FARMERS' REGISTER— GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. 



689 



discussion in their legislatures; and there seems to 

 be no doubt, that either now or at some early 

 day, the necessary ])rovisions will be made lor 

 con)mencing the investigations desired. 



2. Witnessing the valuable results of these re- 

 searches in Eurojic, and in some parts of the 

 United States, we should of course anticipate sim- 

 ilar benefits from inquiries of tliis nature conduct- 

 ed within our own territory. Nor would it be ne- 

 cessary, in order to feel convinced of the utility of 

 such a survey as applied to Virginia, to refer in 

 detail to those particulars in the physical charac- 

 ter of the state, upon which it would bear witji 

 the most direct and prominent advantage. All 

 are willing to admitthe great extent and value and 

 diversity ol' our mineral wealth, and at the same 

 time to confess that its distribution through our 

 territory, its precise boundariesin anyone locality, 

 its exact nature as ascertained by science, and its 

 susceptibility of economical and profitable applica- 

 tion to the purposes of commerce, manufactures, 

 and the arts of life, are matters of which scarcely 

 any thing as yet has been accurately determined. 

 The mere surmises of ignorance on the imperfect 

 observations of the inexperienced explorers who 

 have examined without any adequate lights to di- 

 rect their investigations, appear to have furnished 

 nearly all the knowledge upon these points, of 

 which we have as yet become possessed. To 

 feel thus assured of the existence of a great vari- 

 ety of mineral riches V\'ithin our territory, and at 

 the same time, except in a few instances, to have 

 availed ourselves of but little of the benefits it prof- 

 fers, and to know but little of its position, nature 

 or extent, are certainly in themselves powerful 

 reasons for the adoption of some scheme of sys- 

 tematic, minute and extensive research. But, 

 howev^er obviously the advantages of such sur- 

 veys might be inferred from these considerations, 

 in connexion with the acknowledged benefits 

 which other states have derived and are deriving 

 jiom them, your committee have felt it incumbent 

 to inquire more particularly into the specific bear- 

 ing which inquiries of this nature would have 

 upon all the great divisions of our territory. In 

 attending to this point, a number of in'ercsting 

 particulars have come to their knowledge, some of 

 which are perhaps not generally known, and all 

 of which still further confirm them in the belief, 

 that such a survey as the one in question, cannot 

 tiul to prove eminently advantageous to ourstate. 

 Most of the facts here referred to, have been dis- 

 covered by mere accident, and by persons seem- 

 ingly unconscious of their importance; conse- 

 quently, litde or no improvement of them has 

 been made, and no researches undertaken to as- 

 certain their real extent or value. In adverting to 

 the beneficial application of such a survey to the 

 several great divisions of our territory, your com- 

 mittee ieel at liberty to touch only on some of the 

 more prominent particulars in which its utility 

 would be lelt: and, indeed, it is only in the actual 

 progress, or at the completion of the investigation, 

 that the most inaportant of "its practical bearings 

 can be appreciated and understood. Discoveries 

 of great general interest and of invaluable local 

 importance, would, there is reason to believe, re- 

 ward even the earlier efforts of those connected 

 with the enterprise; and districts of the state, at 

 present almost deserted from supposed meagre- 

 ness of resource?, would behold spread out oe- 

 VoL. 11—52 



neath their soil, the rich earths, which were soon 

 to diffuse fertility over their hills and plains, or the 

 valuable rocks and ores iioni which enterprise was 

 to derive ne\v incentives to exertion. 



3. Commencing with the tide-water portion of 

 the state, jour committee would remark, that the 

 vast marine deposile of shells and other calcareous 

 matters which underlie a great part of this region, 

 may be considered practically, as well as in a 

 scientific aspect, as one of the most important Ica- 

 tures in the geology of the state. The exhausted 

 soils of many of the eastern counties, are already 

 exhibiting the most astonishing proolis of the ler- 

 lility which this calcareous matter is capable of 

 bestowing, and it may be confidently expected, 

 that when a more extensive and systematic atten- 

 tion to the employment ol" this manure shall have 

 been adopted throughout eastern Virginia, a de- 

 gree of agricultural wealth and prosperity will be 

 realized, of which a few years since, or even at 

 this lime, it would be difficult to conceive. To 

 the rapid, general and successful extension of this 

 ameliorating system, there can be no doubt that a 

 geological and chemical examination, extended to 

 all the eastern counties, would be in a high de- 

 gree conducive: in most of them marl has already 

 been discovered: clifls of it appear on all our 

 rivers, and sometimes for miles, an uninterrupted 

 bed of this precious manure forms one or both of 

 the confines of the stream. But of the composi- 

 tion of its numerous varieties, of the districts 

 which they severally occupy, and of the value of 

 the various earths with which they are associated, 

 but Httle general or systematic knowledge has 

 been acquired. To one individual, the able editor 

 of the Farmers' Register, the state is indebted fur 

 nearly all that has been done on the subject. But 

 how important would it be to investigate the ex- 

 tent and character of this deposite more minutely; 

 to trace it upwards from its first appearance near 

 the mouths ol' our rivers; then, by transverse lines, 

 to explore all the counties in its range, and at 

 each step of the investigation to ascertain its agri- 

 cultural value by chemical analysis. 



Within the tide-water district also, but in a re- 

 gion to which the common marl does not general- 

 1>- extend, another deposite of even higher lertiliz- 

 ing properties than the former has recently been 

 discovered. This substance, called green sand, 

 ir-om its consisting of granular particles of a green 

 aspect when dry, is geologically an older deposite 

 than that which embodies the ordinary shell marl. 

 In the beds of the latter, however, in many situa- 

 tions, a very large per ccntage oi" the gree« sand 

 has been discovered, and the value of the marl ia 

 believed to be much increased by the presence of 

 this ingredient. The extent of this immense 

 green sand deposite is yet conjectural, but that it 

 reaches, with perhaps no interruption, from the 

 Potomac to the Roanoke, may be confidently as- 

 serted. It shows itself on our rivers at a distance 

 varying from a i'ew miles to 20 or 30 from the 

 head of tide, and it mav be interesting to remark 

 that the geologist of JMaryland, guided by the ex- 

 perience of those who ascertained its existence in 

 Virginia, has recently discovered a continuation 

 of the deposite throughout the neighboring state. 

 Of its relative value in the different localities, no- 

 thing is yet known; respecting the depth and 

 breadth of the deposite, scarcely any thing has 

 been ascertained. Here then would be an impor- 



