NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 53 



ing marl at the pit, inasmuch as its composition shows that it 

 is an important improver of the common sandy soil so preva- 

 lent in the eastern counties. 



The phosphoric acid remains to be determined. In itself 

 this soil has a composition admirably adapted to the growth 

 of wheat, or indeed cotton. It contains also a large amount 

 of potash. 



It was taken from a mass which overlies the eocene marl 

 of the plantation of Sam'l Biddle, Esq., of Craven county. 

 It is, however, found on the Cape Fear, resting upon the shell 

 marl, a more recent deposit, and may be found on the plant- 

 ation of Dr. .Robinson, of Elizabethtown. 



RECAPITULATION OF THE LEADING FACTS RESPECTING THE SOILS OF 

 THE EASTERN COUNTIES OF NORTH-CAROLINA. 



29. (1.) The soils of the eastern counties, without excep- 

 tion, are marine formations, being deposited from water, and 

 are truly sediments. They are therefore in their origin un- 

 like those of the middle and western counties, inasmuch as 

 the latter are the products of slow decomposition, and are in 

 situ, or. occupy the place upon the rocks from which they are 

 derived. 



The eastern soils have, on the contrary, been transported, 

 or w T ere first the products of a disintegration and, afterwards, 

 transported from the places from whence they were derived. 

 As they are frequently composed of one or, at most, two ma- 

 terials which can be distinguished by the naked eye, it is im- 

 possible to determine the source from whence they came. 

 They were probably derived, however, from the granite 

 which borders the tertiary formation upon the west. Their 

 distinguishing features are siliceous ; and it seems that most 

 of the aluminous compounds, as felspar and certain slates, 

 were finely comminuted, and were transported to distant 

 points, leaving the heavy and coarser materials in the bays 

 which jut up from the ocean in the depressions of the land. 



