The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-12-04
RICH BURIED TREASURES.
WHERE THEY ABOUND IN MARY
LAND.
The Mari Deposits, and Their Great Useful
ness-A Very Interesting and Valuable
Article, which Every Farmer and Land
owner Should Read.

ness-A Very Interesting and Valuable
Article, which Every Farmer and Land
owner Should Read.
From the baltimore american.
That God in His wisdom has made the
most bountiful provision for every want of
man for all time is truism that meets
with constant verifcation. When some
years ago, as some of us well remember,
the serious fact was realized that our sup
ply of frewood in this country was nearly
exhausted, and that the rapidly increasing
population would soon be in dilemma for
means of warming their houses and cook
ing their food, then it was that most
wonderful, excellent and valuable substi-
tute, coal, was discovered, just in time to
relieve the painful situation. Again, we
remember when the whale fisheries began
to fail and the supply of whale oil was
found insufficient to supply light to the
worlds rapidly increasing population, how
when the prospect of universal darkness
stared us in the face, an almost miracu-
lous relief was found in coal gas and
ETHEREAL oils, and later on, that wonderful
ready made illuminator, petroleum or
natural gas and still later on, how cleo
tricity bids fair to supplant or eclipse both
these recent discoveries. So, when, few
years since, it was found that the soils of
the earliest settled portions of this great
country were being exhausted and were
failing in their wonted productiveness, Pc
ruvian guano was discovered to be valu-
able invigorator and promoter of growth.
The use of guano proving, however, too
much of stimulant to our soils, and leav-
ing them after its use in worse condition
than before, was soon discarded as a sole
reliance, and the aid of chemistry was in-
voked to prepare some substitute that
would, whilst stimulating the exhausted
first" Hence we have the various COM
pounds known as commercial fertilizers, so
largely in use at the present day. 1t is not
proposed in this article to discuss the ad-
vantages or disadvantages of a continued
use of these Commercial fertilizers" with
their manifold names Every farmer, be
he landowner or tenant, will settle the
question in his own mind how long this
process of chemical fertilization can con-
tinue at its high cost in money and its ex-
hausting effect on the soil before it will ruin
both the farmer ana the farm. Some have
already settled this question, have sacri-
feed their notions of Stimulation and
speedy returns" and, before it was too
late, have gone back to natures remedy for
exhaustion of soil.
Natures god has provided the remedy
as surely for exhausted soils, as for ex-
hausted fuel and light; and it is only for
man to avail himself of natural means,
which, it is admitted, are sloaoer than arti-
fetal or chemical stimulation, and the re-
suit will be not only restoration, but, ap-
proximately, permanent restoration of our
lands to a condition Of full productiveness.
Hidden under the soil in this state, especi-
ally the north and northwestern portions,
the great Creator has stored up for us Il
vast suppa,Sof limestone rock, which only
needs the labor Of man to bring it to the
surface and utilize as medium of restora-
ton, scarcely to be excelled in its results.
With slime and clover" VII trIand is
there that cannot be made to give upSits
product? In other sections of our Stare
we have immense oyster shell banks, left
by the Indians on the surface for our use,
whilst the vast consumption of the oyster
by the white man enables us to procure
shells in this state for the mere asking,
These well known fertilizers, too long de-
spised because they failed to give "quick
returns" are again receiving from the
landowners the attention they deserve. Go
where you may in this state, and you find
car loads and boat loads of lime in increas-
ed numbers each year en- route TO our worn
out or unproductive farms. There are
/ doubtless, under the soil in this state other
rocks bearing in their firm grip clement Of
i9erttiilfisiattion not yet ascertained, which in
time will be developed and play their part
in the great scene of restoration or recon
struction.
MARL DEPOSITS IN MARYLAND.
Few Marylanders are aware, however,
that there is in this state, provided by a
benifcent Creator genuine treasure in
the shape of ready made fertilizer that
really holds out, and is therefore of vast
agricultural value. Marl has long been
recognized as most valuable agent in re-
storing poor or worn out lands. Its
existence in this state is scarcely known;
its use is very rare, even where it is known.
Covered, as it usually is, with mass of
superincumbent earth from six to twenty
feet in thickness, the trouble and expense
of getting it out tends to discourage the
average farmer He prefers to buy 'com-
mercial fertilizers" rather than adopt this
slower but surer and better method of get
ting crops. With few exceptions, there
fore, the history and value of this most
potent agent are unknown in Maryland.
The marls which underlie portions of our
state may be divided into three classes, viz;
Shell mari, blue mari and green sand mari.
The shell mari is valuable as fertilizer
chiefly for the lime it contains; the deposits
vary in formation and quality, as also in
the depth at which they are found. That
which abounds in Queen Anne's county
has been developed extensively at point
about two miles southeast of Church Hill.
1t is composed of the marine shells (the
pearl shell predominating) in such state
of decomposition as to crumble in the hand
and to be readily cut by the spade in dig
ging; hence it can be spread on the soil
directly from the pit. 1t is found at a
depth of about five feet below the surface,
extending from fifteen to twenty feet
down, and lies under bed of gravel some
eighteen inches or two feet in thickness.
1t also contains fossils, bones and shark S
teeth of great size. The tusk and some of
the molars of an immense elephant or
mastodon, found there some years ago by
George B. Westcott, Esq, of Kent county,
were presented by him to the Maryland
Academy of Science, and are now on ex-
hibition there The late Judge Richard
B. Carmichael was the pioneer in the use
of shell mari in Queen Anne's county, Md.
His confidence in it was the result Of
practical tests made by himself, and he in
vented machine for lifting it from the
pits. Mr.. Westcott, another pioneer in its
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