Ori the Kew Jersey Marls. 11 



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with remarkable rapidity the dissohition of vegetable 

 matter in compost beds, and has been observed occasion- 

 ally on turfy grounds to throw up an astonishing vegeta- 

 tion. And that its action is not incompatible with vege- 

 table existence, the following fact appears to prove :— 

 A gentleman, for experiment, scattered a handful of herd 

 grass seed* in a bed of clayey marl ; the situation of the 

 bed was such as to keep it almost constantly shaded; the 

 seed vegetated, and produced a tuft of the most luxuriant 

 grass I ever beheld. 



Of the 7nanner of using the Fernigi?ious Marl, 



The ferruginous marls, (such as the experience of 

 farmers has proved useful) are carted from the pitts in the 

 fall, and exposed in the fields they are intended to cover, 

 to the frosts of the winter. The process of freezing and 

 thawing reduces them to a fine powder, and early in the 

 spring they are scattered, by the shovel, over fields, at 

 the rate of five to twenty wagon loads the acre, varying 

 the quantity according to the nature of the marl, and the 

 quality of the soil. Sometimes they are sprinkled with 

 the hand, after the maimer of gypsum, especially in se- 

 cond dressings. Light barren lands will bear but small 

 quantities, and indeed it is doubtful whether such soils 

 are ever immediately benefitted by them, or by any other 

 dressing, except the direct manures. Rough-bound mea- 

 dows covered with wild grass, and lands rendered barren 

 by long and injudicious management, which generally 

 contain an excess of undecomposed vegetable matter, 

 will bear the greatest quantities, and exhibit the most 

 striking advantages from the use of it. 



The ferruginous marls are particularly friendly to the 

 growth of v/hite clover. I have seen exhausted soils and 

 ■^ Jlgrosiis Stricta, 



