THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



AMERICAN HERD-BOOK, 



DEVOTED TO 

 AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND RURAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 



"The Productions of the Earth will always hp in proportion to the culture bestowed upon it." 



Vol. VII — No. 5.1 



12th mo. (December,) 15th, 1842. 



[Whole No. 95. 



JOSIAH TATUM, 

 PROPRIETOR AND PUBLISHER, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Edited by the Proprietor and James Pedder. 

 Price one dollar per year.— For conditions see last page. 



From The Farmers' Register. 



Some account of the green-sand earth of 

 Gloucester and Salem Counties, N. J., 

 and the effects as manure. 



It will be recollected that in the 2nd No. of our cur- 

 rent Volume, a short account is given of a visit which 

 one of the editors, in company with Edmund Rumn, 

 the able conductor of the Farmers' Register, published 

 in Petersburg, Va., paid to some of the marl beds near 

 Woodbury, N. J., in the early part of the Ninth month 

 laBt. In the Register for that month, the editor has 

 given an account in detail of this visit, as also of that 

 which he subsequently made to similar interesting de- 

 posites in the vicinity of Woodstown, in Salem county. 

 He had there also an opportunity of witnessing nume- 

 rous evidences of the great effects resulting from the 

 application of the green-sand marl to poor and worn 

 out soils, within its reach. We have been much inte- 

 rested in reading the article, and exceedingly regret 

 that our limits will not allow us to transfer the whole 

 of it to our pages. In the extracts which follow, we 

 are fearful that we have not done justice to the au- 

 thor, or to our readers. We have, however, endea- 

 voured to do it, so far as the necessity for abridgment 

 would allow. The author, we know, will excuse any 

 deficiency— to our readers, we would say, huy the book. 



Ed. F. Cab. 



The New Jersey green-sand earth, and 

 the beneficial and wonderful effects pro- 

 duced by its use as manure, have long been 

 subjects of interest and curiosity to every 

 person accustomed to read or to hear of the 

 progress of agricultural improvement in the 

 United States. There were other additional 

 reasons, (which will be obvious to all readers 

 of the past volumes of the Farmers' Regis- 

 ter,) which made me take especial interest 

 in this subject, and to seek information 

 thereupon, as I have done for a long time 

 past, from every source offered by publica- 

 tions. 



Cab.— Vol. VII.— No. 5. 



Deeming, from everything yet read, that 

 there would be no means of obtaining the 

 correct information desired, except by per- 

 sonal examination, I determined to visit the 

 green-sand region of New Jersey; and to 

 make this personal inspection, and to have 

 opportunities for making personal inquiries, 

 formed the sole objects of a journey from my 

 distant place of residence. 



|"Here follows the account of the examination in the 

 vicinity of Woodbury, which as we have already no- 

 ticed it, and for brevity's sake, we are obliged entirely 

 to omit. From Woodbury he returned to Philadelphia, 

 where he remained a few days; afterward he says:] 



I proceeded to examine another and a 

 much more improved and important district 

 of New Jersey. This is the country sur- 

 rounding and neighbouring to Woodstown, 

 in Salem county. 



I had occasion to congratulate myself as 

 to the hands into which I fell. My first 

 used direction led me to David M. Davis, a 

 resident of the village, and his kind atten- 

 tions and hospitality left me nothing to de- 

 sire, either as to the means for obtaining the 

 best information, or for any other accommo- 

 dation and comfort that his house and other 

 means so abundantly afforded. In addition 

 to all that he could tell and show me of his 

 own operations, he carried me to as many 

 of the most interesting points for observa- 

 tion as could be visited during my short stay, 

 and enabled me to see and to inquire of many 

 of the farmers most experienced in the use 

 of green-sand earth. 



Our first visit was to the diggings in 

 Woodstown. They extend over three or 

 four acres, all of which space has been ex- 

 cavated, and the green-sand earth removed. 

 There was no digging then going on there, 

 but plentiful signs of the extent of recent 

 work in many large heaps, or mounds of 

 conical shape, formed of the excavated earth, 

 standing to dry somewhat, or wait until their 

 different owners, who had either dug them 

 or bought them of the labourers, should find 

 it convenient to haul the earth to their farms. 



At another locality, visited next morning, 

 there was a scene of much greater activity 

 seen in numerous labourers employed in 

 every different operation of the business. 



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