70 



Editorial Notices. 



Vol. VII. 



some ferruginous matter, and is apparently 

 destitute of any calcareous substance. The 

 owner has used it recently to great advan- 

 tage; and William R. Tatum showed on 

 some of his own higher ground, a lightish 

 sandy loam, evidences of great beneficial 

 results from its application to grass. We 

 next called upon our friend John L. Cooper, 

 of Good Intent, near Black wood town, who 

 showed two beds at different elevations, in 

 the hill on the north-west margin of his mill 

 pond. This is a hard, reddish coloured sub- 

 stance, with a good many decomposed shells, 

 and smelling considerably of sulphur. It was 

 used to some extent, and to some advantage, 

 thirty years ago, but is now neglected. A 

 mile further on, a little beyond Blackwood- 

 town, and on the same stream, — the head 

 of Timber creek, — is David E. Marshall's 

 genuine green sand mail; apparently the 

 pure substance. This lies in the hill, on 

 "either side of the stream, is ten or fifteen 

 feet in thickness, and is overlaid by four, 

 five, or six, or eight feet of sand and gravel, 

 and also by a hard material of a tew inches 

 thickness, resembling iron stone. This marl 

 is much used, and to great purpose. It is 

 hauled ten or twelve miles, and with the 

 other marls of the neighbourhood, is generally 

 spread as a top dressing upon grass, in the 

 spring, at the rate of ten to fifteen tons per 

 acre. On enquiring at the pit, of a person 

 who was digging and hauling it away, 

 whether the owner, D. E. Marshall, had 

 himself used the material to much extent, 

 and to great advantage; he replied in the 

 affirmative, with a look of astonishment that 

 such questions should be asked, and an earn- 

 estness of manner, that was a strong pledge 

 of his sincerity. In looking for proofs of its 

 usefulness on D. E. Marshall's farm, he said 

 we could hardly go amiss. We, however, 

 did not walk over the farm — we had not 

 time to do so ; but the fact, that its fertility 

 had been vastly increased by the application 

 of this marl, was familiar to three of us 

 We next passed on to the extensive excava- 

 tions of Josiah Heritage, on the head waters 

 of Mantua creek, and two or three miles 

 south-west of D. E. Marshall's. This also, 

 is green sand, or as it is also, often called, 

 gun-powder marl, of the first, quality. It is 

 carted ten or a dozen miles, and applied 

 with an effect that is really astonishing. 

 Among the green sand, which is from ten 

 to twenty feet in thickness, no organic re- 

 mains are to be discovered. It lies on either 

 side of the creek. The present operations 

 are on the north side. It is covered with 

 sand and gravel to the depth of six or eight, 

 or ten feet, as well as by a marl of a red- 

 dish brown appearance, that is of consider-; 



able value, though far inferior to the green 

 sand marl. In some places, a solid layer of 

 what were once shells, fifteen or twenty 

 inches in thickness, separates the sand and 

 clay, &c, from the upper, and less valuable 

 stratum of marl* just mentioned. And the 

 green sand itself, lying along a little ravine 

 that juts up from the main stream, is over- 

 laid by a dark brown limestone, ten or twelve 

 inches in thickness. This stone is inter- 

 mixed a good deal with shells, and a kiln has 

 been built on the adjacent hill side, for 

 burning it. We had not the satisfaction of 

 seeing J. Heritage himself, and could not of 

 course, ascertain exactly the quantity an- 

 nually taken from these pits. Our frienda 

 however, who are familiar with the opera- 

 tions there, drawing away, themselves, more 

 or less every season, believed that six or seven 

 thousand tons must have been removed last 

 winter. It is sold by the rod, or by the ton, 

 say 10 to 15 dollars the square rod, and the 

 purchaser digging it himself, or 37^ cents 

 a ton, the owner uncovering it, and making 

 it of easy access to the team. 



The green sand marl of this neighbour- 

 hood, and it is of that only we speak, is best 

 adapted to what are often called natural 

 meadows — to lowish, moist, but drained 

 lands — to cold, sour, quicksandy soils, where 

 the springs are near the surface, and the 

 virgin soil was naturally poor. These are 

 the soils that the gunpowder marl of this vi- 

 cinity, best suits. We do not say it does 

 not benefit some other soils ; but from all we 

 learned, and from our own experience, it 

 does little or no good, when spread on grass, 

 on a light, sandy soil ; and especially if the 

 sandy soil reposes upon a sandy subsoil. All 

 the different marls of the neighbourhood, 

 however, appear to be decidedly beneficial 

 to a potatoe crop, and that too, on every 

 variety of soil, at all suitable for potatoes. 

 On the road from D. E. Marshall's to J. 

 Heritage's, we passed through the farm of 

 Thomas Chew. It contains 160 or 175 acres 

 of cleared land. Eight years since, it was 

 poor, and exceedingly unproductive, scarcely 

 affording pasture and hay, for eight or ten 

 cattle and horses. Some six years since, 

 the owner, observing what was passing 

 around him, and concluding that Heritage's 

 marl was adapted to his land, entered with 

 considerable and praiseworthy spirit into the 

 work, and has marled nearly all his farm. 

 We were assured that, during the summer 

 just passed, more than 100 tons of hay were 

 cut on this same plantation, and that the 

 summer stock, is at least, quadrupled. 



All earths are called marl, in this neighbourhood! 

 that are found useful for agricultural purposes, when 

 applied to the soil. 



