Manuring Grass Lands. 217 



.ilmost like lime ; the same if exposed to dry weather succeeded 

 by rain. 



There is a marl called slate or stone marl, but this peculiar 

 material is only found in districts of the red sandstone, and from 

 3 to 6 feet or more below the surface, and not unfrequently 

 2 or 3 feet of rock or red ashlar stone above it. In character 

 and appearance it is altogether different from common marls. It 

 has to be hacked or broken up witli picks, and, when spread on 

 the land, appears much like stone, but soon falls down by expo- 

 sure. There are different colours of this stone or slate marl — red, 

 blue, and yellow. It is very expensive to dig, but the best of it 

 has nearly the same effect as the best bones : from 60 to 80 cube 

 yards are laid on an acre, and of course it must be used near 

 where it is dug. In 1846 a railway some hundred yards long 

 was laid down to improve some moor-like land at Alvanley, near 

 the forest of Delamere. From 50 to 60 acres were covered with 

 stone marl, the greater part of which had scarcely any soil, nor 

 had there ever been any attempt at cultivating it : no vegetable 

 was growing on the surface, except dwarfish heaths. So rocky or 

 full of stones was the surface of many acres, that it was not to be 

 ploughed. No other substance could have worked such a change 

 on such a surface; it is now a most beautiful and luxuriant pas- 

 ture. Some years since I was on a field of 40 acres, part of a farn:i 

 near the same forest : of this field 10 acres bore wheat, 10 barley, 

 10 oats, and 10 clover. The grain crops were just coming into 

 ear at the time when I was over the farm, and were so long and 

 luxuriant as in all likelihood to be lodged by the first shower 

 of rain. I spoke to the farmer of the impolicy of having his 

 land in that state. He said it was not done by any act of his j 

 that the field had been under the four-course system for 20 years 

 Avithout any help of manure, but had been covered with slate 

 marl about 22 years since. 



On the Alvanley side of Delamere there are many fields which 

 have been dressed with this peculiar marl, and these fields are 

 some of the richest pastures the district affords. 



Shoddy. — Woollen manufacturers, in the different processes of 

 combing, fulling, and dressing wools, and finishing cloths made of 

 wools, collect a material which is a powerful manure ; it is 

 mixed with the oil and grease which are used in most of the 

 processes of woollen manufacture. The material I allude to is 

 called shoddy. It is used with good effect on grass land, 

 the price varying from \0s. to 20.?. per ton. The very best 

 of it was much called for in some hop-growing districts before 

 the introduction of guano ; and the manufacturers of woollens in 

 Lancashire and Yorkshire still send some of it south for hop- 

 gardens. Four tons per acre of the best shoddy is a good dress- 



