The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-08-23

ours, although U1le phosphate IOCh may
be wanting, or only trace found. In
more or less quantities this clay is
found in nearly every county in the
semi-tropieal area, showing that this
phosphate clay is spread over much
larger territory than the deposit OF
phosphate rock. All the inorganic
matter required for crops is found IN
these clays, and owing to their great
power of decomposition, the organic
matter can be supplied by the appllca-
ton of chips, straw, woods mould, or
vegetable matter in any form.
There are instances where these
clays, with only the chips and trash
from a wood pile, have produced over
one bale of cotton to the acre, although
there was scarcely any surface soil
upon the land. There are, however,
some localities where the organic, as
well as the inorganic matter, is in last
ing quantities in the clay.
1t is known by actual experiment
that these clay lands by maturing will
produce at least $3.50 pounds of sugar
and 120 gallons of molasses to the acre.
SANDY LANDS.
The sandy soils lie in belts or areas,
being confined to the uplands. The
lands first cultivated by the cary set
tiers. They being easily cult ted,
not requiring deep tillaga, and freed
from grass with little trouble, atc the
lands for lazy people.
Without manuring these lands pro-
duce great crops of peas; with manure
they produce fine crops of corn, cotton,
potatoes, fruits, berries and vegeta-
bles.
There are some Of these sandy soils
that have retained in the uplift a con-
siderable amount of marine matter.
These lands instead of being covered
by a growth of pines, as sandy lands
usually are, have a dense growth of
oak and other hard woods. There is a
belt of this land lying on the main
shore of the Sound from New river TO
near Wrightsville-this is the noted
peanut" land. However, this same
land is found in Duplin and Fender
counties.
PEATY LANDS.
The peaty soils-those lands are rich
in organic matter, but often wanting
in another great essential to good
crops, that is, organic matter But
when the stratum of peaty soils is thin
enough for the roots of plants to reach
the substratum Of clay, or sand, then
they are very productive, if the sub
stratum is well drained. The noted
peat Dogs of Ireland are very produc-
tive, from the fact that they have de-
cayed to such an extent as to lose a
large per cent. of their organic matter,
thus concentrating the inorganic mat
ter, or ash of the plants that compose
the peat, which answers in the place
of earths.
The peat lands OF Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick are kept fertile by
burning; every few years these lands
are flushed up by a pillow, and when
dry are burned-the ash that remains
furnishing the inorganic matter
POCOSIN LAND.
y The State owns in the Eastern sec
ton many thousands of acres of land
that by constitutional enactment was
allotted to the school fund. As these
lands are. on the SUBMITS or highest
ground. and all the streams head upon
them, it is certainly improper to call
them swamps, or only such portions
is form basins upon the streams. The
natives call them bays or : pocosins;
they are called bays only because in
many places they are covered by a
dense growth Of bay bushes.
Without doubt pocosin is the proper
name, and name said TO have been
used by the Tuscarora Indians.
The Pocosins lie in isolated bodies
OF from 30 to 100000 acres, and are OBJ
long in shape. being environed on the
outer edges by an almost impenetra-
bic barrier of brush and briars, whose
formidable resistance but few have
ever dared to penetrate. When once
beyond this barrier and the timbered
basins, you appear to be upon the boz
som of a great ocean-the sea Of low
brush and the sky meet at the extrem-
ity of an almost endless plain. No
sound is heard, you are in land OF ST.
lence. The views are sublime, but the
loneliness and silence are oppressive.
and produce in one terrible feeling
Of awe. You feel as if you were on the
borderland Of some incomprehensible
enchant1nent.
The ground is a. mass of spongy peat
usually cvered with water. In camp
ing at night, Major Young cut and
piled up bushes to make himself bed
above water. While it is very warm in
the day, he found it uncomfortable
cold at night. In the day, the radm-
ton Of heat is very great, which is fol-
lowed by a reaction at night, produc-
ing a great dew fall, leaving the air
serene and cold, even in summer
Tt is known by persons living on two
or three islandsin the pocosin, that our
pocosins, like the Dismal Swamp of
Virginia, are very healthy.
In all the pocosins the noted juniper
water sought for in Dismal Swamp by
invalids is found. This water is
great antidote for all malarial diseases.
The mud lands OF these pocosins lie
in long belts upon the outer edges,
but are also found in the interior ba-
sins in some instances. These lands
are as rich as any lands to be found,
they produce crops as soon as cleared
and drained. AS rule they are cover