ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY. 103 



the timber swamps in the central parts of the county, on 

 the heads of the streams where there are no cedar swamps, 

 in ponds, and in the meadows above where the tide flows. 

 The timber swamp on the head of Johnson's Branch, be- 

 longing to Mr. J. S. Nixon, contains several hundred acres 

 of soil covered with from one to two feet of muck. It 

 is abundant in the timber swamp on the head of Sluice 

 Creek. The cranberry patch of Mr. Bate, at Fishing 

 Creek, is a pond filled up with leaves, wood, and decayed 

 vegetable matter. Some of the head streams of Fishing 

 Creek have muck deposits to a great extent along their 

 courses. The deposit of shell-marl, near Beesley's Point, 

 is covered with the same substance. There is an exten- 

 sive deposit of this material on the high, swampy ground 

 south of Tuckahoe ; but it is not necessary to enumerate 

 more. It is so generally found, that there are few farms 

 in the county to which this material is not accessible. 

 It has not been much used by the farmers, though it is 

 highly prized as an addition to the supplies from the barn- 

 yard, wherever there is an improved agriculture. 



By itself, in the open air, or when mixed in the soil, 

 it decays very slowly, and its effects on growing crops are 

 not satisfactory. But if its decay can be hastened, its 

 fertilizing powers are very plainly seen. It is the practice 

 of many good farmers to compost it with barn-yard ma- 

 nure, in the proportion of two or three loads of muck to 

 one of the manure. The pile is made by putting down a 

 layer of muck about six inches thick, then a layer of ma- 

 nure of half that thickness, then another of muck six 

 inches thick, and so on till the heap is as high as con- 



