236 PHYSIOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF THE COASTAL PLAIN PROVINCE. 



drical limonite concretions. The upper bed has an average thickness of 

 about 3 feet, and this is first removed and utilized for the manufacture of 

 common brick. The under bed seems to vary in thickness, but where best 

 exposed at the south side of the deposit and nearest to the yard, the thickness 

 is at least 7 feet. It is underlain by a tough sandy clay which is not used 

 and which passes downward into a bed of loamy sand containing streaks of 

 pebbles. The two kinds of clay are worked separately, the upper clay being 

 used for common brick, and the lower clay, with the limonite concretions, 

 known as the tile clay, being used for tile or extra hard brick, termed paving 

 brick. A sample of each of these was tested and the tests given in the table 

 opposite page 235. 



The Belfield Area. 



This town, which adjoins the better known one of Emporia, has one yard, 

 whose product consists entirely of common brick, and which is operated 

 by Dr. Wood, of Emporia. The soil is quite sandy around Belfield, and the 

 surface flat, so that there are very few clay exposures. At the brick yard 

 the clay extends nearly to the surface and averages about 5 feet deep, being 

 bottomed on a coarse, whitish sand, which is not mixed in with the clay, 

 as it does not seem to improve its quality. The clay burns to an excellent 

 red color and makes a good common brick. 



The Norfolk Area and Vicinity. 



The cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Newport News, are among the 

 most important in the Coastal Plain area of Virginia, and in all, building 

 operations are being carried on quite extensively. There is here consequently 

 a good market for building brick, either common or pressed, and the supply 

 is drawn from a number of points. 



There are several yards in the immediate vicinity of these cities which 

 deserve mention. E. W. Face and Son operate a yard on North Avenue, 

 Atlantic City. The raw material is brought from a pit of Pleistocene clay 

 on the Nansemond Eiver, near Suffolk, and in its general character 

 resembles that worked at the brick yards around Suffolk. It is a red-burn- 

 ing clay of excellent plasticity, which yields a good product for structural 

 work. Before molding, the clay has a small quantity of fine coal mixed in 

 with it, to help in burning, a practice somewhat unusual in the Coastal Plain 

 area. It is molded on an end-cut auger machine, dried on hot floors, and 

 burned in up-draft kilns with permanent side walls. 



