THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



119 



Bnil the probable existence of this sitbstai^ce in ex- 

 len>iive beds near the loestern limits of our ordina- 

 ry marl. ■ No one, excepi the writer oflliiU coni- 

 niunicaiion, couiii liave ti>en more ofcaiified lo see 

 it, iluin i was; itnd no one iheii eniertaiiied more 

 respect lor I lie autliority than [njseU". I was re- 

 juiced 10 see scieiiiific fiit^earch ai last directed to 

 ihis very interesiiM<x and obscure subject, to wliicli 

 I, in vain, had so long aiiem[)ted lo call lite atten- 

 tion ol' the learned. It announced truly a " (i/s 

 fOfcri/"' of gieen-sand heinir Ibund intermixed in 

 greater or less proportion vvilh many of I lie calca- 

 reous n;arls ol' (he lower part ol'eastern Virsrinia ; 

 and besides that additional lad, I was indeliled to 

 that communication lor my first l<nowled<re ol 

 "ijreen-sand" beinijan in<rredieni, and the impor- 

 tant irti^redient, of the "Jersey n<arl," and conse- 

 quently ofihe extensive bed which I had before de- 

 ecribed under the name of "'jrypseous earlh." 



A I the time ol mydiacovery ol'this, the extensive 

 body of ''gypseous earth," or "green-sand" as 

 it is now more properly designated, I entertained 

 the almost universal opinion that gypsum (plaster 

 ol' Paris, )*was ol' no use or profit in llie tide-water 

 region, 'rhai opinion was correct as lo nearly all 

 the soils and circumstances of'ihat region ; but, as 

 I alierwards asce^■lained, was erroneous as lo the 

 few cases of clover sowii on calcareous or ventral 

 and naturally good and fertile soils. But this de- 



IlaviniX found benefit in many experiments, from 

 applyinir a spoonlul or (wo ol [lure trypsum losinail 

 spots, and that generally on clover ami on jfoud 

 soils, I hastily and erroneously counieil on such ei- 

 lects generally, and even in advance ol my marliii" 

 the acid soils on which I applied (lie green sand or 

 ijypseous earth, 'riierelore, my lalse confidence 

 and sanguine disposition made me expect benefit, 

 and to construe all appearances in the manner 

 most favorable to the o|)eratioii ol'^naiiure ; and 

 thus, as was naiural, whenever I erred in opi- 

 nion as to resulis, ii was rather in (iivor olj than 

 against the degree ol" eHect [iroduced. 



Some of ilie earlh used contained a large pro- 

 portion ofgypsum, (mostly finely divided,) per- 

 haps Irom a tenth to a sixth of liie whole mass. 

 But, ireneraliy, the large applications were much 

 poorer in gypsum— usually containing not a twen- 

 tieth, and sometimes, perhaps, none at all. Of 

 the green-sand I do not pretend lo estimate the 

 proportions, with any accuracy; but judging by 

 the eye, I sufipose iliat it must have constituted 

 not less than Irom 20 lo 30 per cent, of the mass. 

 There is a much richer stratum below, containing 

 (as Professor Roijei^ reported) 60 lo 70 per cent, 

 of green-sand, and of which i made one careliil 

 experiment only, and the last. But though the 

 parts ol ihe bed poorer than (his in trreeii-sand 

 were generally used, (because containing gypsum 



ecripiion would not extend to one acre in one mil- i" more abundance,) still, Irom the heavy quanii 



lion; and on all oihers, uypsum was either wholly 

 inoperative, or not enouirli ellcctive lo be prolii- 

 able. Not then knowing the cause of the very 

 few exceptions, as I afterwards learned, I deemed 

 the discovery of impure gypsum on my land as ol 

 but litile account, excepi as a matter of curiosity, 

 and as an imeresiinL' scientific fact. Snil, 1 made 

 many small experiments with some of the larger 

 crystals pulverized, thus forming pure gypsum, 

 and of course the results were in no respect afiect- 

 • ed by the green-sand, which Ibrmed a large pro- 

 portion of Ihe general mass of earth. These 

 email experiments, however, being made mostly 

 on clover, and on cood soils, showed efi'ect more 

 frequently ihan had been expected, and the results 

 stroniriy encouraL'ed me to use the earth lartrely 

 which contained the yypsum in small and varying 

 proportions, as it does the green-sand larnrely and 

 universally. Still, let it be observed that, lor years 

 after, my experiments and practice were directed 

 blindly, without any correct view of where gyp- 

 eiiin would and where it would not act ; and, 

 moreover, ihat my object was lo apply g-y;7sum, 

 an<i noi green-sand, of which I still knew nothing. 

 But whetrier known, or souiiht, or not, this iniire- 

 dient was very far more abundant in every load 

 of earth applied, than the cypsum ; and iherelbre 

 every trial of the " gypseous earth," or ofgypsum 

 in that earth, was also a trial of " ir.ei'n-sand." 

 And though, when producing good elieci, it miirhl 

 be considered doubtful lo which of ihese euh- 

 Blances to ascribe the benefit, or how to award to 

 each its due share of the effects, still, when there 

 was no effect, or when the early eHect had ceased, 

 it was not the lees certain that the green-sand was 

 then altosether inoperative. Thus, every experi- 

 ment which produced no benefit, or but a tran- 

 sient benefit, was as lull and fair a lest of the 

 power of green-sand, as if that substance had 

 been applied without any gypsum. 

 Another preliminary remark should be made. 



lies of the earth generally apf)lied, (here must 

 have been usually plenty of green-sand laid on. 

 These remaiks the reader is requesied to bear in 

 mind ; and lo remember, also, through the lollovv- 

 ing notes, ihat when " gypseous eanh" or " gyp- 

 fcum" is mentioned as the manure, it is llie greei\- 

 sund earth winch is always reli^rred to, and con- 

 laining a much larger proportion of green-sand 

 than of gypsum. 



I shall pass over all my experiments made with 

 pulverized crystals, as they were with gypsum 

 alone, and had no relation lo green-sand, ihoui>h, 

 at the lime, I considered the acting power to be 

 the same. 'J'he following extracts from my oKJ 

 journals and memorandum books, for the Cogi^ins' 

 Point farm, will present every eniry there made, 

 and omitting nothing that bears upon (he result, 

 or conclusions thence to be drawn. For (he con- 

 venience of alier-relerence and designation, the 

 experiments and observations will be here num- 

 bered, though not so marked before. Any vvord.3 

 now adiled lo the quoted extracts, for explanation, 

 will be enclosed [ihus] in brackets. 



I. " lOih [January, 1818.] Three acres ofnew- 

 ground were plastered at the rate of 7 or 8 bushels 

 10 the acre with gypseous earlh, from the river 

 bank near the meadow." 



Oct. 1818. " No benefit derived." 



This was poor acid soil, and not then marled. 

 The land was part of that which was the subject 

 of (subsequent) marling experiments, 1, 2, 3 and 

 4, slated at pp. 37 to 40 of 2d edition of ' Es- 

 say on Calcareous Manures.' This green-sand 

 earlh was far from being rich in gypsum. The 

 crop (1818) was corn. 



II. 1 remember that on another part of this 

 around, same year, this earth was applied, at 

 planting the corn, a handful to each hill. Also, 

 the remnant of (he car(-load was scatiered around 

 very thick, broadcast— some of which was cer- 

 tainly as thick ae 600 bushels to the acre. No el- 



