FARMERS' REGISTER— DISCOVERY OF MARL. 



the forced introduction of the African laborer, to 

 the present day, we have felt the influence of go- 

 vernmental interference in tlie regulation of do- 

 mestic indusiry; and we arc still — ungrateful for 

 the paternal interposition. 



After yielding to gloomy forebodings in relation 

 to the agriculture of his native land, so as, some- 

 times, almost to be driven to the painful alterna- 

 tive of emigration — ^to his feelings, nearly synony- 

 mous with expatriation — the writer thinks he can 

 perceive brighter prospects before us. Tliese hopes 

 have, in a great measure, been excited by the pe- 

 rusal of " An Essay on Calcareous Manures," by 

 INIr. Ruffin, of Prince George. The publication 

 of this work, it is believed, will form a most im- 

 portant era in the agricultural history of the state. 

 No man can understandingly read the iiook with- 

 out perceiving the pleasing opportunity afforded 

 the inhabitants of the tide-water country, of reno- 

 vating their exhausted fields, and many of our 

 agricultural brethren beyond the mountains, of al- 

 most indefinitely enriching their already fertile 

 soil. The great value of lime, as a manure, has 

 long been known in Europe, and indeed, the true 

 secret of the surprisingly large crops of which we 

 sometimes read, seems to consist in its use. It 

 was reserved for Mr. Ruflin to point out, for 

 some parts of our own country, exhaustless stores 

 of this kind of manure, and to digest and develope 

 a theory of its operation, w-hich, it is believed, will 

 hardly be controverted. 



It has been commonly supposed, that calcareous 

 matters to any valuable extent, were denied to that 

 part of Virginia between tide-water and the moun- 

 tains. The writer of this article having recently 

 discovered considerably extensive beds of clay 

 marl on his own land, and perceived the indica- 

 tions of it on the lands of others, feels impelled, how- 

 ever diffidently, to make a communication to the 

 public, of the very small degree of information, as 

 yet acquired on the subject by himself He has 

 known from his childliood tl)at there were very nu- 

 merous pebbly concretions issuing from the clay 

 in the gullies, and the crevices and fissures of the 

 rocks, possessing the qualities of lime, inasmuch 

 as they made a good cement for plastering, and 

 would be rendered caustic by burning. But of 

 these there were not enough to be valuable in the 

 purposes of masonry, and of marl, the writer knew 

 scarcely more than could be lea'/ned from the defi- 

 nition in a dictionary — not even knowing that lijne 

 was necessarily a constituent. On reading a few 

 pages in Mr. Ruffin's book, he began to suspect 

 that the clay in which those calcareous pebbles were 

 found was itself calcareous, and a very slight ex- 

 amination confirmed the suspicion. 



Primary formations sometimes furnish ledges 

 of magnesian limestone. Lime and its combina- 

 tions, as the w^riter believes, are generally found 

 in lands that are of secondary formation, that is, 

 lands which have at some time formed the beds 

 of seas or lakes, or undergone some radical 

 change of structure since the creation. And this 

 it is believed is the chief source whence lime is 

 obtained. A stripe or vein of land of secondary 

 formation, passes through Prince Edward county, 

 from north to south, containing small veins of 

 pit coal, coal slate, freestone, whinstone, large 

 strata of sandstone, occasionally slightly calcare- 

 ous, and other substances usually found in such 

 lands. Many of the strata of rock are impreg- 



nated with common salt, epsom salt, and other sa- 

 line matters. There are occasionally to be found 

 very minute seams or veins of selenite (crystal- 

 ized gypsum,) thougli, as yet, none have been dis- 

 covered large enough to become important in agri- 

 cullure. It is highly probable, however, that 

 those rocks which have this substance deposited in 

 their crevices, are, throughout, more or less im- 

 pregnated with it. 



As to the extent of this kind of land, the wri- 

 ter possesses no exact knowledge. His personal 

 observation of it extends from a i'ew miles to the 

 north east of Willis's mountain in Buckingham, 

 almost to the Roanoke in Mecklenburg. It is said 

 to go many miles into North Carolina, crossing 

 the river Hyco. But neither its southern or north- 

 ern termination are known to the writer. In width 

 it varies very much in different neighborhoods; 

 in some places being eight or ten miles wide, and 

 in others very narrow, or even apparently swal- 

 lowed up in the hills of primary formation. A 

 stranger travelling from Raine's tavern to Farm- 

 ville, would, on looking westwardly from some 

 points on the road, suppose himself in the vicinity 

 of a vast river, from the depression of this land 

 below the adjacent country. This kind of land is 

 in that neighborhood, of very considerable width, 

 where it has long borne the name of the clover 

 forest country, from its propensity to produce, in 

 wet summers, a species of annual clover, called 

 the buffalo, of a beautiful and luxuriant growth. 

 The seed of tliis clover, like tliose of cJieat and 

 many other plants, require much moisture, at a 

 particular juncture, to excite them to vegetation, 

 so that the crop is but seldom seen. 



For many miles on the south side of the Appo- 

 mattox, this stripe of land contracts to a much nar- 

 rower space. It has been long since the writer 

 was in the eastern end of Charlotte or the western 

 end of Mecklenburg. But he is inclined to be- 

 lieve, from his recollection of the country, that, in 

 those parts, this kind of land is very broad. It is 

 generally accompanied by a very bold stratum of 

 black rock, particularly striking whenever the 

 writer has been able to trace it. 



The character of the soil, generally, in this vein 

 of land, has not stood high. The subsoil being 

 commonly what is called pipe clay, it is vei-y wet 

 in winter, so much so, that in some parts roads 

 could scarcely be made without the aid of extra- 

 neous materials. The soil however is more favo- 

 rable to tlie production of grass than that of the 

 adjacent lands of primary formation, and when ap- 

 parently exhausted, more speedily furnishes mate- 

 rials for its own resuscitation. 



The existence of lands half way between tide- 

 wviter and the mountains, capable of furnishing 

 calcareous manures, is a fact no^el and unexpect- 

 ed — this being a locality as little likely to enjoy 

 such an advantage, as any in the state. So that, 

 some ground is afforded for inferring that there 

 may be other similar stripes of land, intersecting 

 the state in such a manner as to afford the means 

 for furnishing a sufficient supply of this best of all 

 manures to all that portion of the state most need- 

 ing it, whenever the facilities for transportation, by 

 improving the navigation of our streams and con- 

 structing rail roads, shall have been sutficiently 

 afforded. In reply to the question, hoAV some parts 

 of Scotland could have been so surprisingly im- 

 proved within a few years, an old farmer of that 



