54

In this section of the county are some very good shell marls,
containing a sufficiency of lime (air slaked) to render their
application valuable to the adjacent lands, though they are
not so good as those found in other parts of the State. The
refuse of the fisheries afford a very cheap and powerful
domestic manure, whilst the contiguity of Washington and
Alexandria furnish ample resources for all the foreign con-
centrated manures which the wants of the soil require.

The ridge or table lands in .the highest parts of the county,
in which the waters that flow into the Patuxent and Poto-
mac respectively take their rise, is df a compact texture gen-
erally, though, many parts of it are of the class of sandy
loams. They are principally covered with a growth of white
and black oak, have not been subject to much improvement,
and can be purchased at & very cheap rate when their local
advantages are considered. Good husbandry will in a very
short time make them very fertile and productive in all of the
crops known in this section; they are easily worked, and
can be materially improved by proper drainage and cultiva-
tion alone.

These lands extending from the long old fields to the
southern border of the county, chiefly situated in its mid-
dle portions, can be bought in large contiguous tracts, and
thus offer advantages to land companies and corporations,
which purchaser on speculation not found in lands of su-
perior quality. They at present, are for sale at prices vary-
ing from five to twenty-five dollars per acre, and at the
highest figure are safe and valuable investments, better by
far than anything than can be obtained in western or north-
western lands.

The capacity of this county for the rearing in the highest
degree of perfection, all the higher grades of our domestic
animals fully attests the value of its soil and climate. In it
some of the best blooded horses in the country have been
raised, whose performances on the turf have for years, and
now are challenging the admiration of the best judges. Ex-
cellence in horse racing, requiring as it does, bottom and
speed, with perfect development of bone and muscle, and
these dependant on nutrition and climate, is one of the best
evidences of superior climate and soil, without these its at-
tainments is impossible. In cattle too, the herds of some
of the public spirited planters and farmers of this county,
have borne away prizes from the best, in other sections of the
country, not only in one but many instances, at places far
distant from each other, and by the opinions of various judges
specially noted for knowledge in all that concerns the excel-
lencies of stock raising. There is some iron ore in the north-
ern part of the county, and large deposits of tripoli in the
neighborhood of Nottingham. This, composed mainly of mi-