On American Gypsum. 269 



There are also various beds of plaster, lying in differ- 

 ent directions, from ten to twenty miles, north, north- 

 west, and north-east of Geneva. 



As to its quality, several farmers, upon whose word 

 and judgment I can rely, and who have also tried the 

 Nova Scotia plaster, at their former places of residence, 

 assure me, that if there is any difference, ours is the 

 stronger and more efficacious. When, however, a quar- 

 ry is first opened, the plaster found near the surface is 

 of an inferior quality. The New England people, liv- 

 ing near the quarries, have tested the fertilizing effects 

 of the gypsum, by strewing it upon their wheat and 

 grass lands, so as to represent their own names, and 

 various characters and figures. The luxuriance of the 

 wheat and grass show where the gypsum has been 

 sown. They now make great use of it ; and many 

 farmers from Tioga and Steuben counties, this year, 

 as well as last, have gone a distance of thirty and forty 

 miles, to procure it as a manure for their land, which 

 is mostly a dry, gravelly soil. In consequence of the 

 discovery of plaster, this land has risen very much in 

 value. The gypsum is carried by water, either to 

 the head of Cayuga lake ; thence by land twenty 

 liight miles to Owego : (the head of Seneca lake;) 

 thence by land, eighteen miles, to Newtown ; from 

 Owego and Newtown, down the Susquehannah to dif- 

 ferent parts of your state. The plaster transported by 

 the way of Seneca Lake and Newtown, is obliged to 

 be carried round the falls of the Seneca outlet ; a dis- 

 tance of about two miles. A canal will be cut round 

 these falls next summer; in which case, the probability 

 is, that much of the plaster will be transported to your 



