110 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



valley, and on the lands between it and the Hudson river, extending from New Corn- 

 wall, situate at the northern entrance into the Highlands, to the point of laud called the 

 Danse Kaumer, in the town of Marlborough. In all this district of country the pastu- 

 rage is luxuriant and excellent, and affords a greedy repast for black cattle, sheep, &c. 

 Whether the high flavour of the butter made in this vicinity is owing to the 'peculiar 

 qualities of the pasturage, or to the particular manner of making it, is a matter of doubt. 



The growing of hemp at the southwestern part of Orange county, has, of late years, been 

 a favourite and profitable pursuit with the propiietors of a large tract of land heretofore 

 covered with an extensive sheet of stagnant water, known by the name of The Drowned 

 Lands. This has, of laie years, been partly drained by commissioners authorized by 

 law to open aqueducts at the outlet into the Wallkill. Their enterprise has been reason- 

 ably successful, and the general opinion of the best informed men seems to be, that their 

 labours will be ultimately crowned with success. In this event a tract of between 

 twenty and thirty thousand acres of land will yield to the proprietors a rich reward for 

 their agricultural labours. 



It will be seen from this succinct account of the country, that whether the mammoth 

 delighted in the fertile plain, in the low and sunken meadow, or swamp, or in the lofty 

 and craggy mountains, or in all of them, the variety of the soil and formation of the coun- 

 try, afford a gratification to all his natural inclinations and propensities. 



I do not, however, know that the marl discovered in abundance in Ulster and Orange 

 counties, has been found in their neighbourhood ; and it is proper to remark, that in 

 these sunken receptacles of vegetable and testaceous solutions, have uniformly been found 

 the bones of the mammoth. Perhaps it may be said, that in this marl, by its alkaline 

 qualities, has the preservation of these fossils alone been preserved from dissolution and 

 decay. The formation of these has evidently been the work of ages. In many places 

 the body of this manure is thirty feet in depth, over which grass and vegetable plants, 

 common to such grounds, grew in abundance, interspersed with trees of different kinds. 

 In these places are uniformly found living springs, and abundance of snail and muscles, 

 which, with vegetable substances, constitute the marl of different colours and (in some 

 respects) qualities. 



It may not be improper here to add a few remarks on the subject of this natural 

 manure, which sooner or later cannot fail to be a source of wealth to the agriculturalist. 

 Tiie use of it has heretofore been superseded by the introduction of gypsum, on account 

 of the cheapness of the latter ; but interruptions of commerce have already very consider- 

 ably enhanced the value of this article, and the distance of transportation of that dis- 



