162 EXPEIilMEXTAL FARMS. 



64 VICTORIA, A. 1901 



organic matter of peaty soils, it aids in the conversion of their nitrogen into forms which 

 can be taken up as food by plants. This beneficial process is brought about by certain 

 microscopic plants in the soil, known as the ferments of nitrification, the development 

 of which is greatly encouraged by the presence of carbonate of lime. To all soils 

 deficient in lime, as we have said, it may advantageously be applied, furnishing there- 

 by not only plant food, but also setting free in the soil the inactive stores of mineral 

 matter, so that such may be assimilable by vegetation. Lime in all its forms has 

 proved of special value as a manure for the-leguminosai — of which pease, beans, &c., 

 are important members. 



A good marl for agricultural purposes should be of a light colour, and not of a 

 hard or flinty nature. It should easily disintegrate or break down on exposure to the 

 weather, allowing a ready mixture with the soil. 



New B run swich.— Two samples, from the upper and lower layers of the deposit, 

 have been received from Dawsonville. The upper and darker layer was a mixture nf 

 muck (decayed vegetable matter) and marl ; the lower layer of a light-gray colour, 

 proved to be entirely composed of shell marl. This latter sample was submitted to 

 analysis, with Ihe following results : — 



Moisture 68-91 



Organic and volatile matter 4 -66 



Carbonate of lime 21-90 



Oxide of iron and alumina -87 



Clay, sand, &c 2-56 



Magnesia, &c., by difference .• 1 10 



100 -00 



This is a very good marl. If piled and allowed to dry out, a saving could be 

 effected in connection with its hauling. Simply drying by exposure would result in a 

 marl containing from 60 to 70 per cent of carbonate of lime. 



Specimens of marl from the Macdonald beds, Restigouche, have also been recently 



examined by us. The samples were forwarded by Mr. John McAllister, M.P., Camp- 



bellton, N.B. :— • 



No 2. 

 No. 1. 15 feet below 



Surface. Surface. 



Insoluble rock matter 15-03 p.c. 75 -05 p.c. 



No. 1 is a marl of very fair quality. 



"No. 2 is very poor and of very little value agriculturally, owing to the large excess 

 of inert material. 



Nova Scotia. — In many districts where the soil is deficient in active lime, and 

 where deposits of marl to supply this deficiency are not available, it frequently becomes 

 of importance to farmers to learn if lime can be obtained by burning the rock of the 

 neighbourhood. In this connection the following letter and analysis will be of interest. 

 Mr. James W. Stairs, of Halifax, writing under date of June 11, 1000, says : — *I send 

 you two samples of limestone from Meagher's Grant, Musquodoboit, Halifax county. 

 Will you please analyse them and let me know if they will furnish lime fit for farm- 

 ing purposes ? There is a large mass of it, and if on burning we can obtain good limr. 

 we shall be able to furnish our farms with n much needed constituent. There must 

 be hundreds of thousands of tons in the deposit ; it extends over a large tract of 

 country.' 



