34 
tain proportion of clay, so as to crumble on exposure to air, 
and the other, the same compound in a more hardened 
form. Marls are used in agriculture, principally on moist 
land. Pits of them exist in Orange county, and traces in 
various other places. The calcareous slate (lapis tegularis) 
is used in large quantities for the covering of houses and 
for flagging. It abounds in several districts. Dolomite or 
carbonate of lime and mag?iesia is not uncommon. But the 
most elegant variety of carbonate of lime, is granular lime 
stone or marble . Its colour, when pure, is perfectly white ? 
but it is often found tinctured with various shades. Quar¬ 
ries of this substance are very numerous in the United 
States. In Vermont they extend over a large district of 
country, and they have been opened in most of the northern 
and middle states. The beauty of many of the kinds can 
hardly be excelled. Besides its uses in architecture, it de¬ 
serves notice, as the basis of the sublime art of statuary. 
The marbles of our country are as pure, and indeed have 
almost every requisite in as great perfection, as the far famed 
ones, of Italy. The encouragement of this branch of the fine 
arts ought not to be neglected. Indeed, a genius for paint¬ 
ing and sculpture appear to be the birth right of republic 
cans. Grecian glory still lives in her Venus De Medicis,* 
and Apollo Bel vide re, and at the present day, American 
painters hold a high rank in the scale of excellence. Cen¬ 
turies have tried the experiment, and time has conclusively 
decided,, that if ever a Phidias or a Praxiteles are to be ri¬ 
valled, their competitors must arise in this quarter of the 
globe. These arts ought to be fostered, if in no other way 
than as merely useful ones. They animate genius to its 
best exertions, reward the soldier’s deeds, and transmit to 
posterity an almost, breathing transcript of the heroism, the 
virtues and the talents of their forefathers. The want of 
patronage is a disgrace to a free state. It stamps that re¬ 
public with the seal of the basest ingratitude, who has suf- 
* The Venus De Medicis, and Venus of the Capitol are of 
Parian marble. (Kidd.) 
