 small portion of the dark grains. This is not used, but is pared 

 off to a depth of two or three feet. Next to this comes the dark 

 marl, nearly black when wet, and rather hard in the bed, from 

 the quantity of ferruginous matter which cements it. It crumbles 

 on exposure, and becomes gray or even white, from the efflores- 

 cence which collects upon it. In it are large roundish masses of 

 the marl cemented into firm stone by the oxide of iron. These, 

 however, crumble down in time by exposure. In these beds the 

 siliceous sand is very little in quantity. The top of the bed is the 

 richest in greensand; lower down there is more of the dove- 

 coloured clay, resembling precisely the clayey marl at Conover's. 

 The vertebrae of a species of crocodile have been found here. 



On Porricy brook, upon the road to Middletown, there occurs 

 a fine exposure of the marl. It seems to be very thick and is 

 covered by the yellow ferruginous sandy marl which is seen 

 again half a mile south of Middletown, in the meadows. The 

 black marl lies beneath. 



At Middletown and its immediate vicinity, the upper yellowish, 

 or ferruginous bed is chiefly seen ; while the greensand marl has 

 been reached in only a few points, though there can be no doubt 

 of its existence at a small depth every where in the neighbour- 

 hood. 



This upper portion of the marl stratum contains a considerable 

 amount of the green grains, but mixed with much ferruginous clay 

 and sand of an orange and variegated yellow hue. This orange 

 and many-coloured clay is distributed in streaks and blotches. 



The upper stratum is inferior to the green marl in fertilizing 

 power, though it is used with excellent effect in many places near 

 Middletown. 



Marl from the Farm of Captain Edward Taylor, at Middletown. 



Description. — Colour dull green ; texture clayey, grains of 

 small size. After being washed and freed from clay, the colour 

 is more distinctly green. 



