MARLS. 93 



than the last three marls. Similar beds are found in many places in the green- 

 sand country. No. 5 is a clay marl from Grand Saline Station, on the Texas 

 and Pacific Railroad, in Van Zandt County. It is of a gray color with specks 

 of glauconite, and could be profitably used on the sandy soils of the neigh- 

 borhood. No. 6 is a similar marl, from a different part of the same bed, and 

 is poorer in soda. No. 7 is from a well on the land of Joel King, ten miles 

 northeast of Canton, Van Zandt County. The soils of Van Zandt County 

 are mostly very sandy, and the application of these marls to them would 

 doubtless be accompanied with very great benefit. No. 8, from one mile 

 south of Elkhart, Anderson County, and No. 9, from fourteen miles east 

 of Crockett, Houston County, are exceedingly valuable marls, not only on 

 account of their alkalies, but on account of their phosphoric acid. The 

 large percentage of lime and magnesia would also be very useful on those 

 soils which are without them. Both marls are identically the same; they 

 consist of a mass of yellow altered greensand containing a great number of 

 fossil shells, which account for the large amount of lime present. No. 10 is 

 the greensand that is found in digging wells in Palestine on the hills south 

 of the International and Great Northern Railroad. It is comparatively 

 soft, but sometimes hard layers occur in it. It contains many fossil shells. 

 The rich red mulatto soils immediately around the town, being composed 

 of the decomposed surface of this material and of similar beds, do not 

 require a marl of this kind, but it might be used to great advantage on the 

 sandy lands to the north and south of the town. The amount of phosphoric 

 acid and magnesia found here is larger than that of any of the other marls 

 in the list of analyses, and it is undoubtedly one of the most valuable beds 

 yet examined by the writer. Nos. 11, 12, 13, and 14 are samples of unde- 

 composed greensand from the bed underlying the iron ore in Cherokee 

 County. They are green in color, loose and easily handled, and could with 

 great advantage be used on the soils of the neighborhood. No. 1 1 , from 

 Mount Selman, has been used in gardens at that place with most satisfactory 

 results. Though' soft when first dug, this marl is liable to become somewhat 

 harder on exposure. 



