446 



THE FARMERS REGISTER. 



places, a solid layerof what were once ehelle, fifteen 

 or twenty inches in thickness, separates the sand 

 and clay, &c., from the upper, and less valuable 

 stratum of nnarl* just mentioned. And the green- 

 sand itself, lying along a little ravine that juts up 

 from the main stream, is overlaid by a dark brown 

 limestone, ten or twelve inches in thickness. This 

 stone is intermixed a good deal with shells, and a 

 kiln has been built on the adjacent hill side, lor 

 burning it. -We had not the paiislaction olseeing 

 J. Heritage himself, and could not of courtse, as- 

 certain exactly the quantity annually taken from, 

 these pits. Our friends however, who are familiar 

 with the operations there, drawing away, them- 

 selves, more or less every season, believed that six 

 or seven thousand Ions must have been removed 

 last winter. It is sold by the rod, or by the ton, 

 say 10 to 15 dollars the square rod, and the pur- 

 chaser digging it himself, or ST-^ cents a ton, the 

 owner uncovering it, and making it of easy access 

 to the team. 



The green-sand marl of this neighborhood, 

 and it is of that only we speak, is best adapted to 

 what are often called natural meadows — to lowish 

 moist, but drained lands — to cold, sour quicksandy 

 soils, where the springs are near the surface, and 

 the virgin soil was naturally poor. These are the 

 soils thai the gunpowder marl of this vicinity best 

 suits. We do not say it does not benefit some 

 other soils; but from all we learned and from our 

 own experience, it does little or no good, when 

 spread on grass, on a light, sandy soil ; and espe- 

 cially if the sandy soil reposes upon a sandy sub- 

 soil. All the (iifierent marls of the neighborhood, 

 however, appear to be decidedly beneficial to a 

 potato crop, and that too, on every variety of soil 

 at all suitable for potatoes. 



On the road from D. E. Marshall's to J. Heri- 

 tage's, we passed through the larm of Thomas 

 Chew. It contains 160 or 175 acres of cleared 

 land. JEight years since, it was poor, and ex- 

 ceedingly unproductive, scarcely affording pasture 

 and hay for eight or ten cattle and horses. Some 

 six years since, the owner, observing what was 

 passing around him, and concluding that Heri- 

 tage's marl was adapted to his land, entered with 

 considerable and praiseworthy spirit into the work, 

 and has marled nearly all his larm. We were 

 assured that, during the summer just passed, more 

 than 100 tons of hay were cut on this same plan- 

 tation, and that the summer stock is at least 

 quadrupled. 



On Joseph Whilall's farm, one mile south-east 

 of Woodbury, is a bed of dark bluish clay, inter- 

 mixed with shells, which he has used to conside- 

 rable advantage on his higher and lighter grounds, 

 where the green-eand marl is of little or no use. 

 A much heavier dressing, however, is necessary 

 with this material, than with the green-sand, on 

 the lower grounds. This farm, with those of W. 

 R. Tatura, Joseph D. Pedrick, James Davis, 

 D. E. Marshall, Thomas Chew and J. Heritage, 

 were named to us, as having been vastly improv- 

 ed by the application of mar!. On many others 

 in the neighborhood, similar improvement is per- 

 haps not less obvious. The above are named, 

 because we passed through, and saw them our- 



* All earths are called marl, in this neighborhood, 

 that are found useful for agricultural purposes, when 

 applied to the soil. 



selves, in our little ride. One more fact, and we 

 are done. All the beds ol good green-sand marl, 

 that we have any knowledge ol| in the counties 

 ol Burlington, Gloucester and Salem, lie on the 

 head of our creeks, above the reach of the tide, 

 and west of the ridge which separates the streams 

 ol the Atlantic from those which flow into the 

 Delaware. 



It was said above, that nothing new was to be 

 looked for, in these cursory remarks. They have 

 been confined to what came under our own eye. 

 Speculation has been avoided. We do not un- 

 dertake to say, ol what these extraordinary de- 

 posites are composed ; how, or whence they have 

 been gathered, or in what their fertilizing quality 

 consists ; and for this very plain reason, we do not 

 know any better than our readers. We antici- 

 pate, and we partly promise to the public, an arti- 

 cle from our friend of the Farmers' Register, 

 worthy of hiniself, and creditable to this broad sub- 

 ject. We shall impatiently await its appearance. 



THE SANDY SOILS OF DELAWARE, AND THEIR 

 FORMATION. 



From Booth's Geological Survey of Delaware. 



To the traveller who lor the first time passes 

 through Sussex county, the formations would un- 

 doubtedly appear to consist almost wholly of loose 

 white and yellow sands, but a more thorough in- 

 vestigation shows the fallacy of such a conclusion, 

 proves that in reference to geological deposites, the 

 argillaceous greatly predominates over the sandy, 

 forming the substratum of the whole county, but 

 that the latter overlying and capping the clays 

 over a large proportion of the surlace, communi- 

 cates the well-known sandy character to the soil. 

 These upper sands probably cover one-half or 

 two-thirds of the county, are of very variable 

 thickness, sometimes yellowish and more tenaci- 

 ous, at others nearly white, and so loose, as to be 

 readily transported by the winds. We have had 

 occasion to notice them casually, while describing 

 the lower clays, from Millbrd through the eastern 

 and south-western portions of the county. Along 

 the eastern border they are generally of inconside- 

 rable thickness, from six inches to several feet, 

 and the lower clays may ofien be thrown up by the 

 plough. Towards the S. E., the sand is unusu- 

 ally while, and may probably be found of suffici- 

 ent purity for the manufacture of glass. If this 

 formation be examined in the vicinity of the coast, 

 its very undulating surface must strike the ob- 

 server. A surli)ce we would suppose to be more le- 

 vel Irom its position, we there find to consist of a 

 series ol hillocks apparently following no law 

 relative to form, size, or situation, consisting 

 wholly of light sand sometimes bare, but gene- 

 rally covered with herbage. The sand is so 

 slightly coherent, that often where the sod has 

 been removed in an exposed situation, the action 

 of the wind roots it out to the depth of several lieet, 

 distributing it over the surrounding soil or heaping 

 it against a bush, fence or other obstruciion. The 

 formation of dunes along the coast at Cape Hen- 

 lopen is due to the same cause. As the fine sand 

 thrown up by the waves of the ocean becomes 

 dried, it is raised by the wind, and deposited on 

 the sides of the present dunes, which were first 



