42 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. I. 



suits. It is hoped that the efforts made to interest the 

 planters of this part of Prince George's county in the 

 subject, will soon supply this desideratum. 



• Charles county, also, is abundantly supplied with 

 marl. A great deposited" fossil shells, similar in char- 

 acter to that at Fort Washington, occurs between 

 Pye's landing and Indian-head, stretching across 

 Cornwallis neck to the Mattawoman. A partial ap- 

 plication of the material from this locality, is said to 

 nave been made to the soil above it by the former pro- 

 prietor of the landing, and report states that it proved 

 very serviceable; yet it was discontinued. We have the 

 assurance from the present owner, Mr. John Pye,that it 

 shall not be any longer neglected. The banks of the 

 Potomac, from what are termed the blue banks along 

 Wade's bay to Smith's point, exhibit likewise one con- 

 tinuous deposite of fossil shells from thirty to forty feet 

 above tide. Nos. 46 and 47 indicate the analyses of 

 these marls. 



South of the Mattawoman, and embracing the large 

 tract of land between it and Port Tobacco river, the 

 diluvial formation composed of gravel, sand and clay, 

 having a depth of from one hundred to one hundred 

 and fifty feet, rests upon a great bed of blue marl, pos- 

 sessing very remarkable characters. Subjected to an- 

 alysis, it proves not to be rich in calcareous particles, 

 but it frequently contains potash as one of its consti- 

 tuents, by which it becomes assimilated to the green 

 marl, so called, of New Jersey and Virginia, known to 

 possess very fertilizing properties, although frequently 

 without a trace of lime; as was ascertained by Profes- 

 sor Rogers of William and Mary college. The analy- 

 ses of these marls are given at Nos. 48 to 53 of the ta- 

 ble. It may be well to remark, that the parcels sub- 

 mitted to analysis were obtained under quite unfavora- 

 ble circumstances, being mostly tlic superior water- worn 

 portions of beds thus uncovered at the bottom of ra- 

 vines, and made known during our examinations of 

 the past year. A transient inspection of these depos- 

 ites led to suspect that at a greater depth, their con- 

 tents would be found more valuable — inasmuch as 

 they might be expected to yield a larger quantity of 

 fossil shells, which by their disintegration would in- 

 crease the proportion of calcareous particles. This 

 conjecture has been verified by the subsequent re- 

 searches of Capt. Walter U. Miller on Ward's branch 

 in Nanjeinoy. An immense agricultural resource is 

 thus shown to be at hand for the benefit of this por- 

 tion of the state, of which the intelligent planters of 

 this district, in Charles county, will certainly lose no 

 time in taking advantage. The places at which it has 

 been so far discovered, are the heads of the small 

 branches making into the south side of the Mattawo- 

 man, on the plantations of William Dulany, Esq. ami 

 Mr. John Pye; at the heads of similar branches emp- 

 tying into the Nanjemoy, on the estate of Capt. Alex- 

 ander Gray; and at Port Tobacco It may confidently 

 be looked for at the head of all the deep ravines that 

 furrow the highlands, to discharge their waters into 

 the Potomac or its creeks. 



"From the nature of this blue marl, and the condi- 

 tion of the soil belonging to the hilly lands in this sec- 

 tion of Charles county — deprived in a great measure, 

 by washing, of their natural soil — it is believed that 

 small applications — say of ten loads, or one hundred 

 bushels to the acre, aided by a few loads of stable ma- 

 nure, and repeated to a given extent at intervals of 

 four or five years in proportion to the progress of im- 

 provement in the soil — would be very profitable. Such 

 soils, moreover, as are apt to wash, will by this opera- 

 tion have their texture greatly improved, and will be 

 found much less liable to run into gullies. An impor- 

 tant observation related by Mr. Ruffin is that "when a 

 field that has been injured by washing, is marled, with- 

 in a few years after, many of the old gullies will be- 

 gin to produce vegetation, and show a" soil gradually 

 forming from the dead vegetables brought there by the 



wind and rains, although no means should be used to 

 aid this operation." 



