Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 687 



And tins of a yellow subsoil, from near Sbiloli, called yellow marl, 

 and sold for a manure, is used as a fertilizer at Sliiloh, Cumberland 

 county, and sells for forty cents per ton : 



Lime 0.28 



Potasb 0.46 



Pliospboric acid 0.45 



After giving these anal^yses of soils from va.rious sections, tlie pro- 

 fessor spoke of tlie deposits of fertilizers. Of these there are many 

 in the regular formations and the superiicial deposits of the State. 

 There would be time to mention only the most important ; and, tirst, 

 of green sand marl. This remarkable fertilizer occurs in regular and 

 extensive beds. Three of these are well characterized and defined. 

 They are each about twenty feet thick, and extend entirely across 

 the State, from Karitan bay to the head of Delaware bay, a distance 

 of ninety miles. They slope off toward the southeast, with a 

 descent of thirty feet to the mile, so that any one of them has a 

 breadth of ten miles within 300 feet of the surface. The amount of 

 the material is practically inexhaustible. It has been the means of 

 enriching a large district of country. Land that was entirely worn 

 out and abandoned has been restored to uiore than its original fertil- 

 ity by the use of marl alone. Its excellence is attested by the expe- 

 rience of thousands who have enjoyed its benefits. I am confirmed 

 in my opinion of its value by the testimony of successful farmers, who 

 have used it for twenty years or more, and who assure me they can 

 better afibrd to incur an expense of from five dollars to eight dollars 

 per ton than to farm without it, or to use any other purchased fer- 

 tilizers, and also confirmed by my own observation in all parts of 

 JSTew Jersey where marl has been used. It gives lasting fertility to 

 the soil. While all other fertilizers are exhausted, and the soils 

 become poor, I have to see the first field that has ever been well 

 marled that is now poor. One instance v/as found where poor 

 and sandy land was marled more than thirty years ago, and has 

 ever since been tilled without manure, and not well managed, which 

 is still in good condition. Occasionally marled fields are seen that 

 do not grow crops as large as they once did, but all their fertility is 

 immediately restored by a dressing of lime; an efiect which could 

 not have been produced by the lime on unmarled land. I am averse 

 to having the valuation of the various green sand marls, which are 

 used in the State, based on the phosphoric acid and potash only, as 



