212 
GEOLOGY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
inexhaustible source of this material for the region, is the great swamps 
previously described, which extend through the whole of the seaboard 
region, from the extreme southern border to the great Dismal, which ex- 
tends across the Virginia border. A considerable part of these areas, de- 
signated as u The Swamp Lands,”' is simply, as heretofore stated, covered 
by a peat} 7 accumulation,— a series of true peat logs, of which the peat is- 
from 2 or 3, up to 10, 15 and even 20 feet thick. Of such peat beds 
there are hundreds of square miles, which must one day become an im- 
portant resource for fuel as well as manure. Below are given several 
analyses of peats and 
swamp m 
tick, « 
fee., from ' difi’e: 
rent sei 
etions 
of the 
east, which will give a 
general notion of their 
several qualitie 
s and ■ 
values. 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5- 
6 
7 
Silica, Insoluble, 
“ Soluble, 
' J 1.52 
61.71 
3.60 
3.71 
0.10 
37.47 > 
9.95 J 
32.36 
52.20 
47.27 
Ox. of Iron and Alum 
,, 0.51 
3.61 
2.52 
3.97 
4.92 
6.09 
3.73 
Lime, 
.. 0.3G 
0.10 
3.08- 
0.45 
0.56 
1.16 
0.50 
Magnesia, 
0.11 
0.29- 
0.05 
0.58 
trace 
0.55 
0.44 
Potash, . 
0.06 
0.05 
0 19 
0.09 
0.96- 
0.60 
0.42 
Soda, 
.. 0.13 
0.03 
0.81 
0.26 
0.00 
0.90 
Phosphoric Acid,.... 
. . 0.06 
0.06 
0.05- 
0.22 
0.45 
0.34 
0.12 
Sulphuric Acid, 
0.00 
0.21 
1.10 
0.10 
1.30 
0.65 
0.85 
Chlorine-, ... 
. . 0.02 
trace 
0.03 
Organic Matter, 
Water, 
. . 87.25 
. .. 9.60 
22.80 
1.20 
| 87.80 
41.90 > 
5.30 £ 
59.19 
3S.41 
46.50' 
The two first analyses represent two sorts of peaty and mucky accumu- 
lations which characterize nearly all the great tracts of “ Swamp Lands”' 
belonging to the state the second, No. 2, from White Oak Swamp, Ons- 
low county, E. L. Frank’s, illustrating the outer rim of the swamp proper, 
the cultivable portion which however might be made- a valuable source- 
of manure for all the surrounding region : r No. 1 showing the character 
of the inner zone of the swamp which ceases- to- be capable of acting the 
part of a soil, being either covered with a stunted growth of reeds,, or of 
scattered shrubs. Nos, 3 and 1 Tare examples of the peats of fresh water 
marshes, the former on the margin of Tar River, 1 mile- above Washing- 
ton ; the latter, the White Marsh, in Columbus county. The former has 
been used to a considerable extent, by Gen. Grimes, the owner, as a source 
of manure. There is an immense area of such marsh along this and the 
other tidal rivers, and it is very rapidly enlarging. 
No. 7 is from, one of the thousands of small local swamps, or muck beds. 