"The next variety of marl to be described as apper- 

 taining to Charles county, is perhaps the most valuable 

 material of this kind which the state possesses. It has 

 been identified, as well by its geological relations as 

 by its chemical composition, with the green-marl of 

 New Jersey and Virginia. This formation in Charles 

 county, so far as it has been traced, occurs on the Po- 

 tomac, between the mouth oi Port Tobacco river, and 

 the mouth of Pope's creek, constituting the high banks 

 of the river in nearly the whole of this extent. The 

 situations from which the material was procured for ex- 

 amination are, St. Thomas's Manor, at Chapel Point, 

 and the plantations of G. Brent and R. Digges, Esqrs. 

 Nos. 54, 55 and 56 of the table, indicate its chemical 

 composition." p. 43 to 46. 



"To give some idea of the value of this marl," 

 the author then quotes at length from Professor 

 Rogers' paper on the discovery of green sand in 

 Virginia, [Farm. Keg. Vol. II. p. 129,] the state- 

 ments of the remarkable effects produced on lands 

 in New Jersey — and aitervvards the description of 

 that earth. As the entire communication is in the 

 hands of the readers of" the journal lor which 

 these remarks are designed, these quotations will 

 be omitted here. The author then proceeds — 



"The general appearance of the green-marl in 

 Charles county, is pretty well represented in the name 

 which it bears. This however, may be owing to its 

 having been observed so far only on the dry banks. 

 The particles of the so called green sand which it con- 

 tains answer exactly the description given of them; 

 "they are easily recognized by their want of lustre, 

 the ease with which they may be bruised with the 

 point of a knife, and the bright green stain which they 

 then produce." Some of the iossils supposed to be 

 characteristic of the formation, were also observed, es- 

 pecially the fossil shell called the Gryphaza, described 

 as "having one valve very deep and convex, and the 

 other flat;" and lignite, or carbonized wood. In two 

 localities, at Mr. Brent's and Mr. Digges's, groupes of 

 crystalized selenite, or gypsum, are found in the green 

 marl; but as they occur always in the upper portions 

 of the deposite, at a uniform elevation, and as it were 

 in a continuous stratum, (the marl being covered with 

 a thick coat of ferruginous sand and gravel containing 

 iron pyrites,) it is presumed that the selenite is only an 

 accidental constituent of the green-marl of these local- 

 ities, produced by the decomposition of the pyrites and 

 the action of the resulting acid upon the lime of the 

 marl beneath. A similar formation of selenite, was 

 described in the former report as observed in the shell- 

 marl deposite at the mouth of St. Inigo's creek, on the 

 St. Mary's, and this, as previously stated does not be- 

 long to the green sand formation. The phosphoric, 

 odor recognized by Professoi Rogers in the marls of 

 New Jersey, was not perceived in ours. But the fore- 

 going points of similitude are sufficient to identify the 

 depositeson the Potomac with the green sands of New 

 Jersey and Virginia. On the other hand, a very useful 

 accompaniment of the green marls of Charles county, 

 is that of spheroidal masses of indurated marl, in shape 

 resembling a gourd — whence they are sometimes call- 

 ed by the uninformed petrified gourds — and varying in 

 size from the larger to the smaller kinds of this vegetable 

 production. Some of these masses present when bro- 

 ken a nucleus apparently of the same nature as its en- 

 velope; others exhibit irregular cavities lined with an 

 incrustation of a straw colored carbonate of lime, hav- 

 ing the lustre of imperfectly bleached bees wax. Such 

 is the character of these masses on the plantation of G. 

 Brent, Esq. On St. Thomas' Manor, they more re- 

 semble irregularly shaped nodules, traversed by fissures, 

 the sides oi which are lined with selenite. 



"Below Pope's creek, at Clifton — a situation which 



