142 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3 



when the weather sets in fair, in spring; but the 

 land should also be well cleaned, and brought into 

 fine tilth, in order to allow of the soil being inti- 

 mately blended with the ashes. When laid upon 

 arable land, they should therefore be brought, as 

 nearly as possible, into a state of powder, if in- 

 tended tor corn; but when applied to green crops, 

 they may be used somewhat coarser. 



Megardii^g the species of earth to be burned — 

 strong clay is the besr lor the pupose, for its adhe- 

 sive properties being destroyed by the process, it 

 will become good manure for land of the same 

 sort, and will be found advantageous to ground of 

 almost any description; but when light soils are 

 burned, (a practice, however, which we have 

 shown to be in general disadvantageous,) the 

 ashes are not calculated to apply to similar land, 

 but should be laid upon strong clays or tenacious 

 loam. 



The quantity of ashes to be applied to the land 

 may be varied according to its quality. Viewing 

 its effect as chiefly mechanical, the more adhesive 

 the soil, the greater will be the amount required : 

 for as strong clays are apt to run together after 

 heavy rains, and to retain the water upon the sur- 

 face, instead of allowing it to penetrate to the pan 

 below, the larger the quantity of matter which 

 may have the effect of rendering them porous, 

 the better; and its application to such ground 

 hardly admits of any limit. In no case will it be 

 found prejudicial, and, from what may be gathered 

 from the foregoing experiments, as well as from 

 the information of other practical men, we think 

 that it should never be laid on any land in a less 

 quantity than 800 bushels per acre. 



For the Farmers' Register. 



SALT BIARSHES AND MALARIA. THE WHEAT 

 CROP. 



T reside on a salt water river, from which sev- 

 eral coves make into my lands. At their heads 

 are salt marshes, which are met by fresh water 

 branches. I have for some time entertained the 

 •opinion, derived perhaps from the speculations in 

 relation to the malaria li'om the Pontine marshes, 

 that those grounds, in their present state, were the 

 sources of our autumnal fevers. I have been greatly 

 desirous to separate the salt from the fi'esh waters, 

 so that they should only meet at the sluice. 



Last year, I succeeded in shutting the tide out 

 from one of my marshes, and kept it flooded dur- 

 ing the winter with fresh water, to correct the salt 

 ^with which it had been saturated. After treating; 

 ■it in the same way, next winter, I intend to sow it 

 in herds grass on the sod, without resortintj to the 

 plough or harrow. Herds grass was strongly re- 

 commended as suitable for the wet marshy ravines 

 •of lower Virginia, by one of your correspondents in 

 the first volume of the Farmers' Register, page 486. 

 I have understood, that on some of the Delaware 

 marshes, which had been found too wet and springy 

 for other grasses, herds grass had not only taken 

 well, but had given firmness and consistency to the 

 soil. Tn a former volume of the Register, I had 

 noted with much interest, the experiment of Mr. 

 H. Carter, and greatly regret to see by a commu- 

 nication from him, in the number for May, that 

 he has been obliged to abandon the experiment, 

 which, in its early stages, promised permanent 



profit. It appears to me that the cultivation of 

 Mr. Carter's reclaimed grounds in corn, for seven 

 successive years, by exposing the soil to the sun 

 and air, was calculated to produce the catastrophe 

 he has experienced. I had thought if the low 

 marshy grounds, of which I have spoken, were 

 set in grass with strong tenacious roots, that 

 though they might settle lor a time, it would at 

 length find its point of depression, and become 

 firm and solid, and I must suppose that being set 

 in grass, there would be no rotting and escape of 

 the soil, as you, in your remarks, suggest. It is 

 a matter of great interest to our country, that the 

 low fenny grounds, now covered with flags and 

 bent grass, the nurseries of musquitoes and mala- 

 ria, should be reclaimed. My project is on a small 

 scale and I should abandon it with regret, and on 

 this matter I should be pleased to have the benefit 

 of your experience and advice. 



The present appearance, affords but small hopes 

 of good crops of wheat. Mostof our fiirmers sowed 

 their wheat late, to avoid the liill fly; the autumn 

 was cold, the winter unusually severe, and vege- 

 tation of any kmd made no progress until April. 

 With the exception of a light shower, we have 

 sustained a drought of nearly a month. A most 

 grateful and salutary rain is falling to-day, which 

 promises to be abundant; and as I hear no com- 

 plaints of the Hessian fly, if the weather be favor- 

 able until harvest I shall hope tor half a crop in this 

 county. Disheartening as our prospects are, they 

 are not so appalling as the condition of the planters 

 of the south-west. The demon of speculation did 

 not cross the Chesapeake; though some few of our 

 people, deluded by the romancers of the cotton 

 country, removed their slaves to those golden re- 

 gions, which I apprehend they will have good 

 cause to rue. 



Queen Jinn's Co. E. S. Md. May I5th, 1837. 



REMARKS Oy MARSH EFFLUVIA. 



To tlie Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



You desired in your editorial remarks on the 

 subject of the deleterious effiicts of '"malaria," 

 sowe light on the subject of its modus operandi 

 on the health of the neighborhoods in which mill- 

 ponds are situated. 1 may not expect to enlighten 

 your or the public mind on the subject; but con- 

 ceiving it a matter of much importance, and hav- 

 ing had occasion to |)ay a good deal of attention to 

 the remote causes of fever, for the last ten years, I 

 will essay a Cew remarks to you on the subject. 



The effluvium arising from marshes, is a subtle, 

 highly attenuated and undefined substance, the 

 nature of which is unknown, and by no principles 

 of analysis or synthesis have the medical part of the 

 community been able to arrive at any satisfactory 

 conclusion in relation to the thing itself. We know 

 that certain causes produce certain eflfects under 

 particular states of the atmosphere, and that the 

 cause producing fever, is most generally owing to 

 a principle known by the name of marsh effluvium, 

 or miasma. Theory succeeding theory has been 

 exploded, without arriving at any thing like cer- 

 tainty about the substance of miasm itself 



Dr. Good, one of the ablest modern writers on 

 the subject, in reference to miasma, after com- 

 paring the theories of the best authorities on this 



