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South Jersey is a very sandy country. There are miles and miles of sand
there. Some of it is very pure white sand used for making glass and for
molding sand. Some of this sand has sharp edges but most of it is
rounded as if the grains had rolled around until the edges were worn
away. Mr. Kummel has written a paper about this sand in the Report of
the New Jersey State Geological Survey for 1906. His paper is entitled
“The Glass Sand Industry of New Jersey.” It is a very interesting paper
though you might not think so from the title.
There are also very large beds of green and red sand. The green sand is
especially interesting because it contains such immense amounts of
alumina, iron and potash. If our chemists can only find cheap methods
for extracting these substances we shall have enough to last us forever.
The most curious thing about this green sand is that it is still forming
in the water along our coasts. Here the limestone shells of dead
foraminifera are slowly filling up with the green substance as their
bodies decay. The shells are slowly dissolved by the sea water at the
same time, so that the green sand grains give a perfect cast of the
inside of the shells.
I became interested in this sand while I was in college. The professor
sent me down to Mullica Hill to get a load of it to experiment with. He
wanted to find a way to work it. At Mullica Hill I heard that a farmer
by the name of Peter Norman had a pit on his farm. One of the loafers
there offered to go along and show me the way. I told him he might go if
he would get the farmer to let me have a load of sand for nothing and
help me load. This he promised to do. On the way he informed me that
Norman’s daughter, Euphemia, had taken a notion to him and that probably
they would jine up. I said I was looking for a wife myself and if I
liked her looks I would take her along, but I must be sure first that
she was a good cook. He looked me over as if I were some kind of an
insect and asked me how much I weighed. I told him all of fifty tons.
When we got to the house Euphemia came to the door herself. I must say
she was a fine looking girl with very mischievous eyes. She said her
father was down at the other end of the farm and my friend had better go
and get him. Then she giggled. When he had gone she looked at me and
giggled some more. Said I might go ahead and take all the sand I wanted.
I asked her if she was sure her father would be willing and she said:
Sure! She said she would show me the pit and got on the seat beside me.
As we drove along she told me that one of her girl friends had told Sim
she was gone on him.