8 



FARMERS' REGISTER— DISCOVERY OF MARL. 



A stripe or vein of land extends from near the 

 residence of tiie late Dr. Hubbard of Bucking- 

 ham, a few miles to the north east of Willis's 

 mountain, to the neighborhood of Samuel L. 

 Locket, Esq. on the Roanoke, in Mecklenburg, 

 evidently bearing all the evidences of secondary 

 formation. How much farther it may extend 

 each or either way, I know not. It contains free- 

 stone, whin, coal slate, small veins of very fine 

 coal, smooth quarts, river stone, marine and ep- 

 som salts, and many other matters, clearly indi- 

 cating the secondary character. In some places 

 there are numerous very small and irregular 

 seams of calcareous matter, between the strata, 

 and in the broken crevices of the rock, and occa- 

 sionally, deposits in the vallies, of calcareous clay, 

 which, I suppose, may fairly come under the de- 

 nomination of marl. 



I have known, for many years, 



that my land contained some modification of lime, 

 and have frequently mended broken plastering 

 about the house, with a cement made of calcareous 

 pebbles found in the gullies. But having a very 

 vague idea of marl, I never thought of seeking 

 for it here, until I fortunately met with your work 

 on calcareous manures. After meeting with this, 1 

 made search, and very readily found two deposits, 

 which, I believe, contain lime enough to render 

 them valuable as manure. I have, however, no 

 means of accurately determining their quantity of 

 lime. There are, also, very small veins of a cal- 

 careous appearance, containing crystals which I 

 take to be gypsum — and extensive beds, near 

 these, of a very fine clay of a marly appearance, 

 which will not eftervesce with muriatic acid, pos- 

 sibly on account of the presence of sulphuric. — 

 One would, on first sight, prefer this, as manure, 

 to the clay, which does effervesce with muriatic 

 acid. 



I find the deposits, in every instance, lying un- 

 der a superstratum of black gravel, and in the 

 gidlies above these deposits, it lies in minute 

 seams, between the strata of rocks and in their 

 crevices, from which, in vei-y wet weather, it is- 

 sues of the color and consistence of cream, and, 

 on drying, forms a very hard cement. Wherever 

 there is an accumulation of clay in the banks of 

 the gullies, about such places, it seems to become 

 marly ; I suppose, from the exudation, so often oc- 

 curring from those seams. 



January 19th, 1833. 

 The hill-side above my marl-bed is composed 

 of numerous strata of slaty sand-stone and coal 

 slate, which I suppose to be slightly calcareous, 

 their innumerable crevices and seams being filled 

 with either chalky concretions, or soft calcareous 

 matter. The Avater oozing from these strata to 

 the foot of the hill, on coming in contact with pipe 

 clay, is filtei-ed through, and deposits lime. The 

 , following fact, I think, confirms this opinion. — 

 About the richest marl I have fbinid, is contain- 

 ed in the scite of what was, within my recollec- 

 tion, a guUey of considerable depth, now filled 

 with clay marl ; so that, I should judge, the marl 

 is constantly forming in situations suitable for the 

 deposite of lime. 



The beds of marl, in so far as I have seen, are 

 covered by beds of black gravel, the gravel hav- 

 ing assumed about the same shapes and appear- 

 ance, except in color, as the calcareous conci'e- 



tions below. From this, I would infer, that the 

 gravel was once calcareous, though now probably 

 chalybeate, and that the lime is constantly sink- 

 ing, or in some other way wasting. 



Lower down, or, to the eastward of the marl 

 bed, I find in the crevices and fissures of the rock, 

 thin layers of beautiful selenite, the crystals being 

 so delicate, that they scarcely can be handled with- 

 out demolition. In the vicinity, and to the east of 

 this material, there are much fewer of the limey 

 concretions ; but a vast deal of rich looking clay, 

 of a very unctuous feel, when wet. Possibly this 

 clay may contain lime, combined with sulphuric 

 acid. About these seams of selenite, much com- 

 mon salt is, in frosty dry weather, perceivable by 

 the senses, and evinced by the propensity of sheep 

 and other stock, to lick the banks. My recollec- 

 tion of chemical affmities does not, at this moment, 

 enable me to say, whether this article would not 

 decompose gypsum in any form. 



January 24th, 1833. 



I have endeavored to send about a fair sample of 

 the marl, by cutting a block of it, which would 

 just fit the box, from a good, but I think, not the 

 best part of the bed. You will observe, that the 

 calcareous matter appears to be deposited in the 

 cracks and interstices of the clay, and that there 

 is but little lime in the lumps of clay. The 

 gravelly concretions in the lop of the box, I 

 think, are nearly all lime; they are very nume- 

 rous in the marl bed, and you will doubtless find 

 some of them in the block of marl sent you. — 

 They are generally surrounded by loose calcare- 

 ous matter, whether given off from, or about to be 

 added to them, I know not. This, 1 suppose, will 

 constitute the chief riches of my bed : as the peb- 

 bles are too hard to benefit the soil immediately, 

 and the lumps of clay have but little lime in them. 

 Though much interrupted by wet weather, I have 

 s})read five or six acres, aiming to put on about 

 four hundred bushels to the acre. My soil is so 

 wet in winter, that a pit dug, without an outlet, 

 will generally remain full of water. And this 

 winter it has been much wetter than usual. As 

 soon as the earth dries sufficiently, I propose to 

 plough the marled land with small ploughs at first, 

 to avoid burying the marl too deep. 



The selenite thus far, is only interesting as a cu- 

 riosity — as, being found only in irregular seams of 

 slight thickness, the quantity is too small to be im- 

 portant in agriculture. I hope, however, to find 

 a bed of marl containing this material, on the 

 eastern side of my plantation, as it is here that I 

 find the seams of selenite. 



My other engagements have prevented my mak- 

 ing searches for marl at a distance from home ; I 

 have, however, found superficial indications in se- 

 veral places, which look well, but the beds have 

 not been explored. 



February 22d, 1833. 



Not long after I sent you the box of samples, I 

 found anotlier bed, or perhaps, more correctly, a 

 continuation of the same bed, containing, appa- 

 rently, much richer marl. It is much more fria- 

 ble, and the calcareous matter more intimately 

 blended with the other matters. The extremely 

 wet weather has, however, prevented my making 

 much use of it. 



I now suspect that there is a vast deal of marl 



