1836.] 



FARMERS' RE G I S T E R. 



Sd3 



The lovwr portion of the peninsula lying in 

 Marylivnil, einbracing Dorchester, Somerset, and 

 Worcester, is a low level country, mostly a clepo- 

 site ol" slid' clay, excepting on the margin of the 

 rivers and creeks, where the country is wavy and 

 the soil sandy. The sand hills, on the hordt-rs of 

 the rivers, are always situated on their south or 

 south-eastern sides, and extend but a siiort dis- 

 tance inland. In some instances they form dis- 

 tinct ridges or waves of sand, running in various 

 directions; sometimes |)arallel with the course ol" 

 the river, and when occurring at the extremity of 

 necks, transversely, or across the points. The 

 intervenmg necks, sloping gently to the south and 

 south-east, terminate in extensive marshes, which 

 in high tides are frequently entirely submerged. 

 Ill the midst of these marshes there are occasional 

 sand hills, or hummocks ; but rarely of any great 

 extent. 



The sameness in the geological constitution of 

 the necks of land, just referred to, is evinced in the 

 digging of wells, from which this section of coun- 

 try is exclusively supplied with water for domestic 

 purposes. At a depth of from ten to twelve feet, 

 penetrating through the stiff clay, there is invari- 

 ably encountered a stratum of clean white sand, 

 with gravel, varying from one to two or three feet 

 in thickness. Out of this an abundant supply of 

 good water can be obtained ; but beneath it there 

 is always found a soft black mud, with an ofl'en- 

 eive odor, and filled with decayed vegetable mat- 

 ter, composed principally of a coarse grass, similar 

 to that growing upon the present marshes. In 

 some places this mud is reported to be of great 

 depth. It does not appear, however, to have ever 

 been accurately sounded ; but in one instance, al- 

 ready alluded to in a |)revious report, at Cam- 

 bridge, it was traversed, and is stated to have been 

 found overlaying a fossil deposite, the shells of 

 which are referable to the older pliocene marls. 



Another remarkable feature in the geology of 

 this country is the occurrence of a ledge of water- 

 worn stones, composed of quartz and sandstone, 

 constituting gravel and boulders ol various sizes, 

 from twenty to several hundred pounds in weight. 

 These stones were first observed between Todd's 

 Point and at the head of Little Choptank ; they 

 were afterwards found scattered over a narrov>f 

 zone of land, between Monie ('reek and the JVIan- 

 okin. They are said to occur at the head of Back 

 Creek, on the south side of Manokin, and were fi- 

 nally again observed near the mouth of Marum- 

 eco Creek, on Pocomoke Bay. At this last men- 

 tioned spot — being a knoll of dry ground in the 

 marshes, protruding into the baj* — the beach is 

 coveied with these stones, washed" out of the bank. 

 All of them are a close grained sandstone, with 

 email veins of quartz, the sandstone being of the 

 character of that occurring on the Blue Ridge, dif- 

 ferent from that constituting the whitu rocks at the 

 mouth of the Patapsco, but similar to those larger 

 masses that are found strewed over the surface 

 in the upper parts of the Eastern Shore of Mary- 

 land, in Cecil county. These erratic masses form, 

 with the exception ol" the bog iron ore — which will 

 be presently more particularly referred to — the 

 only stony bodies that occur in the three Eastern 

 Shore coun ties, now under examination.* 



* A ledge of submarine rock is said to be oiF Todd's 

 Point; and another to Benoni's Point, on the Talbot 

 side of the Choptank. 



Such are the great geological features of this 

 section of country. A more detailed account of 

 its physical geography will now be given under 

 separate heads, for each of the three counties em- 

 braced within it. 



Dorchester Coinily, lying between the Chop- 

 tank and Naiiticoke ri\ers, requires perhaps more 

 than any other country on the Eastern Shore, the 

 assistance which would necessarily be aflbrded by 

 an accurate topograiihical survey, in adopting 

 measures to bring into operation her natural re- 

 sources. Placed between two large rivers, her fa- 

 cilities for sending the produce of her soil to a 

 market are yet not great, and mostly confined to 

 the least productive part of her territory. The 

 central portion of the county, most susceptible of 

 great and permanent improvement, and even at 

 this time the most productive, is deprived of an 

 outlet for her agricultural staples, corn and wheat ; 

 and the no less valuable source of wealth, which 

 she possesses, in her magnificent growth of tim- 

 ber. The natural channels of egress through the 

 Blackwater and Transquaking have long since 

 failed to be available in any thing more than a li- 

 mited degree, these rivers serving now rather to 

 increase the obstacles to the navigation of the bay 

 into which they empty. Fishing Bay, their com- 

 mon estuary, oflisrs scarcely more than five leet 

 of water, at high tides, over a deep and extensive 

 mud flat, which it is utterly impracticable to re- 

 move. The inconvenience arising from this cause 

 is felt by a large portion of the county, and has 

 suggested the application to the legislature, for 

 the opening of a canal communication between 

 the Blackwater and the Choptank. Such a canal 

 would but partially remedy the inconvenience, 

 whilst a more comprehensive view of the benefit 

 to be derived, points to the practicability of connect- 

 ing the Nanticoke with the Choptank. This is be- 

 lieved to be entirely practicable, and the advan- 

 tages to be obtained from the connection of these 

 two rivers, by means of a canal traversing the 

 heads of navigation of the Blackwater, Trans- 

 quaking and Chicamaconiico — a project to be ef- 

 fected at a trifling expense — are great and obvious. 

 A communication of this kind would not only fur- 

 nish an outlet lor the already valuable products of 

 the county, but could be used as a means of con- 

 veying to it those materials, such as marl, lime, 

 &c. (of which an abundance would be thus 

 brought within a convenient reach.) that are neces- 

 sary in order to enhance the productiveness of its 

 soil, and bring it into that state of improvement of 

 which it is susceptible. Other advantages may 

 be expected to accrue from the excavation of a 

 canal in the direction just refi^^rred to; among 

 which, not the least important would be to render 

 it subservient to the efl'ectual and thorough drain- 

 age of a large extent of country, at present uncul- 

 tivable, and not only itself insalubrious, but the 

 main cause o1 the unhealthiness of that by which 

 it is surrounded. It would seem to be at all times a 

 subject worthy of the attention of a government that 

 wishes to increase the quantity of nutriment, as 

 well as to improve the salubrity of a countrj', and 

 consequently to augment its population and pros- 

 perit}', to employ suitable means to efiect a com- 

 plete drainage of every morassy district, within its 

 dominion, of whatever extent. In the present 

 case the proposed improvement forms, however, 

 only part of a scheme of internal navigation that 



