FARMERS' REGISTER 



4S5 



from 10 yards, or even less, to 80, or rarely 100, 

 where widest. These lands are si'^jdy, but ori- 

 ginally very rich ; and, excepting so'l'e of the river 

 lianks and borders, were the only really rich land 

 in this district, or in the county. From these nar- 

 row low-grounds, the land rises in hill-sides, gene- 

 rally not loo sleep for the plough, to the summit 

 ridges, which are 80 or 100 [eel higher than the 

 streams. The highest, or ridge land, was origin- 

 ally poor and acid soil, bearing pines principally, 

 with some oak, and whortleberry bushes. The 

 slopes between these extremes of elevation form the 

 greater part of all the surface. They are lighter, 

 and originally much richer than the ridges, though 

 far from being good, and still less are they durable 

 land. This kind is generally what was called 

 "free light land." 



The table land generally approaches the river 

 very nearly without much diminution of height, 

 being 80 to 100 feet above the tide-water. But 

 the otherwise general level is broken by many 

 deep and narrow valleys, or glens, wiih very 

 precipitous sides, and which extend backward 

 from the river, rarely more than half a mile, 

 and generally not so far. Just as i\\r as these 

 deep natural ravines extend, was the land ori- 

 ginally of much better quality than beyond, 

 where the soil is that of the poor ridges. Within 

 the extent of the ravines, the soil is usually belter 

 as the river is approached; and, lor a small space, 

 near the extremity of the table land, the original 

 quality was very fertile. 



A still more striking peculiarity of this district, 

 and precisely limited by the two creeks, is the 

 space between the table land and the river. This 

 strip, varying in width from 20, or less, to more 

 than 150 yards, and more than 10 miles in its cir- 

 cuitous length, may be designated as the broken 

 banks of the river. This strip is a succession of 

 irregular natural terraces, descending tiom the ta- 

 ble land to the river, by several precifutous hill- 

 sides, between which the narrow strips of land are 

 either level, or rising in the direction opposite to 

 that of the general declivity. 



This strip of land has generally been long 

 cleared, and greatly exhausted. A part on Cog- 

 gins' Point farm was cleared by myself, and a nar- 

 row strip still remains under its original forest 

 growth ; and both, as well as smaller spots else- 

 where, show great fertility of soil. But though 

 this must have been the general character of the 

 whole, still, even in the virgin land, there were 

 liequent and sudden transitions from one kind of 

 soil to another the most different in ch.aracfer. 

 The soil generally is a rich, dark, sandy, and 

 sometimes gravelly loam ; hut, from this, a distance 

 of ten yards will often bring the observer to a 

 barren sand, sometimes silicious and sometimes 

 calcareous, or barren ciny, or to naked shell marl, 

 PS barren as either. Tiiese sudden changes were 

 to me for a long time incomprehensible, as well as 

 the singular shape of the surface, until both were 

 explained by later observfition. Not more than 12 

 years ago, there occurred on the adjacent higher 

 ground of the Tarbay liirm, two cases of " land- 

 slips" on subsidence and moving of the surficc, 

 which clearly showed that all the extent of broken 

 banks had been formed in remote times in the 

 same manner. Hence the broken strata, and the 

 perpendicular termination of each, and every stra- 

 tum being brought somewhere to the surface. 



Under the whole of this curious strip lies shell 

 marl, of a dintry) yellowish-white color, and the 

 shells, or their fragments, mixed with a large pro- 

 portion of coarse sand. The beds are generally 

 soft and easy to dig, owinir to the great quantities 

 of sand. Under this marl throughout lies a lower 

 bed, of unknown depth, of what was originally 

 similar marl, but which now has remaining not a 

 particle of shell, or calcareous matter. This is the 

 great body of what I called "gypseous earth," in 

 my account of it at page 207 of Vol. I. of Farmers' 

 Register, and which is called the " green-sand" for- 

 mation, in the reports of the geological survey since 

 made. 



These remarkable broken baidcs, (fiir more va- 

 luable than all the unbroken banks, if any deserve 

 now to be so considered,) though requiring this 

 notice because of their singular character, form 

 but a very small portion of the surface of this dis- 

 trict; and the good table lands adjoining make not 

 much more. 



It would be difficult to conceive any connexion 

 between the existence of ihe deep and steep-sided 

 glens which stretch back from the river, and the 

 better qualify of the close adjacent table land ; yet 

 they are always found together. In speaking of 

 one of the firms, Tarbaj', many years ago, I said 

 it was a great pity that the otherwise level high- 

 land should be so much cut up by Ihe deep river 

 ravines. An old and observant farmer, to whom 

 I addressed the remark, answered that, on the 

 contrary, he thought it was to be regretted that 

 the ravines did not extend back much farther; as 

 it was certain that the good land ceased with them, 

 and that all from immediately beyond them was to- 

 tally worthless. 



The sides of these glens present the most pre- 

 cipitous natural suiface to be found in the lower 

 country; and in that respect are more like moun- 

 tain lands than any thing below. They cut 

 through the different horizontal strata, and of 

 course present sections of soil of various textures 

 and qualities. But all the surface is fertile at first 

 under cultivation, and continues so until the soil is 

 washed off; and belbre clearing, the whole of 

 these steep lands were covered with a magnificent 

 forest growth, of different kinds of trees indicative 

 of fertile soil. 



But for the existence of these deep ravines, and 

 of the broken banks of the river, both of which 

 have been produced subsequently to the general 

 formation, the high river lands might generally be 

 termed level. And both in that view, and in the 

 actual variation from the original level, these lands 

 offer a very strong contrast to the surface of all 

 others back from the river. The latter are no where 

 level, except on the summit ridges, and in the nar- 

 row low-grounds. The much larger proportion of 

 intervening lands, and which I have above and 

 elsewhere calleil slopes, are gently, though va- 

 riously, inclined, and are rarely too steep to be sub- 

 jected to the plough, but steep enough to be 

 greatly and generally washed, deprived of soil, and 

 gullied, by the abuse of tillage. When first 

 cleared, nearly all these slopes, and of course 

 much the greater part of the whole district under 

 consideration, was what was called in common 

 parlance " good land ;" that is, it was productive, 

 (comparatively, at least,) for a few years. But 

 nearly all soon lost this early value, and the land 

 remained poor afterwards, and hopeless of improve- 



