of German Landowners in 1841. 223 



may interest the members of om^ own Society. On the first ques- 

 tion, the recurrence of the same crop^, Professor Schweizer 

 remarks : — 



" With respect to the repetition of red clover, we have had abundant 

 experience in Saxony. Where the soil is neither too loose nor too close, 

 is deep, so that the plough can go 8 inches down, and is also rather 

 moist, clover is the most certain, and may be repeated most frequently, 

 not only every six years, but, with high farming, even every four years. 

 On an inferior soil we may be quite certain that clover will not do well 

 every four years, as has been proved in the neighbourhood of Dresden, 

 where the land is completely clover-sick. The chairman gave his 

 opinion that a repetition of red clover after six years was allowable 

 everywhere; that in favourable soils five years might l)e a sufficient 

 interval, but that to bring two crops of clover nearer together was always 

 doubtful, and could only be regarded as an exception." 



On the 7tli, 8th, and 9th questions, which relate to marling, 

 there are some important statements. Thus Mr. Hilmers, Qua- 

 mabeck, stated that 



" He had found the good eifect of a dressing with marl for thirty years. 

 At first it was so astonishing, that on fields which previously produced 

 only bad buckwheat, he had been able, after marling, to grow good 

 wheat. As the effect began to fail in the third eleven-years' course, he 

 gave another slight coat of marl, about 4 cubic feet to a square rood of 

 16 feet, and had found it answer, particularly with rape, barley, and 

 clover, though not quite so well as the first time. His soil varied in 

 quality, some being loamy, some peaty, and a jDart of it sandy. The 

 first marling had been twice as heavy, — 5 cubic feet to the square rood. 

 In his second marling he had once applied more than that, but it had 

 done harm. The marl was good, and very full of lime. He considered 

 the kind of marl and also of soil to which it was applied very important. 

 On peaty and light land a clay marl does much more than a sandy 

 marl. Sand-marl works quicker than loamy or clayey marl, so that less 

 need be used, but its effect is less lasting. It makes a sandy soil too 

 loose and hot. 



" Count Holstein brought forward as a proof in favour of repeated 

 marlings, a district in his neighbourhood, the provostry of Pretz, which 

 had become famous through the use of marl. In the provostry, he said, 

 marl had been used for two generations, and at first its effect was so 

 great, that the farmers thought dung superfluous on the marled land. 

 The consequence was, as might have been foreseen, that the fields so 

 neglected gradually diminished in produce, and it was discovered at last 

 that marl could not supply the place of dung for ever, but that dung and 

 marl must be used together. But in spite of this ill usage of the land, 

 and of a very scourging rotation, it had not been difficult to restore the 

 land by good dunging. Marling was still continued, a great deal of land 

 had been marled two or three times, and the whole country was in a 

 blooming condition." 



There are some remarkable observations on the question whether 



