243 



wilhout showing any caustic action upon the vegetation. This 

 auiong other facts induces me to recommend to the farmers, to 

 expose their caustic or astringent marls to the rain for a season, 

 before attempting to employ them. 



On the south side of the river, one-fourth of a mile below Red 

 Bank, the shore, which is rather steep and about twenty-five feet 

 high, displays a bed of dark micaceous sandy clay, overlaid by a 

 mass of diluvial sand and gravel twelve feet in thickness — the 

 line of separation between these being very obvious. The dark 

 micaceous clay and sand on this side of the river seems to replace 

 the upper impure layer of marl of the opposite or north shore. 

 From the surface of the water to its upper edge it is about twelve 

 feet in thickness, and it extends down along the water's side as 

 far as Jeffries' Point. 



The stratum of pure greensand lying immediately below this 

 layer, corresponds to the lower bed on the north side of the river. 

 It consists almost entirely of the green granules. The marl is 

 penetrated to the depth of about twenty feet at several spots 

 along the beach. Though Jeff'ries' Point seems to be the termi- 

 nation of the dark micaceous clay and the underlying greensand 

 on the south side of the river, yet there are good reasons for 

 inferring that the marl extends along the opposite side at an 

 accessible level the whole way to the extremity of the peninsula 

 dividing the Nevesink and Shrewsbury rivers. 



The marl at Jeffries' Point is of a lighter green than any in 

 this immediate quarter. Very few organic remains occur in the 

 greensand formation in this vicinity, either in the cliffs of the 

 Nevesink Hills or in the banks of the river. 



The marl of Jeffries' Point gives by analysis the following: 



Composition. — In 100 parts: 



Greensand, . . .' 92-5 



Clay, - . . . 7-5 



Quartzose sand, - - none. 



1000 



The proportion of potash in this marl, deduced from the 

 average quantity in the greensand, is 10 per cent. 



When washed, the granules are large and of a dark green colour. 



