FARMERS' REGISTER— PUBLIC WORKS. 



591 



been ascertained by any separate process, is to be 

 calculated from the proportions of silex and phos- 

 phate of lime already determined. 



6. The mass remaining; after the treatment with 

 carb: ammonia, consisted as is evident from pre- 

 ceding experiments — of carbonate of lime, phos- 

 phate of lime and silex. The total weight of the 

 mass was found to be 3S9.85 grains. Deducting 

 from this the sum of 7.5 and 1.8 grains, the quan- 

 tities of phosphate and silex, we have 380.75 

 grains for the quantity of carb. of lime present, in 

 400 grains of oyster shell. 



The results when summed up, are as follows : — 

 Carbonate of Lime, 380.75 



Phosphate of Lime, 7.50 



Silex (probably accidental,) 1.60 



Water, 6.50 



Insoluble animal matter, 1.80 



Loss and soluble animal matter, 1.85 



400.00 



One hundred grains of oyster shell, will there- 

 fore give 



Carbonate of Lime, 95.18 



Phosphate of Lime, 1.88 



Silex, 0.40 



Water, 1.62 



Insoluble animal matter, 0.45 



Loss, &c. 0.46 



From this view of the composition of recent 

 oyster shell, it is obvious that no appreciable ad- 

 vantage can be expected in applying it as a ma- 

 nure from the minute proportion of animal matter 

 which it has been shown to contain. It is as a car- 

 bonate of lime, and that nearly in a state of purity, 

 that it should claim the attention of the agricultu- 

 rist. 



The scallop shells (Pecten Jeffersonius and 

 Pecten Madisonius,) of our marl beds, of which I 

 have recently analyzed several specimens, yield a 

 larger proportion of animal matter than the recent 

 oyster shell, and indeed in many instances these 

 shells would seem to have sustained no loss of this 

 or in fact of any of their original constituents. 



The Madrepore, or as it is sometimes called 

 Coral, imbedded among our marl, contains a very 

 minute proportion of animal matter, and nearly 

 the same per centage of phosphate of lime, as the 

 oyster shell. 



Further observations on these subjects I will re- 

 serve for a future communication. In the mean- 

 time, I hope you will not feel yourself bound to 

 inflict the whole of this long communication upon 

 your readers. It has been drawn up principally 

 with the view of publication, in a periodical more 

 strictly scientific than the Register, and all the de- 

 tails of the analysis were deemed necessary in 

 order to give proper authority to the results. 

 Very respectfully, your friend, 



WBI. B. ROGKUS. 



P. S. I think you will be interested to learn 

 that in an examination of the berries of the Sumach 

 (Rhus Glabra,) with which I have been for some 

 time occupied, I have discovered a vegetable acid 

 of properties so peculiar, as I think, will entitle it 

 to be regarded as new. It exists in the juice in 

 large quantities combined with lime, terming a 

 compound of great beauty when purified and crys- 

 talized, and of a very agreeable acid flavor. 



[The scallop shells (in which Professor Rogers has 

 found an amount of animal matter which we certainly 

 had not supposed to remain in any which have been for 

 so many ages lying buried in the earth,) and those of one 

 species of oyster, are botli of a gray color ; and are so 

 hard, and undergo so little change from exposure, that 

 they are of very little value as manure. The white fossil 

 shells arie far more abundant — and in comparison to the 

 fonner, soon come to pieces in the soils to which they 

 are applied.] 



PUBLIC "WORKS PROPOSED FOR NORTH CARO- 

 LINA. 



Extract from the late Report of the Board of Pub- 

 lic Works of that State. 



Of the comparative propriety of attempting to 

 re-open Roanoke inlet, the Board do not deem it 

 necessary to express an opinion. Such a work is 

 entirely national in its character, and has been 

 withdrawn from their jurisdiction and referred to 

 the Congress of the United States by the resolu- 

 tions adopted three years since by the General 

 Assembly. They propose to direct the attention 

 of the Legislature to an improvement designed to 

 effect the same object, which was first suggested 

 by Mr. Gallatin in 1807, and which seems to have 

 been a favorite project with that great statesman. 

 A survey was made under his direction of a part 

 of the route, anterior to the publication of his 

 celebrated report on inland navigation, but no copy 

 of the plot is in the possession of the Board. The 

 remainder of the route was surveyed, and the 

 practicability of the work ascertained by Messrs. 

 Price & Clemmons, in 1818. A survey of the 

 same section was made under the direction of Mr. 

 Fulton, in 1822, who concurred in the opinions ex- 

 pressed by Messrs Price & Clemmons. 



The Board submit to the Legislature the pro- 

 priety of connecting Beaufort harbor with the 

 waters of Neuse river, by a ship channel, and then 

 extending this channel by a cut as direct as may 

 be, to Roanoke river at or near Plymouth; and 

 by a cut from the north side of Albemarle sound 

 at Eden ton, to the point where the feeder enters 

 the Dismal Swamp Canal, so as to open a direct 

 communication for vessels drawing eight feet 

 water from Norfolk to Beaufort. 



For a minute description of the country through 

 which this canal would pass, the particular charac- 

 ter of the soil to be excavated, and of the streams 

 by which the water is to be supplied, the Board 

 beo- leave to refer to the Reports of Mr. Gallatin, 

 Messrs. Price and Clemmons and Mr. Fulton, 

 All these reports concur in representing the work 

 as practicable ; and Mr. Gallatin evidently regards 

 it as presenting much less difficulty, in proportion 

 to the distance, than either the Delaware and Rari- 

 tan or Delaware and Chesapeake Canals; the 

 former of which is nearly and the latter entirely 

 completed by the respective States in which they 

 are situated. In the course of next Spring it is 

 stated that the Delaware and Raritan Canal will be 

 finished, and a direct inland navigation conse- 

 quently be opened from Stonington, Connecticut, 

 to Elizabeth City, in North Carolina. If the en- 

 terprise now recommended shall be accomplished 

 in a reasonable time, Mr. Gallatin may yet live 

 to see the magnificent scheme, which he regarded 

 as essential to the defence and commercial prospe- 



