26 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



not always show the benefit in the first crop after the applica 

 tion. Some farmers,&quot; he says, &quot; prefer lime to clay, on light 

 land.&quot; He deems this an error. Lime will correct the acidity in 

 such land, but it does not give solidity or compactness to the 

 soil, but makes light land still lighter. Besides the advantages 

 to which I have above referred, he considers the application of 

 clay as serving to strengthen the straw of wheat, and to increase 

 the quantity and improve the quality of the grain ; and likewise 

 certainly a most material point to prevent mildew in wheat, to 

 which the farm was formerly subject. He is of opinion, like 

 wise, that it prevents a disease to which turnips are subject, 

 called, vulgarly, fingers and toes, which I think is more doubtful : 

 and that it supplies to the soil an element favorable to the growth 

 of clover, of which I believe there can be no question. 



It may be thought, in this case, that advantages may arise 

 from the application of marl in which, of course, there is a 

 considerable portion of calcareous matter, more active than the 

 aluminous element which are not to be expected from the ap 

 plication of pure clay. This would probably be the case but I 

 have seen repeated examples of the application of pure clay, both 

 spread upon grass land, as a top-dressing, and otherwise applied, 

 which have been highly beneficial ; and where the material is at 

 hand, and can be procured without a heavy expense, the practice 

 may be confidently recommended. 



On the farm of Mr. Pym, in Bedfordshire, a very skilful and 

 practical agriculturist, &quot; the whole farm,&quot; Mr. Pusey says, &quot; which 

 is a light yellow sand, and which was covered with heath and a 

 gray lichen, the gray moss of trees, a kind of vegetation indicat 

 ing a great degree of sterility, the whole farm has been made 

 fertile by means of a dark gray clay, which is full of lime, situ 

 ated at the foot of the sandy hill, and the moderate dose of sixty 

 cart-loads per acre is found to last at least twenty years. On this 

 sandy farm, both turnips and swedes were ridge-drilled, and 

 looked remarkably well.&quot; 



This practice of marling or claying light land has been long 

 and most extensively practised in the county of Norfolk, a county 

 which yields, perhaps, to no other in its agricultural improve 

 ments, which was the residence, and the scene of the labors and 

 improvements, of that acknowledged prince of farmers, Mr. Coke, 

 (the late Lord Leicester.) of Holkham, and which now presents, as 



