216 
GEOLOGY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
predecessor as an improver of the soil. As had been inferred from the 
fact that it is a clover and a deep rooting plant, it has, as the analysis 
shows, a high fertilizing value, and the important fact remains to be 
added, that of the organic component 16.6 per cent, is nitrogenous, so that 
it furnishes a large percentage of nitrogen, the most characteristic fertiliz- 
ing constituent of the common clover. The percentage composition of 
the ash of the latter is given in the next column, A, for the purpose of 
comparison. Its percentage of ash is 5.65, that of Japan clover 5.92. It 
is worth while to add that the latter lias a little advantage also as a forage 
plant in one respect, that it contains not only a greater proportion of 
albuminous matter, (by more than one per cent.), but also of fat, — 4.15 
per cent., against 3.15 for red clover. It is to be noted in the above 
analysis of red clover, (computed from that given in Wolff’s table, as 
quoted by Prof. Johnson), that the silica and oxide of iron are omitted ; 
and further, that the specimen of Japan clover analyzed, had passed the 
proper stage, being already in seed, and had become more woody, as 
well as less rich in some of its best components, from the loss of seeds, 
which drop in succession, as they ripen. 
The third analysis, (J, of the preceding table is that of the ash of pea- 
straw, which is seen to compaie very favorably with red clover, the per- 
centage of nitrogenous matter in each being nearly the same. The great 
value of this species of plant in the eastern sections of the state, whose 
sandy soils are not adapted to the growth of clover, is too obvious to 
require more than the statement. 
Limestone. This mineral is not as abundant in North Carolina as in 
many States, constituting, as has been seen, but an insignificant propor- 
tion of the mass of its rocky strata. And yet its distribution is such, and 
its relations to existing and abundant means of transportation, that it is 
accessible to the greater portion of the state. As has been seen, that 
part of the eastern region south of the Neuse river is abundantly sup- 
plied with Eocene or shell limestone, and to the northern half of that 
section both this source of supply is open, and the oyster shell heaps of 
the sounds and bays round to Norfolk. 
The middle region of the state lies under the disadvantage of being 
dependent on railroad transportation for this most important agricultural 
necessity, and its source of supply is chiefly the same as for the east, to- 
gether with the two narrow limestone belts described in another connec- 
tion, the one extending from Gaston to Stokes, (the outcrops being inter- 
mitted between the Catawba and Yadkin), and the other lying wholly in 
McDowell county, so far as it appears this side of the Blue Ilidge, and 
along the upper valley of the French Broad, beyond that range. The 
