1835.] 



FARRIERS' REGISTER. 



419 



and immediately backed, and broke to use; their 

 wild, and apparently indomitable spirit deserting 

 them after being haltered and once thrown, and 

 subdued by man. More docile and tractable crea- 

 tures could not be found. 



The price of these horses has been greatly en- 

 hanced of late. Thirty to forty dollars were esti- 

 mated high prices, until within the last few years; 

 some may still be obtained at these prices, but not 

 of best quality — and at a sale of part of a joint 

 stock, a few weeks ago, on an adjoining smaller 

 island, (Morris',) several horses, that from some 

 peculiarity of ibod, or better water, or superior and 

 more recent origin — the latter I believe the efficient 

 cause — had attained a larger size and more ele- 

 gant shape, were sold upon the spot as high as 

 from 60 to 70 dollars each. A considerable num- 

 ber may still be purchased on the islands — and 

 some tolerably handsome — at prices varying be- 

 tween 30 and 45 dollars. I saw this week a beauti- 

 ful little animal just bought by a gentleman from 

 Jersey, at the latter price. The only peculiarity 

 I have ever observed in these animals, is their predi- 

 lection for salt marsh grass, which never deserts 

 them, however long they may live, and however 

 early they may be removed from their native pas- 

 tures. 



The catastrophe you allude to, did occur on 

 Chincoteague island, of horses rushing into the 

 sound, when indiscreetly attempted to be caught 

 without pens, by driving detached portions of them 

 upon narrow, projecting marshes; and some fine 

 creatures were drowned. The practice is now 

 abandoned. 



I am perfectly assured that a small capital mighl 

 be most profitably employed, by a man of enter- 

 prize, in horses, black cattle and sheep, upon these 

 islands, if one careful herdsman could be procured. 

 Pasture lands are extremely low. Since I have 

 disposed of my real estate in Virginia, preparatory 

 to a removal north, I have sold 230 acres of first- 

 rate pasture land — part arable, a portion of a large 

 body which I own upon the northern end of Chin- 

 coteague island, and affording the principal win- 

 ter subsistence for the slock of the island — at 100 

 cents per acre. The remainder is still unsold. 

 The largest and finest work-steers of the Eastern 

 Shore, are raised upon these islands, without any 

 expenditure lor winter support; a proof that horses 

 of full size, might also be reared there, with ju- 

 dicious attention to the breed, proper selection of 

 stallions, and care to provide water. No other at- 

 tention is necessary, except to watch the winds and 

 weather about the periods of the equinoxes, when 

 desolating tides are threatened, and to drive the 

 stock upon high grounds, secure against inundation. 

 Drovers from the North, purchase their cattle, and 

 their horses always command a good price in the 

 neighborhood. They are hardy, rarely affected 

 with the, diseases to which the horse is subject, 

 perform a great deal of labor, if proportioned to 

 their strength, require much less grain than com- 

 mon horses, live long, and are, many of them, de- 

 lightful tor the saddle. I have a beautiful island 

 pony, who for fifteen years has been my riding- 

 nag in the neighborhood and upon the farm, who 

 has given to my daughters their first lessons in 

 equestrian exercise, and has carried us all many 

 thousands of miles in pleasure and safety, without 

 having once tripped or stumbled; and he is now as 

 elastic in his gait, and juvenile in his appearance. 



as he was the first day I backed him, and is fatter 

 than any horse I own, though his labor is equal, 

 with less than two-thirds of their grain consump- 

 tion. His eye still retains its good natured anima- 

 tion, and to one unskilled in the indications of a 

 horse's teeth, he would pass readily for six or seven 

 years old. My regrets at parting with this noble 

 little animal, are those of the friend. 



*- * * * * * 



Chincoteague island contains upwards of seven- 

 ty families. One-third of their bread corn is raised 

 upon the island; and the productions of the water, 

 and occasional profits from disasters at sea, afford 

 them an ample support. Assateague, though 

 containing three or four times as many acres as 

 Chincoteague, has but few inhabitants. It is un- 

 fit, for the cultivation of corn, and has but little 

 wood. Its rich, bent-growing lands, are subject to 

 inundation during spring tides. The scenery 

 around certain localities upon Chincoteague, are 

 inexpressibly sublime, and beautiful; and the view 

 of the ocean and surrounding clusters of islands 

 from the elevated sand hills of Assateague, direct- 

 ly opposite my, house, would enchant you. To 

 give you some faint idea of the extent of surface 

 upon the two principal islands near me, I will just 

 say, that Chincoteague is perhaps seven or eight 

 miles in lengtb, narrow at the two ends, and grad- 

 ually widening in the middle to two or two and a 

 half miles. Assateague is vastly larger. Noth- 

 ing but the total prostration of all enlerprize among 

 us has kept these islands in their present unprofita- 

 ble condition. Some hundreds of horses, cattle, 

 i ep, might be raised here, and annually 

 sold, without one dollar of cost, except the ex- 

 pense of herdsmen, whose whole care and super- 

 vision would be confined to two or three objects — a 

 supply of water — to drive the stock 1o high 

 grounds when violent north-easters were threaten- 

 ed — (of the approach of which, sufficient premo- 

 nitions are always e-iven — ) and to attend to the 

 branding and castration of the young stock, at the 

 periodical June pennings. The Hebrides of Scot- 

 land, so profitable to their proprietors, do not pos- 

 sess the one-hundredth part of the advantages of 

 our Atlantic islands, for all the purposes of com- 

 fortable living and extensive stock raising; and 

 yet they are stupidly neglected. 



* # # # * 



t. holmes. 



SPECULATIONS ON THE NATURE AND FER- 

 TILIZING PROPERTIES OF THE EARTH CALL- 

 ED "JERSEY MARL," OR "GREEN SAND." 



To the Editor of the Farmer's Register. 



The contributions to your Register by Professor 

 Rogers, on the green sand of New Jersey and 

 Virginia, have afforded me, and 1 doubt not a 

 large, portion of your readers, much pleasure and 

 instruction. It is" gratifying to see men of science, 

 thus bringing the stores of their learning to the 

 aid of the practical concerns of life. By pursuing 

 this course, they not only confer great and lasting 

 benefits on mankind, but afford themselves the 

 finest opportunity of gratifying an honorable am- 

 bition, by the almost "indefinite extension of the 

 sphere ol their reputation and usefulness. A che- 

 mist may toil for years in his laboratory, wasting 

 his lite over his crucibles and retorts, ami die and 



