162 Application of Blue Shale to the Surface of Land. 



overgrown with weeds, twitch, and thistles, which had shed their seeds 

 for years unmolested. 



This field is 7 acres, exclusive of the fences, and consists of the sides, 

 or rather the ends, of two steep hills facing east and west, with a valley 

 between them. The hills take up about 5i acres, the valley the re- 

 mainder. A great portion of the soil has been washed from the top and 

 sides of the hills, and little has been left more than a mass of small 

 gravel-like stones about 2 inches thick, on the top of about 4 inches of 

 sandy soil. 



The substratum is yellowish calcareous sand,* called here marl, but a 

 more inappropriate name could not be given to it — it is very porous ; 

 the sides and tops of these hills in a dry season not supporting any vege- 

 tation whatever to maturity excepting poppies. 



I entered to the occupation of this field in January, 1833, and, the 

 spring being favourable, I was enabled to sow it with white Norfolk 

 turnips in June, giving it 9 three-horse cart-loads of rotten manure 

 per acre, and drilling in with the turnips a compost, made some weeks 

 before, of 14 qrs. of crushed bones, half-inch, and their dust, 10 qrs. of 

 kiln-dust, and 28 qrs. of fine ashes from weeds burnt. These turnips 

 were a complete failure in every part except the valley (swealing away, 

 to use a provincial term, both on the tops and sides of the hills), in 

 which the crop was good, and eaten off with sheep. In 1834 sowed it 

 with barley and small seeds for pasturing, giving it 12 bushels of rape- 

 dust per acre — produce of the whole field, 11 qrs. 3 bushels of barley, 

 or 13 bushels per acre. On the hills a great portion did not shoot into 

 ear. In 1835 and 1836 pastured with sheep ; in October, 1836, solved it 

 with wheat and rye (called here maslin) and 16 bushels of rape-dust 

 per acre; 1837, wheat and rye — produce of the whole field, 9 qrs. 1 

 bushel, or 7| bushels per acre. Again the corn badly fed, and the rye 

 scarcely having half-a-dozen grains in an ear. 



Being satisfied that giving this field the tillage I was doing, without 

 its producing me some better crops, would not pay me, I determined to 

 cover the hills with "blue shale," which in other parts of my farm I 

 had found of use ; and commenced immediately after harvest, when the 

 carting was good. I had to lead it about one-third of a mile ; and in 

 the whole laid upon the hills 287 three-horse cart-loads, at a cost of 

 11/. 11j,, viz. — 



* I have attempted to improve my farm by an admixture of soils, and have found it 

 by far the most certain way of making ferm.anent im-provenients. The calcareous sand 

 here mentioned, which m the neighbourhood has been considered perfectly poisonous to 

 plants, by mixing it liberally with the soil, I have found to contribute to a considerable 

 increase of my crop. — C. C. 



This experiment is interesting, and may lead to others of a similar nature. The great 

 advantage of a mixture of different earths, even of those which are barren in their 

 nature, in improving the fertility of a soil, is as yet but little known. It is of no use 

 to manure highly, until the texture of the soil and its power of absorbing and retain- 

 ing moisture be ascertained ; and the earths which are the cause of the l)arrenuess of 

 one soil, may greatly improve another of an opposite quality, when mixed with it. 

 We know this to be the case with chalk and marl ; but much remains yet to be done 

 by a mixture of gravel, sand, peat, clay, and decomposed rocks, and experiments on a 

 moderate scale will throw much light on this subject. — W. L. Rham. 



