No. 5. 



Some account of the green-sand earth in JV. J. 



139 



supplying green-sand earth largely. Add 

 to this that there are sundry other diggings 

 in this and the adjacent county of Glouces- 

 ter, all in active operation, and some idea 

 may be formed of the number of farms on 

 which this improvement is now in progress. 

 This evidence of very general appreciation 

 would be enough to prove great value, even 

 if the cost were less than half its actual 

 amount. 



The general rotation of crops in this part 

 of the country, is, 1, corn, on sward or old 

 grass land ; 2, oats ; 3, wheat ; to which all 

 the manure is applied in September, before 

 sowing, and on which clover and timothy 

 seeds are sown ; 4, 5, the grass mowed and 

 afterwards grazed ; 6, pasture. The green- 

 sand earth is generally given as top-dressing 

 on clover, the autumn and winter after taking 

 off wheat. The quantity of the green-sand 

 earth applied, is usually ten loads of a wagon 

 and two horses, and when near and cheap 

 enough, twelve or fifteen loads are often ap- 

 plied. Every man would prefer to give more, 

 but for the cost. Nearly all the persons of 

 whom inquiries were made, concurred in the 

 opinion, that the effects were permanent, so 

 for as their experience or information ex- 

 tended ; and most of them had personal 

 experience from 10 to 15 years. Still, se- 

 cond dressings are given, and in some farms 

 the third dressings have been applied, and 

 with new benefit at each repetition. Some 

 few doubted the permanency of effect. Dr. 

 Whitall, of Burlington county, informed me 

 that it was supposed there, that the effect 

 lessened after three years. 



As elsewhere, the best effects found here, 

 are on the clovers and buckwheats; the least 

 on wheat. Wherever applied first for, and 

 just preceding the latter crop, very little, if 

 any benefit has been seen. On buckwheat, 

 the effects of the green-sand earth are very 

 remarkable, and it is a general practice to 

 apply it for that crop; and being done for 

 this crop mostly by poor men, and on poor 

 land, it is put at not more than five loads to 

 the acre. On part of the very poor land 

 bought by David M. Davis, for $5 the acre, 

 he applied the earth at the rate of ten loads, 

 for buckwheat. The land was in Indian 

 grass (broom sedge) when ploughed up for 

 the buckwheat. The crop made, was sold 

 at $1 the bushel, which is an unusually high 

 price ; and the amount was enough to pay 

 for the whole expense of applying green- 

 sand earth, (bought and carted five miles,) 

 the cultivating and securing the crop, and 

 also the purchasing of the land itself. Mr. 

 William Reeve told me of an experiment 

 made by a neighbour, on stiff land, worn 

 very low, with green-sand earth, applied 



very thinly, and an equal quantity of drawn 

 wood ashes, on adjoining ground. The next 

 crop of clover was pretty good on the green- 

 sand earth, and only a tuft here and there, 

 was large enough to strike the view on the 

 ashed land. The value of drawn ashes as 

 manure, is universally admitted. They are 

 brought in large quantities from Philadel- 

 phia, and sold at Salem wharf at eight cents 

 the bushel, and sometimes more. 



Lime is used by some farmers about 

 Woodstown, but not generally or exten- 

 sively. I could not learn that its being 

 beneficial or useless, had any connexion 

 with the fact that the green-sand earth had 

 been previously applied, or not. Particular 

 opinions were opposed on this point. 



Most persons thought that the green-sand 

 earth, in very dry seasons, burnt and injured 

 the crop. S. Lippincott thought that on this 

 account he had once made not more than 

 five bushels of corn to the acre, on ground 

 that would otherwise have made 75 bushels, 

 from its previous high improvement by the 

 use of this earth. Others thought that it 

 was only on gravelly and sandy soils (such 

 as Lippincott's field was) that any such in- 

 jury was produced. 



As to the soils to which this manuring 

 earth is suitable, all persons of whom I heard 

 in Salem, agreed in the belief that it acted 

 well on all soils fit for tillage, or grass laud 

 dry enough to make good meadow T or pas- 

 ture. On loams, and on the more clayey 

 soils, (which two classes comprise nearly all 

 the surface of Salem county,) the effect is 

 best. It is supposed to be much less on the 

 sandy lands. But the farmers about Woods- 

 town, do not agree in the opinion of those 

 whom I conversed with in Gloucester, that 

 the best green-sand earth is inert, or nearly 

 so, on very sandy soils. Josiah Tatum had 

 stated to me the same, as the opinion just 

 before expressed to him, by Edward Har- 

 ris, an intelligent gentleman of Burlington 

 county, whose judgment and experience J. 

 Tatum said were entitled to great respect. 

 Mr. Harris dissented from this opinion of 

 the Gloucester farmers, and thought that if 

 they had fully and fairly tried this manure 

 on their sandy lands, they would have 

 thought differently. 



The lands of Pittsgrove township were 

 mentioned to me, by several different per- 

 sons, as furnishing the most uniform and ex- 

 tensive case of great improvement, in Salem 

 county. The soil is of different grades of 

 loam, and generally of medium texture. 

 The surface is generally undulating. The 

 original quality, or degree of natural fer- 

 tility, seemed to have been good, though not 

 by any means rich. These also seem to 



