18 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



minished, their buiter became bad, (bur lopt their 

 calves, two died ni' scours in ef)ri(iir, with oiher at- 

 leiutant evils, 'i'jie (iMm|)ne(-& ol'ihe Pi;iti!e which 

 was built under larae trees in a low siiuaiion. and 

 Willi a nonliern aspect, [t was ininiediatly lorn 

 down, and another crecli'd on a drier siMiaiion, 

 when, as was expected, all these evils vaiii-hed ai 

 once. S'ables made oi' sione, are more liable to 

 this difHuulty. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH AND OBSERVATIONS ON 

 GRCKN-SAND EARTH, AS MANURE, ON COG- 

 GIn's POINT FARM. 



By the Editor. 



At varioMS times and in various parte of the 

 Farmers' Ri'sisler, I have oifered my uncertain 

 opinions on the interesiinir, and as yet obscure 

 piibject ol'the operation and efiects ol creen-sand as 

 miniire; and have expressed my dissent, (as to the 

 efiects already produced, or possible to be produced, 

 in lower Virginia,) to the received opinion thai 

 this manure, used alone, is either irenerally opera- 

 tive, desirable, or at all profilable on llie far <rreaier 

 number of soils in this reirion. These opinions ol 

 mine, (sintrular 1 believe, and certainly not at all 

 sustained by any concurrent views or declarations 

 oC geologists,) were put fiirlh more at lencrth than 

 belore in No. 11 ol' the last volume ; but still only 

 in gt^neral terms, as was proper in that case, my 

 remarks there beinjj but introductory to the very 

 ditlcrent practices ol' a particular re<jion, remote 

 from and very unlike to the scene ol my own ex- 

 [lerience. I have sous^ht fi)r years to obtain the 

 ikcie, and to have the experience, ol'praciical men 

 on this subject, so as eiilier to confirm or disprove 

 my own opinions. But these eHbris to induce ex- 

 periments, and to elicit the results of any observa- 

 tions already iDade, have been fruitless, except as 

 to the lew interesting lacls stated of the practice of 

 Dr. Corbin Braxton and Mr. Williams Carter, in 

 the number just relerred to. I am therefore in- 

 duced 10 present, more particularly than before, the 

 circumstances ol such of my own experiments as 

 were writien in my private auriculiural journals 

 and memorandum books, together with the gene- 

 ral ri'Pulis nl riiore extensive practice; which ge- 

 neral results, though not then recorded, are well 

 remembered, and were loo important to be either 

 Jorgolten or mislaiten, inasmuch as they concurred 

 lo disappoint the sanguine hopes belbreeniertained 

 of expected profit from this source. 



Knowing thai general statements of resnlis are 

 much le.-s satisfactory than the precise facts, or the 

 dediK'.iions from facts, whether mistaken or not, as 

 written down at or near the times of occurrence, I 

 will copy the memoranda as entered in my farm 

 books, which were written merely for my own 

 nse, and were never expected lo be broughi belore 

 the public eye. These entries will probably seem 

 unim()oriant and tedious to the reader; tiut it is 

 hoped that their being presented will be excused, 

 as turiiishing tlie besi testimony that I can now 

 otter; and also the best check upon my present 

 conclusions, when they vary from or oppose those 

 .made at a much earlier date. They will he copied 

 without the slightest change of purport, either as 

 ■to facts or deductions, even when a change ofopin- 

 ion has since occurred. Immaterial passages only 

 •will be omitled or abridged, and the worst of ver- 



bal inaccuracies be somewhat corrected in form of 

 expression. 



But such as they are, these records of experi- 

 men's, and (Ifiiuciions iheieln^m. may be a'tnust 

 considered as test niony cominu from a (bflereut 

 soiiice than the present writer, inasmuch as he 

 formerly entertained oitinions, and saiiirijinely 

 hoped lorelb-<'is, difl'erent from, and a'loi/eiher snr- 

 [lassing, tucli as v\ould now inviie and diicci bis 

 practice. And iherelbre, he was lull as likely to 

 bedeceiverl formerly liy his hiirh hopes and loo 

 easy liiiih, as now in the ojiposite course, by oppo- 

 site opinions. 



In the early part of the firsi volume of this work, 

 (beginning at pace 207,) wasiriven an account of 

 my tiavini; discovered the extensive beds of this 

 remarkable earth on my firm and elsewhere in 

 Prince GeorL'e county, as far back as 1817, with a 

 minute descripiion of its peculiar appearance, and 

 the locality along the banks of James River ; and 

 also the general results of my practice wiih it aa 

 manure. A'so, there (and afierwards in the same 

 volume, upon more lull inlbrmation and examina- 

 tion of the "Jersey marl,") I (ironounced that ijie 

 earth I had discovered was, as a manure, identical 

 with the celebrated "Jersey marl," which geolo- 

 gists call green-sand.* 



Now, althoiiizh from the few facte then known, 

 ( liad made this main and most important deduc- 

 tion correctly, (as has been since abundantly 

 proved by the observaiions of ijeoloijists, and iiow 

 universally admitted,) that this enrlhis the same 

 manure as that of New Jersey, siiil I was mis'ed, 

 by my ignorance, in odier respects. In the first 

 [)iace, I had then not even so mudi as ever heard 

 of the term "green-sand," which has laiieily be- 

 come, through geological repoits, as common as 

 "house-hold words." In the next place, know- 

 ing nolhinir of " green-Sfl?!(i," and having found 

 iiypsum diH'used in many pane of ihe bed, and 

 little or no carbonate of lime, (L'enerally, not even 

 a trace of it,) I erroneously ascribed the fertilizing 

 effects, when exhibited, solely to the presence of 

 •rypsum ; — and my practice was directed accord- 

 ingly, and the results were judired of upon that er- 

 roneous supposition. And under Ihis mistake, I 

 applied to the bed the term "gypseous earth," and 

 supposed its value, as manure, lo be in proportion 

 to the gypsum contained. Nevertheless, and not- 

 withstanding these errors of ignorance, the ap- 

 pearance of the bed was so defciibed that it was 

 impossible for any one to mistake its true charac- 

 ter v'ho knew any thing of the green-sand earth 

 in Neu} Jersey or elsewhere. For more lull ex- 

 planation on all these points, the reader is referred 

 10 mv original article on this subject, written under 

 these circumstances. 



Eleven months after my extended pubbcation 

 above relerred to, and eighteen years after my 

 having discovered the bed. Professor William B. 

 Hoiiers announced through the Farmers' Reijis- 

 ter (pao-e 129, vol. 11,) his " Discovery of'green- 

 sand in tlic calcareous deposiie of eastern Vir<rinia, 



* I shnll not, (unless required by any circiirastancps 

 which may hereafter occur,) fatigue the reader by 

 quotinq; the various passafjps above referred to. But 

 if any one be curious on the subject, he may see, in 

 the ions: general article referred to at page 207. and 

 also in others at pages 272, 2".S. 775, vol. i. and 155 

 vol. ii, abundant grounds on which to decide upon any 

 conflicting claims to the first discovery of, aud publi- 

 cation describing this earth, in Virginia. 



