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FARMERS' REGIS T E R . 



181 



Hall, the farm ol" Colin Clarke, esq. The speci- 

 men was siibjectcil to a very delicate and sure 

 lest, which gave evidence ol" the presence of an 

 exceedingly niinnte proportion of carbonate of 

 lime; but so small, that it was impossible to mea- 

 sure It, and certainly not equal to one grain in 

 10,000 of soil. This therelbre, substantially, is a 

 neutral soil. The gray has generally a sprinkling 

 of sheep-sorrel; which proves sufficiently that tiie 

 soil is actually, though but slightly, acid; and needs 

 calcareous manure to remove that noxious quality, 

 as well as tor the other advantages, which the 

 black soil might also derive, in a less degree. 



Very little of this black land remains now in its 

 natural state, in wood and almost under water, 

 as all such was formerly. But at Warner Hall 

 there is a large body (300 acres) both of black 

 and gray soil in a state of nature, and which I ex- 

 amined carefully, and with peculiar interest, as fur- 

 nishmg the best indications of character. In this 

 natural stale, and at this time (May 12th,) and 

 through winter and spring generally, the uncleared 

 black land is truly what it is called, "swamp 

 land." The soil is saturated and in many |ilaces 

 covered by water, li'om rain, and it is trouble- 

 some to ride over the miry surface, and impossi- 

 ble to walk, except through soft mud and water. 

 The larger growth is black-gum, of great size, 

 white or sweet-gum, ash, sycamore, and other 

 trees seldom ibuntl en high and dry lands. The 

 papaw is very abundant, though generally of 

 small size. When new, the black land is of the 

 highest grade of fertility; and even under great 

 defects of drainage, produced 50 bushels of corn 

 to the acre. Under tillage, the soil becomes as 

 finely pulverized and as light as can be in any case; 

 and therefore it is not as well suiied for wheat as 

 for corn. After many years of scourging culti- 

 vation, and without manure, (for that was rarely 

 given to any of this soil,) the black lands, thus 

 abused, can yet produce 25 or 30 bushels of corn 

 to the acre. 1 saw on the land of Major W. K. 

 Perrin, on Ware river, a growth of very fair red 

 clover, regularly and thickly set, on a field which 

 had been for the ten previous years under the 

 two-shift rotation of corn and wheat, and proba- 

 bly not rested from grain tillage, even one year, 

 in the many that have passed since the land was 

 first cleared. 



The soil of the black land, though so light un- 

 der tillage, is mostly a stiff and very tenacious 

 clay loam when ploughed up, and while nioist. 

 Some however, as on parts of Whitemarsh, the 

 farm of John Tahb, esq., is found much more san- 

 dy. The soil is very deep, say one to two feet; 

 and it then changes to the stiff "but open clay sub- 

 soil which has been already spoken of! Still low- 

 er, the clay is blue, close, and very heavy when 

 dried, after being worked into a mass when wet. 

 Still, like the upper clay, this also crumbles fine 

 by exposure, and becomes good soil. 



The clay shores of Mobjick bay. where left 

 naked at low tide, seemed to my view to be not 

 very unlike the clay soil of the gray land; and 

 the shallows in the Chesapeake, stretching from 

 the lower end of Gloucester, are composed'of na- 

 ked and solid marl, such as forms the lowest stra- 

 tum of the low-grounds. This probably lies un- 

 der all the adjacent shoals of the bay, and like- 

 wise under the marshes, which, though v^overed 

 frequently by the tide, and always as wet as 

 j(iossible, are yet so firm that I rode briskly and 



easily across many acres without any danger of 

 miring. In (Ih; firm parts of these marshes, 

 shores, and still lower shoals, is presented ano- 

 ther body of Gloucester gray land, which wants 

 nothing but elevation, to be the same with such 

 as is now distinguished by that name. Rut 

 enough of uncertain s|)eculation. 



Of the "chocolate land" there is but little; and 

 I saw none except that which is part of the farm 

 of Jefl'erson Sinclair, esq., at the mouth of Ware, 

 or rather on Mobjack bay. The marl there, un- 

 der this chocolate land, is so near the surface as to 

 be generally within reach of deep ploughing; and 

 the common ditches of the farm sink so deeply 

 into it, that from one-fourth to one-half of their 

 banks is composed of a very rich marl. Thus, 

 merely by ploughing, and by carting ofi" the ditch 

 banks as maimre, the land is made more and 

 more calcareous ; and was probably so to a con- 

 siderable degree before cultivation, as the rich 

 marl is at so little depth below the surfiice. This 

 rnarl, by its yellowish red color, seems to contain 

 much iron; and to this, as well as its calcareous 

 quality, is probably due the reddish-brown color 

 of the soil, fiom which its name is taken, and also 

 its remarkable productiveness. This kind is the 

 most valuable land in Gloucester. 



This land was, not many years ago, a shallow 

 pond, covered with wa'.er-plants and gall-bushes, 

 and was celebrated as a place ol' resort for wild 

 ducks. This, as well as the greater part of the 

 whole larm, is so low, that high tides flow up into 

 all the ditches, or, at least, did so ffow, until a bank 

 was made and flood-gates erected, to exclude the 

 tides. But though lower than any other arable 

 part of the country, this land was decidedly the 

 driest, when visited. The marl on which it lies 

 appears to be an almost unmixed mass of finely 

 broken fossil shells; and this very open stratum, 

 though so little above the level of common tides, 

 and though always wet within a foot or two of its 

 top, yet serves, by its openness above, as a com- 

 plete under-draining to the land. 



Two specimens of this marl which I selected, 

 as apparently presenting the average richness in 

 calcareous matter, when analyzed, gave products 

 of carbonate of lime, (or pure calcareous earth,) 

 the one of 76 parts in the 100, and the other 72. 

 The first was of the most usual appearance, con- 

 sisting of very small, or broken and loose shells, 

 mixed with either the oxide (or rust) of iron, or 

 clay of that color. The last specimen was in 

 parts tinged deeply with green by a fine green 

 clay with which it is mixed. The chocolate soil 

 lying above this marl is every where mixed more 

 or less with fine particles of shells, perceptible by 

 the eye. A specimen selected from ploughed land, 

 and among tlie best in productiveness, yielded 6 

 percent, of carbonate of lime. This was more 

 calcareous, to the eye, than many other parts, but 

 less so than others. No marl had ever been cart- 

 ed there. But as very deep ploughing will al- 

 most every where bring up marl to mix with this 

 soil, it is difficult to select an average specimen; 

 and impossible to know whether the soil was par- 

 tially, and to what extent, so mixed by nature, or 

 by cultivation. Mr. Sinclair has made as much 

 as 14 barrels of corn to the acre on some of this 

 land. It produces clover finely; and part then had 

 on it (after clover-fallow) the finest wheat which 

 I saw in Gloucester. 



Of other marls of the county of which I took 



