1852. 
THE CULTIVATOR 
269 
The Agriculture and Marls of New-Jersey. 
Editors Cult. —Having spent some time in West Jersey 
during the past winter, I propose to give your readers, 
many of whom are residents of that interesting region, a 
brief outline of its agricultural condition and facilities. 
The particular region of which I am best prepared to 
speak, is the western portion of Cumberland county. 
The whole south and eastern portion of New-Jersey is 
an extended plain, no part rising over one or two hun¬ 
dred feet above tide water, and generally presenting a 
rolling, or undulating and wavy surface. This part of the 
state presents two varieties of soil—alight sand, in many 
places blown about by the' wind, and a heavier variety, 
called clayey j it is so, compared with the still lighter 
soil, but a visitor from almost any other region would 
call this a sand, or sandy loam, containing a slight admix¬ 
ture of clay. The clayey portion appears to embrace a 
wedge-shaped tract, coming to a point at its south-wes¬ 
tern extremity, near Greenwich, Cumberland county, and 
widening as it extends north-easterly towards New-Bruns- 
wick, leaving a belt of barren sands on either side, up¬ 
on the east, reaching to the sea-board. The agricultural 
history of West Jersey, as well as its military, has been 
rather an eventful one, and may serve as a warning to 
the inhabitants of many regions now commencing their 
•agricultural career. The soil, though light, when first 
tilled, appears, from early accounts, to have been very 
fertile, save, perhaps, the most sandy barrens. But by 
bard cropping, without returning much in the form of 
manure, it was, after a series of years, reduced to a state 
of complete barrenness, and the lands were sold for a tri¬ 
fle, or left, in default of a purchaser, and the impoverish¬ 
ed occupant found a home upon the virgin soil of the wes¬ 
tern wilds. 
Many pursued this course, while a portion remained 
and gained a subsistence by cutting off the timber for the 
Philadelphia market, taking in return, pork, grain, flour, 
and the other necessaries of life. This course, I am told, 
was pursued until within twenty or twenty-five years, 
when the value of the land was reduced to the value of 
the timber upon it. Several circumstances at that time 
conspired to improve the agricultural condition of this re¬ 
gion. One was the opening of the Philadelphia market 
by steam navigation; but the most marked impetus was 
given by the discovery of the marl beds. 
These beds form a broken line along the westerly side 
of the clay deposit referred to, for many miles, extending 
at least, across Cumberland, Salem, and Gloucester coun¬ 
ties. In Cumberland, and the south part of Salem coun¬ 
ty, the shell marl prevails, while further north, the green 
sand marl is found. These two kinds are very dissimilar 
in appearance, and each kind embraces many varieties of 
color and quality. Both seem to have originated in de- 
posites of sea shells, and the bones of marine and land 
animals, the latter constituting but a small portion, .and 
in many beds no visible trace of them is found. While 
in the shell marls the remains of a large number of the 
marine shell-fish are always present, and constitute a large 
portion of the main mass; bones are found only here and 
there, as the carcase of some sea monster happened to lie, 
as he-was driven on to the shoals then having these oyster 
beds for their bottom. Shark’s teeth are somewhat abun¬ 
dant, and the bones which have thus far come to my no¬ 
tice, appear to be those of fish and large lizzards, or sau- 
rians. It is somewhat difficult to give a correct idea of 
the appearance of a marl bed. Indeed, those near to¬ 
gether appear quite different. Many are found, composed 
of various colors, as follows: first, and over the whole, 
from 8 to 15 feet of sand and fine gravel; then comes a 
layer of yellow marl, containing the imprints of shells which 
have wholly disappeared—this layer may be a foot or two 
deep. Then comes a strata of a dark color, nearly black, 
and may be thinner, or a little thicker than the yellow 
above it. In this are also the impressions of shells, but 
seldom the shell itself. Below these come the marl pro¬ 
per, varying in depth from a few inches, to 15 feet or 
more, made up of shells more or less decayed; most of 
them, however, readily fall to pieces on being moved 
or exposed to the air, yet a few in almost every bed will 
retain their form. Among these, the Perna, nearly as 
large as a horse’s hoof, and several varieties of oyster, are 
predominant. From 60 to 70 per cent of sand is found 
in the best shell marl, and the mixture, when shovelled 
over, has a greyish appearance. Samples of all these va¬ 
rieties may be seen in the cabinet of the New-York State 
Agricultural Society. The above is only an outline of 
the general mode of appearance, each bed varying more 
or less in character. Careful analyses of these marls 
show the following composition: 
Top Yellow Marl. Top Black Marl. Shell Marl. 
Organic matter, ... 6.25 pr. ct. 5.02 pr. ct. 2.57 pr. ct. 
Sand. 70.44 85.57 67.23 
Oxide of iron,. 16.91 2.50 4.61 
Alumina,. 2.69 5.0-5 2.13 
Sulphuric acid,.29 . 1.70 
Chlorine.......03 .09 . 
Carbonate of lime,. 2.37 1.58 13.60 
Magnesia,.10 .04 .03 
Potash, . a little. . .69 
Soda,.92 .26 .26 
Phosphoric acid,. . . 
100.00 100.10 92 82 
Though these results do not correspond very well with 
the analyses published in’the report of Prof. Rogers, on 
the Geology of New-Jersey, it is believed from repeated 
experiments, that they give an average of the composi¬ 
tion of the different varieties, yet no two samples would 
precisely correspond. At the beds, the marl sells at 25 
to 75 cents per load of 20 bushels ; from 10 to 30 loads 
per acre, are applied broadcast to the soil, and generally 
with good effect. Many instances are given where 20 
loads per acre have been applied to the worn out barrens 
not capable of producing over five bushels of corn, that 
by this dressing alone are rendered productive for twenty 
y^ears, with no other manure, producing 25 to 40 bushels 
of corn, and moderate crops of wheat, potatoes and clo¬ 
ver. Beside the varieties of marl mentioned, there is 
also a sour kind found in the bottoms of beds where no 
shell occurs. This is so poisonous as to kill vegetation 
where it is placed, and render the land barren for years. 
This marl, however, contains most of the valuable sub¬ 
stances found in the best kinds, and is used in compost 
heaps by a few, to great advantage, the ammonia evolv¬ 
ed from the fermenting mass operating to neutralize the 
sulphuric acid, and decompose the sulphate of iron and 
alumina, which are the poisonous substances contained in 
the marl. 
