30 



j^ARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 1 



and agricultural survey of the district adjoining the 

 Erie Canal, hesiiles being at the expense of va- 

 rious other examinations of great extent. This 

 was perlbrnied twelve or lilieen years ago. Since 

 tiiat time Massachusetts. Tennessee, the two Car- 

 oliniis, and Maryland, have either caused or di- 

 rected geological researches to be made within their 

 resjjectlve Jimils; and Vn-ginia, New Jersey, and 

 Pennsylvania have the subject before them. 

 Willi these exam'.'ies in view, we hope -'the Em- 

 pire State" will not prove recreant in the causa ol' 

 science and practical utility, when her ample 

 means so fully enable her to develope her own re- 

 sources. The discoveries which her geologists 

 may malie, would be only a part of the benfiis to 

 be derived Ironi this enterprise. Hundreds ol' her 

 citizens would be slimulated to make closer obser- 

 vations; and when explorations shall be conduct- 

 ed in the broad light of science, we shall hear but 

 little more of lortunes wasted in searching lor min- 

 erals, or of the fruitless toils of the miner. 



A thw years ago £80,000 sterling were expend- 

 ed in searching for coal at Eexhill, in Sussex, 

 England, '-when," as Sir J. W. Herschell ob- 

 serves, "every geologist would at once have de- 

 clar^-d it abortive." "Mr. Townsend inibrms us," 

 bays Malte Brun, "'that a pit was sunk lor coal to 

 the depth of six hundred tiithoms at Bruham, near 

 the chalk hills of Bradley Nole, and that the mi- 

 ners reached o:dy to the uppermost beds of tlie 

 great oolite." The history of mining operations in 

 Englanil abounds with such examples. It may 

 be mentioned on the authority of the last writer, 

 that the commissioners of the Bath road, sent ten 

 miles tor flints, while their wagons actually passed, 

 without their knowing it, over a bed of tlints lor 

 the greater part of the way. The stone of which 

 the Bath Cathedral is built, was conveyed from the 

 distance ol' four miles; it was not then known that 

 the same stone might be obtained in the immedi- 

 ate vicinity; quarries have since been opened, ll 

 errors of a like nature are now less frequently 

 com milted — if pits are not so often sunk in vain — 

 it is because practical men have availed them- 

 selves of the discoveries of geologists. 



To these statements we may add the expensive 

 attempt to procure salt water on the south shore 

 of Lake Erie, in the neighborhood of Portland, 

 wliich any geologist acquainted with the dip of 

 1h& strata would at once have pronounced hope- 

 less. 



The Secretary proposes to divide the State into 

 four districts. The first to consist of all the coun- 

 ties lying to the south or east of Delaware, Scho- 

 harie, Schenectady, and Saratoga, which are also 

 to be included — containing 12,2u3 square miles. 

 The second district to comprise the counties ol 

 Warren, Essex, Cliatt)n, Franklin, Hamilton, and 

 St. Lawrance — containing 9,69"2 s(juare miles. 

 The third district to include all other counties ad- 

 joining the Erie Canal and lying north ol it, to 

 the west bounds of Genessee and Orleans — con- 

 taining 12,293 square miles. The fourth district 

 is to consist of the remainitig (14)countics, which 

 are estimaled at 11,594 s(]uare miles. 



To each of these disiricts, it is proposed to ap- 

 point two geologists and a draughtsman, and one 

 zoologist and one botanist lor the whole state, each 

 to be accompanied by a draughtsman. It is sup- 

 posed that lour years will be required to complete 

 the sr.rvev; and the whole expense, in.duding that 



of publication, is estimated at ^104,000. A low- 

 er estimate, howev-er, has been made on the sug- 

 gestion of confining the examinations to geology; 

 but we must indulge the hoi«e that our legislators 

 on this occasion, will act with a liberality worthy 

 of themselves and of tlieir country. 



FINE WHITE MARBT.E DISCOVERED KEAU 

 GASTON. 



A bed of beautiful white inarble has lately been dis- 

 covered near the Roanoke, and only five miles from 

 Gaston, on the great railway route from Raleiyh to Pe- 

 tersburg. The maibls w"as exposed to view by the 

 digging of a well. Together with the information 

 of this interesting discovery, we received from 

 Charles F. M. Garnett, Esq. a small specimen of the 

 stone, which was polished by Mr. Davidson of Peters- 

 burg, an intelligent workman in marble, and who gives a 

 very favorable report of the specimen, though stating 

 that it was too small to indicate the value of large 

 masses. We hope soon to have the means of giving 

 a decisive report of the quality, and value of the mar- 

 ble. If the bed should not be too expensive to be quar- 

 ried (on account of lying deep,) it will prove of much 

 value to the adjacent country, even if used for no other 

 purpose than to burn into lime for manure. Such a 

 business, properly prosecuted, in such a locality as be- 

 tween Gaston and Raleigh, would furnish to the Railroad 

 the conveyance of an immense amount of a new com- 

 modity, lime, and afterwards the additional quantity of 

 crops which the lime would produce through all future 

 time. We hope that the railroad companies will see 

 that tlieir own interest would direct that the conve}'- 

 ance of manures should be charged as little as possi- 

 ble — and that they will not imitate the short-sighted and 

 stupid policy of the Virginia Legislature in imposing 

 tolls on manures on the James River canal, which act as 

 prohibitions on their transportation. To prevent or 

 discourage the passage of manures on a canal that 

 must receive the tolls on all future products of such 

 manures, is truly a specimen ot policy which, though 

 it may have many equals in the code of Virginia, is 

 such as ought to be expected only in the legislation of 

 such countries as Egypt or Morocco. 



The foregoing notice was in type several weeks ago, 

 but was "crowded out" of the last IVo. by other mat- 

 ters. We have since received other })articulars of the 

 marble near Gaston, in the following communicrdon. 

 Similar notices from persons who have ascertained the 

 existence of any nswly discovered, or valuable geolo- 

 gical feature in our country ,would render much public 

 service, by making known resources for improvement 

 or prolit, that are now scarcely, if at all, known. 



SOME OF THE GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE 

 REGION SURROUNDIiVG GASTON, ON THE 

 ROANOKE. 



Gaston, A" C, Jpril Ulh, 1836. 



Believing that the geological features of this 

 part of the country would be interesling to you, I 



