I So 3. Oh/ervations on Shell Alarl as a Miiriure. 1^-] 



woiJd nor advife to lay ahovc 20 or 25 finale cart loads, as that 

 kind of foil is very e-rifi])' overdone, and may, by an overdoze, be 

 rendered a caput rnortuuvi. Strong clay foils will require at leail 

 50 carr loads to do them properly, ft is not eafy to give this 

 kind cf foil an ovtrdoze. The above quantities are dated as 

 fufficient for an Englifn acre, upon the fupp;)ficion that the marl 

 is of ^Q'^-\ quality •, for if it is of an inferior kind, an additionjil 

 quantiry per a..re mud be given. 



The common way of applying marl, is upon fummer fallow, 

 or on the face of ^rafs. Before laying it on fallow, the land 

 (hould at lead get two ploughings, and then be harrowed and roll- 

 ed, to mike the furface fmooth, that the marl may fpread equally 

 over it; two ploughings diould alio be given after the marl is 

 laid on, to mix it as well as podible with the foil. In general, 

 the fird crop receives little benefit from the marl, but it will 

 appear abandantiy on the fucceeding crops; and if the land is 

 properly cultivated, by white and green crops being taken alter- 

 nately, it will continue to have effeifl: for hueen or twenty years. 

 After land is newly marled, too many crops fhould not be taken 

 until it is laid down to grafs, and reded a year or two. Thrcs 

 crops after newly marled land are fuflicient, viz. fird, wheat or 

 oats; fecond, turnips, peas, potatoes, &c. ; third, barley. Marl is 

 alfo very often laid upon the face of grafs land at the end of har- 

 ved, or during \.\\g. winter, and the land allowed to lye in grafs for 

 a year or two afterwards. This I confider to be the bed u-ay of 

 applying marl : for, the very fird fummer after marling, you have, 

 a great additional quantity of grafs; and when the land is taken 

 up for tillage, the ede6ls of it appear eminently upon the fird 

 crop of corn. 



It is a doubt among a number of farmers, whether dreffing 

 land the fecond time with marl will have any good eiTe£i: or not. 

 I know fome, that have tried it, fay they can perceive no benefit 

 from it; bur, as they are rather far from the marl-pit, Iain 

 inclined to rliink that they have not given the land a fuilicienc 

 do2e; as I am fully convinced, that the fecond dreOing, to make 

 it have proper ede(£V, requires a larger doze than the fird. Upon 

 this principle, I have two years ago begun to marl my farm the 

 fecond time ; and tlie enfuing crop will enable me to determine, 

 from real experience, whether marl has a good effesSl, when re- 

 peated, or not; the refult of which, if you think this of any 

 ufe, may become the fubjecl of fome future communication. X 

 am. Sir, your mod humble and obedient fervant, 



Tth. :8. 1803. A South Country Farmer. 



E e e 2 r<V^M i-J-'" 





