1 8^3* ^ if Roxburgh and Selktr}: Jhircs. ^319 



improved pafture, or winter green crops •, and probably the whole 

 arable might, with propriety, be made fubfcrvient to the mere 

 purpofe of fecuring the liolding (lock from deiiciency of food in 

 the winter feafon. It is confillent with our own knowledge, that 

 fome farmers propofe keeping their whole arable in alternate ro- 

 tation of o.its and turnip ; to flore up their turnip, and fupport 

 their holding ilock with them, in winter ilorms, as preferable to 

 hay. * 



No limeftone has ever been difcovered in this county. It en- 

 joys, however, the advantage of ihell-marl, as a mean of im- 

 provement. 



The author ftates fome curious faO:s, and ingenious fuggeflions, 

 as to the origin of this fpecies of manure, (p. 11. & 232, &c.) 

 Shell-marl is pronounced to be a colle61:ion of a fpecies of fredi- 

 water fnails, which, in the rudiments of their organization, ad- 

 here to fhones in various rills of water ; the animal and its 

 lliell both gradually attaining to their perfed: Hate of formation. 

 When perfected, the fliell, containing its animal, is detached from 

 the (tone, and they are carried by the rills to the mofTes into which 

 thefe difcharge themfelves •, where, the water becoming ftagnant, 

 the fliells fubfide, and gradually accumulate into thick beds or 

 Jlrata of marl. The marl may be therefore confidered as a com- 

 pound of the calcareous matter of the fliells, mixed with the ani- 

 mal matter of its formerly living inhabitant, together with alluvial 

 mud, and the mofly matter of the aquatic plants, fucceflively 

 growing and decaying, in tlie ftagnant water. Some ingenious 

 queries are fuggefted. Is the fliell formed from an elective at- 

 tra6tion betwixt the body of the animal and caJcareous matter 

 previoufly fubfiiting in the water of the rills ? — But there is no vef- 

 tige of Umeftone near the places where the marl is found, to fup- 



G g g 2 ply 



* A young farmer from Selkirkrtilre was lately with us, who pof- 

 feflfes a wild farm in that county. He ftated, that his proportion of 

 arable to fheep walks was iuconfiderable ; that he raifed few oats, 

 except what was neceffary for fiipportlng his horfes, and paying livery 

 meal to his herds. A plan of improvement, very fuitable to farms fo 

 circumfiianced, vi^as propofed by him, viz. to crop the arable land with 

 oats and turnip alternately. A pound weight of hay per diem being the 

 allowance given to the Iheep during a winter ilorm, he fuppofed thac a 

 turnip of 6 lib. would be better than i lib. of hay ; and as it is a very mo- 

 derate computatioD to have turnip of fix pound weiglu on a fquare yard, 

 or 5760 times that quantity on an acre ; of courfe ic might be inferred, 

 that an acre of turnips would go much farther in fupporting fli^ep, than 

 an acre of hay. Doubts, however, may be entertained, whether the 

 rotation would anfwer, if perfevered in for any confiderable number of 

 years; but if frefh ground was ^ouflantly brought in, tbe advantage 

 would be great. 



