CALCAREOUS MANURES-PRACTICE. J 55 



or narrow table, made of a single plank, some 7 or 8 feet long, and having 

 legs 10 or 12 feet in length. A hole large enough for the stem of the auger 

 to turn in freely is in the middle of the bench. As soon as a second joint 

 is attached, the bench is set over the boring, with the hole immediately above, 

 so that when the auger is lifted perpendicularly clear of the boring, its upper 

 joint passes through the hole, and is held up steadily by the support of the 

 bench above. For still greater and unusual depths, another bench with 

 longer legs may be substituted, or a lower one placed upon and confined 

 to the first bench. (Farmers' Register.) Such means as these, imperfect as 

 they are, will be found more convenient and more operative, as well as 

 much more cheap, than the heavy and costly augers used to search for coal. 

 By proper examinations marl may be found at or near the surface 

 through a vast extent of the tide-water region of the United States, where 

 it has not yet been noticed. But still, under most lands it probably does 

 not approach within twenty-five or thirty feet of the surface, and if reached 

 by digging, would be covered by water, so as greatly to increase the diffi- 

 culty of obtaining it from such depths. Will these obstacles always debar 

 from the benefit of this treasure half the great region under which it lies'? 

 I think not. Though it would be ridiculous now to propose such under- 

 takings, it will at some future time be found profitable to descend still 

 greater depths for good marl ; and shafts will be sunk and the water and 

 marl drawn out by horse-power or by steam engines, and the excavation 

 carried on in the same manner as is done in coal mines. When such 

 means shall be resorted to, it is probable that there will be but a small por- 

 tion of the great tide-water region, or the region east of the granite range, 

 in which marl may not be found sufficiently convenient for use. For ex- 

 ample : from a mile south of Petersburg, along the line of the railway to 

 the Roanoke, no marl had been found either by the excavations for the 

 road, or in the much deeper wells dug long before in the vicinity of the 

 route. The well for the water-station nine miles from Petersburg did not 

 at all times supply enough water for the engines, and it was determined to 

 dig one deep enough for that purpose. Disregarding the small veins of water 

 usually reached at less than 20 feet, the digging was sunk to 50 feet, when 

 marl was reached. Its quality at top was rather poor ; but it became more 

 and more rich, as well as of firmer consistence, (though never very hard,) 

 until the well had been sunk to 80 feet, without reaching the bottom of the 

 marl, or finding any other vein of water. The lower part of this marl 

 was from 80 to 90 per cent, of carbonate of lime, as I found by several 

 analyses. It would have served to make good lime, by burning, for cement 

 or for manure, to be transported to a distance on the railway; besides 

 being of more value to be used unprepared to enrich the nearer land. 

 Though covered by 50 feet of earth, and the excavation impeded by the 

 water from above, this marl might have been profitably raised 80 feet, or 

 as much lower as the bed may extend. And so firm was its texture, that 

 the excavation might have been safely enlarged gradually as it was 

 deepened, as is done in the chalk-pits of England, so as that the digging 

 should form a hollow cone, communicating from its apex by the narrower 

 cylindrical well through the 50 feet of earth above to the surface. Thus 

 though the earth might have been twice the thickness of the marl below, 

 the greater diameter of excavation in the latter would have furnished 

 much the greater quantity of contents. Of this most valuable deposite, 

 found in a region before supposed destitute, and where its transportation to 

 a long line of destitute land was so convenient, no use has been made, ex- 

 cept of the quantity necessarily drawn up in digging this well. And this 

 means for enriching the undertaker, and fertilizing a vast extent of surface 



