216 Transactions of the American Institute. 



fencing. Certainly, whenever the economical course is generally 

 adopted, settlers will recognize an additional inducement to avail 

 of whatever else may be offered. In conclusion, the committee 

 are fully aware that with the intelligence, industry and enthusiasm 

 exhibited by the people of Hammonton, success will surely follow." 



P. T. QUINN, \ 



J. V. C. SMITH, / 



N. C. MEEKER, J>. Committee 



S. EDWARDS TODD, V 

 THOMAS CAVENACH, } 



MAEL IN MONMOUTH OOUNTT. 



During the recent visit of a committee of the Farmers' Club to 

 the marl pits of Squankum, in Monmouth county, Dr. Isaiic P. 

 Trimble, being called upon by the President of the State Agricul- 

 tural Society to welcome the visitors, gave an interesting descrip- 

 tion of the marl deposit and its wonderful influence upon the 

 agricultural productions. 



The Squankum marl region, he remarked, is in Howell township, 

 and the small stream running near is a tributary of the Manasquau 

 river, the channel of which exposes, in many places, the upper 

 stratum of the celebrated green sand marl. This marl has been 

 found to underlie between five and six hundred thousand acres of 

 land, forming a belt of several miles in width, and running across 

 the State from Sandy Hook to the Delaware Bay, a distance of 

 about ninety miles. It is not found anywhere upon the surface, 

 but crops out in many places along the deeper water courses. 



The green sand you see in those cars is marl. We have just 

 passed large quantities of it piled up along the track of this rail- 

 road. This excavation is a marl pit. From yon rising gi'ound — 

 looking east — you may see scores of these pits. In the fall and 

 winter, clusters of pyramids of marl may be seen in the valley of 

 that river, looking not unlike the clusters of stacks of hay and 

 grain in a neighborhood of highly cultivated farms. Hundreds of 

 men and horses are at work there for months every year, forming 

 a very busy scene. These are the pits of farmers living in all 

 directions, from ten to fifteen miles round. I have been told that 

 often eighteen hundred wagon loads are taken away in a single day. 

 This has been going on for years — every year increasing. Thou- 

 sands of tons are carted to Freehold, eight miles distant, and thence 

 transported in cars to the counties of Middlesex, Mercer, Somer- 

 set, and even to Pennsylvania. 



