Delaware weekly Republican. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1841-188?, 1857-12-17
AgriculturaI.

!
MAIL, CoAB, &o.--THE FoRETHouaHr OF
NATuRE.--A long while ago, some laborers,
Ia digging well near our Atlantic sea-coast,
threw out sort of greenish sand, mixed with
bits of sea shells, which STRONGLY puzzled
them. The next year the owner Of tho farm
was surprised to find that wherever his green
dirt had been washed by the rains, the yege-
tation was unusually rich. Such was the first
discovery of mari, a fertilizer which has al
ready regenerated whole counties Of New Jer-
sey, and which, whenit comes into more ex-
tensive use, will make thousands of exhausted
fields in,the Eastto rival the rich bottom lands
OF the West. t9r g.. 44v
Not iessacoidentalw was tie discovery of coal.
Just when our great cities began to experience
scarcity OF wood for fires, just when tho as.
| tonlshing national advantages OF this century
commenced demanding an exhaustless supply
| OF fuel for manufacturers, chance revealed,
| high up among the stony aud barren noun
tains OF Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia,
anthracite and Oituminous coal. At tho pre-
sent day, millions Of acres which otherwise
would be unproductive, yield up their fossil
wood to warm our parlors, cook our dinners,
drive our steamboats,, propel our locomotives,
and turn our cotton mills
| We owe both mari and coal to the provi-
dent lorethought Of nature countless years ago.
For mari is but the decayed remains OF marine
| animals, aud derives its fertilizing properties
chiefly from the lime, which forms principal
ingredient OF shells. Far back in some remote
| geological era untold centuries before man had
been created, the waves OF a shallow sea wash
ed the localities where We now dig up our
mari, depositng there, precisely as the ocean
does in similar places now, the shells and dead
bodies Of tiny marine animals. Year by year,
generation by generation, age by age, these
deposits went on. AT last, SEINE change in the
shore, such rs the opening or shutting of an
| inlet, the closing up Of Il river, or the sudden
denudatlon Of bank, stopped the accumula-
tioni the deposit ceased sand or other soil
began to cover them; in time they disappear
ed from sight; trees began to grow among
y 4befnT----'v and strange animals roved through
these woods; man finally came upon the scene.
| But thousands OF years passed, and the red In
dian had long given way to the white Ameri-
can before these marine deposits were brought
| to light and used to fertilize our fields as marl
Nature was patient and could wait. She could
tOresce and was content. Before man was
created she laid up in her store-houses under
| ground the manure with which he was to raise
his bread when dense population and ex-
hausted soil should mako corn difficult to get.
And so with coal. In another remote geo.
logical epoch, also before man trod the earth,
vast pine trees covered the globe, growing
raDkly everywhere as reeds in Jungle. Age
by age they terminated, shot upwards, shed
their cones lived out their centuries, died and
fell. Age by age others grow In their places,
and in turn persisted and fell, till they lay piled,
one above another, like grass which the now
CT has cut Then came q different geological
epoch. The Pine forests became swamps the
swamps bOgs, the begs wsre succeeded by
solid edtthi and ell this while, nature, in her
secret alembic under ground, was converting
the submerged trees into coal. The mighty
carboniierOus era, which We have described,
had ioE It's chief purpose the providing fuel for
I civilized man. Millions Of years before hui
nam being lived upon this globe, nature, aware
no. only OF his coming but OF his future needs,
made ready for his wants.
We mghtfJilow out this thought and furnish
other Illustrations We might show how, now
that our cedar forests ere becoming scarce,
rails and shingles are made from primeva trees,
dag out Of swanps, where the tempests pros
trnted them thousands OF years ago. We might
demonstrate that nature, long ages since, be-
gan to manufacture diamonds, iron ore, gold,
L thousand things expressly for man, and il
manufacturing them still. But we have enough.
ITreat and benilcent art thou, oh nature.