144 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 3 



MARLING IN QUEEN ANNE COUNTY, BID. 



To ihc Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



JVye, Queen Anne County, Md., ) 

 lOih December, 1837. 5 



I observe yoiir queries in the last, number ofthe 

 Rerrister, and wish I could answer them, or some 

 orihem, with accuracy to saiisly mys^eif. I com- 

 menced the application of marl in 1-S24, with but 

 little knowledge of its action, and liave kept no 

 memoranda. About the same time, I began the 

 use of marsh mud, and found its immediate ef- 

 fects so much n)ore productive, that the marl was 

 neglected. In the year 1833. your book on Cal- 

 careous Manures was recommended to me by the 

 late Col. Edward Floyd of Talbot. Your views 

 on the subject have induced me to turn my atten- 

 tion principally to marl, for improvement of my 

 lands. From two fields of about 45 acres each, 

 marled for the most part since that time, and an 

 intervening crop of clover, I gathered this year 

 six hundred barrels of corn, and it is not in my re- 

 collection that they ever before produced more 

 than four hundred ; a small quantity of putres- 

 cent manure being carried out as usual. My 

 marl is blue, mixed with sand, and our geologist. 

 Dr. Ducalel, slates it at 45 and 50 parts of shell. 

 I applied 500 bushels to the acre. 



Wm. Carbiichael. 



FARM reports: 



III. — Netherby, Cumberland, (^England.') 

 management of the home farm. 



The management of the Park of Netherby, the 

 extent of which is upwards of twelve hundred 

 and ninety statute acres, (independent of the 

 woods surrounding and interspersed through the 

 grounds,) comprehends the practical detail of a 

 large grass and arable farm, managed on princi- 

 ples suited to the climate and local situation ofthe 

 country, and occupied by the proprietor, not only 

 with a view to the permanent improvement ofthe 

 lands, but also to securing the largest return possi- 

 ble from them. 



The detail is conducted by an active overseer or 

 bailiff from one of the best-managed agricultural 

 districts of Scotland. 



The establishment consists of four regular 

 ploughmen, each having the charge of a pair of 

 horses; a steady elderly person, who has the 

 charge of the granaries, and who superintends the 

 field operations of hand-hoeing, reaping, &c.; and 

 a park-keeper, who acts in the double capacity of 

 superintendent of the whole grazing stock of cat- 

 tle and sheep, and as butcher to the family. There 

 is, besides, a person whose sole business it is to 

 alJtend to the open and close draining of the lands 

 about to be described, and whose services are of 

 much consequence towards their good manage- 

 ment. All these under servants have been very 

 carefully selected. The female part of the estab- 

 lishment consists of a dairy-maid and an assistant 

 in the cow-house. The establishment is so ar- 

 ranged that all hands are fully employed. All 



extra labor required at hay and corn harvest, and 

 in hand-hoeing the various crops, &c. is very rea- 

 dily commanded li'om the adjoining market town 

 of Longtown. Every account and payment inci- 

 dent to this e8tablishment is kept by the overseer, 

 and is regularly audited and settled by ihe agent 

 once a month; and a copy ofthe monthly account 

 is duly put into the proprietor's hands, who is thus 

 enabled to have the real situation of his farming 

 matters constantly under his eye. 



Extra vvork, such as mowing, draining &c. is 

 let by contract to laborers. 



Description. — The management about to be 

 described extends, as already mentioned, over 

 about twelve hundred and ninety acres. The 

 soils are of various descriptions, and consist ofthe 

 following general divisions : 



1st. On the banks of the river Esk, which cuts 

 the grounds into two portions, the soil is a loamy 

 clay on a porous bottom, and very various in point 

 of quality, as is generally the case with all lands 

 whose formation is the deposite or washings down 

 of lands situated at a higher level. These landa 

 are under permanent pasture. 



2d. A mossy soil of no great extent, but of 

 considerable depth, incumbent on clay, now irri- 

 gated meadow land. 



3d. Gravelly soil, on an open bottom of gravel, 

 technically called a rusty gravel, held in pasture 

 or alternate husbandry; and, 



4th. A clay soil of various qualities on a close 

 till or stubborn clay subsoil, unsuited to constant 

 pasturage, and therelbre kept in alternate hus- 

 bandry. 



The lands consist of about 480 acres loamy 

 clay, 28}, acres meadow, 320 acres gravel, and 462 

 acres clay soils. 



The aspect is generally flat, but with a gentle 

 undulating surface, and with a moderate inclina- 

 tion from the river which runs through the lands 

 in a direction from N. E. to S. VV. The whole 

 lands lie compact and in a ring fence, and form to- 

 gether a very beautiful park, equal to any in the 

 north of England, not only in point of appearance, 

 but in real value, while these lands do not lie at 

 more than fi-om 70 to 120 feet above the level of 

 the Solway Frith. The management of each kind 

 of soil being different, requires a distinct and par- 

 ticular description, as will be found in the follow- 

 ing account. 



The farm buildings at Crofthead stand very 

 nearly in the centre of the grounds, which has 

 been found of great advantage in their manage- 

 ment. 



Longtown. — A considerable market town, con- 

 taining from 1800 to 2000 souls, through which 

 the great road from Edinburgh to London by Car- 

 lisle passes, is situated at theS. VV. angle of these 

 lands. 



No manure can be procured here except what 

 is produced on the farm, in the fiirm-yards at 

 Crofthead, and what is purchased at Longtown. 

 Of the last — as the farmers in the neighborhood 

 procure all they can — no great quantity of manure 

 can be obtained. There is abundance of lime, 

 however, to be got within four miles, at a price 

 averaging about 3s. per single cart-load at the 

 lime-kilns, or M. per imperial bushel. No chalk, 

 clay, or shell marl is found in the neighborhood, 

 and the chief dependence is on dung and compost 

 made on the lands, and lime as already staled. 



