ON MANURES. J23 



©n analysis to contain a considerable quantity of the gallic 

 acid. Some have been rendered quite sterile by acids. A 

 stratum of moss in Scotland was so impregnated with vitri- 

 olic ccid, that from four pounds of it one pound of green 

 vitriol was extracted. In a bog iu Bedfordshire sulphate 

 of iron abounded in almost equally extraordinary degree; 

 yet it has been converted into one of the finest water mea- 

 dows in England by his grace the late Duke of Bedford, 

 Wherever such soils are found, marie is sure to have great 

 effect from its calcareous earth. For wet but loose loams, 

 which when manured are more productive of straw thaa 

 corn, clay marie is a cure, and attended with unquestion- 

 able profit. Another quality of these loams is that of being 

 uncommonly pestered with the red worm ; and it is a singu- 

 lar quality of marie, to lessen this evil considerably. What- 

 ever i^ives them a firmer texture has a tendency to this 

 effect. 



2. Chalk. Chalk- 



Chalk in its properties nearly resembles marie, but it Properties, 

 contains a much larger proportion of calcareous earth. It 

 renders tenacious clay more dry and friable, which stone 

 marie alone will not. It is also more common to chalk 

 gra?s lands than to marie them; and it works a capital im- 

 provement on low, coarse, sour meadows, rendering them 

 firmer, and improving the sweetness of the herbage. 



It is commonly dug from pits tike marie : but the gene- Method of pro- 

 ral practice of Hertfordshire is to sink shafts for it. The curin g«- 

 chalk-drawers travel in gangs; chamber the shaft all round, 

 leaving columns to upport the incumbent earth ; and draw 

 up the chalk in buckets. They will wheel it on to the land 

 for Sd. the load of twenty-four bushels to the distance of 

 twenty poles from the shaft. 



It is generally used in much smaller quantities than marie. Q uant j ty ^^ 

 In Essex, whither it is brought by sea from the Kentish 

 coast, from live to eight waggon loads per acre are at- 

 tended with more remarkable effect than even dung itself, 

 if the land have not been chalked before. More than forty- 

 cubical yards are seldom spread on an acre. 



The most remarkable effects attending it appear to be Effeft 



upon 





