THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



389 



of making a pecuniary profit by the business— and 

 Iherefore, we preferred that otiiers should be un- 

 dertakers of the business. Next, our own marl, 

 on navigable water, though very rich, is peculiarly 

 difficult to uncover and work, and therefore can- 

 not be so cheaply furnished (to the bushel) as 

 from many other more easily accessible beds. 

 But, after leaving it to others lor 8 years to com- 

 mence this business, and carry it on, and with very 

 little eflect, either in reducing prices, or furtiisliing 

 a regular and sufficient supply at any prices, we 

 presume that we may now make the atiempt to 

 ilirnish a better and cheaper supply, without 

 drawing suspicion on our motives in recommen- 

 dations made, and opinions expressed, so long ago. 

 According to the advertisement published on the 

 cover of this number, it will be seen that the marl of 

 Coggins Point is offered to be put on board lighters 

 at 2 cents the heaped bushel ; or at li- cents, if on 

 contracts for 30,000 bushels or more. If purchasers 

 will furnish their own lighters and hands, the 

 transportation and lamling of the marl (within 

 15 miles distance) may be perlbrmed lor 1 cent 

 more; and even to hired vessels, regularly em- 

 ployed, 1| cents would furnish a sufficient profit — 

 there being a proper wharf or stage at the land- 

 ing place, and the marl being taken by the pur- 

 chaser from the deck of the vessel. But no light- 

 er-men will engage at this price lor Ireight — and 

 few can be relied en for regular work at even 

 their own higher prices. Therefore, if this busi- 

 ness is to be put on the cheapest and most pro- 

 fitable looting, (and which cannot be except as a 

 large and regular business,) the purchasers of 

 the marl must provide and man their own lighters. 

 If that were done, and proper arrangements 

 niade, these terms for large contracts would per- 

 mit the marl to be carried to distances within 15 

 miles, for 2^ to 3 cents the bushel, and 40 or 50 

 miles lor 4 cents. But, to effect this unprecedent- 

 ed (and herelolbre almost unhoped lor) degree 

 of cheapness, it will be essential that purchasers 

 and land-owners shall operate on a large scale, 

 and to the best advantage in economizing labor, 

 as well as the workers of the beds, and shippers 

 of the marl. 



The lime-stone (as it may be truly termed, 

 in regard to its calcareous constitution,) which 

 is furnished by this same bed of marl, is another 

 object of high importance, for cement ; and if, 

 as we presume, as rich stone-marl may be (bund 

 in many other places in Virginia, we might noi 

 only be furnished at home with all the lime re- 

 quired for building, but at a much less price than 

 ifi paid, to an iraraenee amount annually, for tiie 



stone-lime of New England. Directed merely 

 by our knowledge of its chemical constitution, 

 we burnt this lime and used it lor our own build- 

 ings, eight to ten years ago. Having since sold 

 the farn), (Shellbanks, in Prince George county,) 

 we had not seen the mortar used there, lor six 

 years, until a fijw days ago. The plastering, 

 (of the dwelling house,) which was altogeiher of 

 ihis lime, is unusually firm, and has stood belter, 

 as Mr. Theron Gee, the present proprietor thinks, 

 than any plasiering he has ever known made of 

 other lime. A small part of the brick- work only, 

 for experiment and comparison, was built with 

 mortar made of this lime, in proportions of two 

 measures of sand to one of lime. The mortar 

 is of remarkable and very unusual hardness, and 

 adhesiveness to the bricks, and very liir harder, 

 and far better in all respects, than the best oyster 

 shell lime mortar, burnt at the same time, and 

 used on the same day with the lime mortar, and 

 by the same workmen, and in the same job. In 

 lact, the marl-lime mortar is so greatly and 

 strikingly superior, that no observer can doubt but 

 that its value as a cement is increased by some 

 or all the other ingredients which it contains be- 

 sides the 85 to 90 percent, of pure carbonate of 

 lime. The remainder of its body is principally 

 silex and clay — but is partly made up by small 

 portions of iron, of gypsum, and of some other 

 and more soluble salt. The cement is now much 

 harder than the bricks which it unites, or than 

 the stone from which it was burnt. And though 

 we do notknoiv the Strength or value of any other 

 bodies of marl than our own, and do not proless 

 to warrant the lair selection of sjiecimens from 

 any other, (and which selection lequires much 

 more care and fidelity than are usually given to 

 the object,) we doubt not but that there is much 

 good material of this kind fur mortar, in sundry 

 other marl beds, which it would be greatly for 

 the public benefit, as well as lor private profit, to 

 have brought into use. 



We take this mode of again inviting the farm- 

 ers on tide water who want marl, to take the 

 proper course (by building and navigating light- 

 ers for themselves,) to make their supply cheap — 

 and thereby to serve the public interests as well 

 as their own, by extending the use of this greatest 

 of agricultural improvers. At a small addition 

 to the prices stated above, the marl could be put 

 on board of sea coasting vessels, and almost as 

 low, as they sometimes have to pay for ballast ; so 

 that in this manner it might be delivered in places 

 even as remote as New York or Charleston, at 6 

 to 8 cents the bushel. 



