12 On the A'ew Jersey Marls. 



neglected meadows, suddenly assume, after an inconsi- 

 derable dressing, the most incredible fertility. 



The following cases of extraordinary production I have 

 detailed, to exhibit the surprising effects of ferruginous 

 marl : — 



A gentleman in Burlington county grew a very supe- 

 rior crop of Indian corn from a certain field ; a crop of 

 rye (after the Jersey manner) immediately followed it. 

 The same field, the same season, yielded a heavy burden 

 of clover ; and to complete this excessive cropping, ex- 

 hibited in the fall, as large a growth of buckwheat as the 

 neighbourhood had ever seen. This uncommon pro= 

 ductiveness was solely the effect of ferruginous marl. 

 Ten years ago, the field was covered with Indian grass, 

 —an uninclosed barren ! 



A farm in Monmouth yielded, according to the opinion 

 of an observing neighbour, from ten to twelve bushels of 

 Indian corn per acre. The quantity of grass cut, was li- 

 mited in the extreme. The free use of marl for twelve 

 years has covered this farm with the richest grasses ; and 

 from one of its fields, the last season, sixty-three bushels 

 of shelled corn were gathered. This, I apprehend, was 

 as fine a crop of corn as any ever grew under the same 

 circumstances in the United States ; it was planted in 

 hills five and a half feet apart, and a considerable portion 

 of the field, for the last twenty years, has not received the 

 benefit of a single shovel of stable manure. The farm 

 has been under tillage for nearly a century. 



The marl used in this instance was compounded of the 

 carbonate of lime, an oxyd of iron, and sand, spread over 

 the field at the rate of fifteen wagon loads per acre. 



Fields covered with a full dressing of marl, will retain 

 their impression for many years. Spots of ground, spread 

 over with the product of wells, dug upwards of thirty 

 years, are still distinguishable by their superior fertility. 



