424 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



6 from 4 to 5 miles 



8 to 10 from - - - • 1 »« 3 miles 



From itiis statement of actual distances, which 

 •probably does not, vaty maieri;\lly !rom what is 

 usual at other limes and other iliirsitig^. "he reader 

 may perhaps form a more definite opinion of the 

 high appreciation of this manure, and its exten- 

 sive use, than from any merely general state- 

 ments. 



At another locality, visited next mornint?, there 

 was a scene of much greater activity seen in 

 numerous laborers employed in every different 

 operation of the business. This locality em- 

 braced the several adjoinma diggings of Rich- 

 mond Dickenson, Heiiry Allen, and Allen Wal- 

 lace. It w^as indeed a busy and spirii-stirrmg 

 scene; and the operations were so inieresiinu: to 

 those engaged at work, and to me as a spectator, 

 that I sh^ould have been glad to have spent some 

 days there for the mere gratification thus derived, 

 and (or lull opportunity of conversing Ireely with 

 the industrious and zealous operators. 



The proprietor of a bed sometimes digs and 

 sells the areen-sand by the load; hut the more 

 usual course is to sell it by the square rod (16^ leet 

 square,) to laborers, who uncover the earth, dig 

 it out, and place it in a single high mound just far 

 enough from ihe pit to be sale, and (hen sell by the 

 heaplo the neiahborintr farmers. The price by the 

 load from such mounds is 51) cenis, at the Woods- 

 town diggings and other beds of highest reputa- 

 tion, and 40 cents al others, (as Cavvley's,) which, 

 even if as good, have yet to be as well establish- 

 ed in the estimation of the farmers. However, 

 as the quantity in a heap, yielded from one pit, 

 is estimated with considerable accuracy, the sales 

 are generally made by ihe entire heap, at a some- 

 what less price, say 40 cents the load, by the 

 estimate of the heap. The covering earth is 

 thick, say usually varying from 8 to 12 feet ; and 

 one place seemed to me 16 feet. This the labor- 

 ers or purchasers by the rod have to dig off, and 

 all down to the manure that is not used to fiil the 

 adjoining and last made pit, must be removed 

 in carts some 50 or more yards. The excavation 

 of the green-sand earth is never begun except in 

 the morning, and by a sufficient force to sink it as 

 deep as can be done in the course of the day. 

 When sunk ^ome 10 feet in the best earth, the 

 increase of water, and the liability of the sides to 

 cave in, usually compel the work to be slopped, 

 and all below that depih is lost. The proprietor 

 sells the privilege of digging at ^6, ^8 or ^10 

 the rod, according to ihe"^ greater or less difficulty 

 of the work, or the less or greater amount of good 

 earth to be obtained. In some cases (in Glouces- 

 ter,) where there was very little covering earth 

 to be removed, the price has been as high as ^16 

 the rod. It usually requires 16 able men to dig 

 out a rod in a day, and heap the earth excavated. 

 A job which I saw in operation had 23 hands, 

 3 of them being boys; but this was unusually 

 troublesome. Men hired to dig in the pits, are 

 paid 7-5 cents a dayif Ibund in food, or $1 or 1.12| 

 if finding themselves. It is heavy labor, and the 

 greater part is performed in mud and water. 



Those who are accustomed to v^rork in or to 

 purchase the green-sand earth, recognize shades 

 of difference in appearance and of value, between 

 almost every two properties. But it would be 

 useless and tedious in this place to pretend to 



make such discrimination. The general appear- 

 ance of the best earth of each digging, which is 

 always the lowest and much the thickest stratum, 

 IS very much such as Marshall's and Heritage's 

 in Gloucester, described in the former part of this 

 article. Ol' the la'ter, however, I saw no pit then 

 opened much below the upper pan of the bottom 

 stratum. Here, I savv them at depths of 8 feet 

 and more. At this depth, the earth was of firmer 

 texture than ihe higher part, and is supposed by 

 Ihe diggers and farmers to be not quite so good as 

 the higher part, of looser or more granular texture. 

 It is however soft enough quite through to be 

 dug easily with spades. I observed that, as cut 

 by~he spades, the new surface was mostly left of 

 a vivid green hue; but upon examining the lumps 

 I CoundThat this color was merely superficial, and 

 caused by the spade cutting through ihe granules ; 

 and that when the same lumps were broken by 

 hand instead of being cut, ihe fracture was as 

 nearly black as is usual. The water oozed or 

 flowed from veins rapidly into the pit, as is gene- 

 ral at such depths, and the laborers were olien 

 standing mid-leg deep in mud. One man was 

 continually employed in baling out the waier, 

 which, as worked up with the green-sand earih, 

 by Ihe digging and trampling, was of a dull green 

 color mingled^ with whiter streaks from the ad- 

 mixture of clay. In fact, the water as baled out 

 and flowing off had much the appearance and 

 degree of fluidity that would be presented by an 

 accidental and imperlect mixture of a bucket of 

 green oil paint with a smaller poriion of dull 

 white or light gray color. The water remaining 

 in ihe old pits, or flowing from them, deposites a 

 copious precipitate of yellow oxide of iron. 



Above this good green-sand eanh, (or "gun- 

 powder marl," or "reaZ marl," as here termed,) 

 there is generally a body of inferior quality, but 

 which yet is bought at lower prices to be carried 

 to the shorter di.*tances. There is much variation 

 of appearance in this general overlaying stratum, 

 and as much difference of opinion in regard to 

 different kinds. Sometimes, (as at Richmond 

 Dickenson's diggings,) it was a brownish red, al- 

 most composeil of what had been formerly sheila 

 {gryphcua convexa) but of which the carbonate, 

 of lime had been emirely substituted by red 

 oxide of iron. Little or no green-sand granules 

 visible— and almost nothing to indicate fer- 

 tilizing qualiiies, unless it be oxide of iron alone. 

 Still this sold at 25 cents the load, or half the ! 

 price of the lower black stratum. Sometimes ihe 

 upper cover is brown, and this 1 saw carried 

 away in wagons along the roads at the distance 

 of several miles from'the pits. In other cases, 

 what would appear to the eye, and also by the 

 reported chemical analysis, to be pretty good 

 gieen-s;md ^earth, has been Ibund worthless on 

 Trial, and is thrown away if on overlaying stratum 

 neceesury to be removed. Such is a gray layer 

 at some pits; and a green layer at Cawley's ; 

 though the latter is just over the " callus," a very 

 thin layer of slony hardness, which lies imme- 

 diately over the lower and valuable deposite. This 

 "callus" is a common accompaniment. 



The he.npsofgreen-sand earth wlien first thrown 

 up from the pits appear black, or at least a very 

 deep bluish black. After drying on the surlace, 

 the color is grayish or bluish green, and alter 

 long exposure, on the outer surface of some, the 



