1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



266 



MARL IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 



[Thefollowin^^ article will serve, in addition toothers 

 before published in tiiis journa], as evidence of tlie 

 great facilities possessed by South Carolina for using 

 calcareous manures ; and also of the deplorable gene- 

 ral ignorance of their value and proper application, as 

 well as the failure to avail of this great source of agri- 

 cultural improvement and national wealth. Could we 

 bo permitted to advise and direct a course to be pur- 

 sued, we doubt not but that every judicious user of 

 marl would thereby make a permanent clear profit of 

 from 20 to 50 per cent, per annum, on his investment; 

 and that the portion of the state marled would be at 

 least doubled, and perhaps quadrupled, in agricultural 

 product. Notwithstanding the great neglect and fre- 

 quent misapplication of marl, and improper tillage af- 

 terapplyingit, its use has already added millions of dol- 

 lars in agricultural and money value to lower Virginia; 

 and South Carolina, in a few years, might receive as 

 much benefit from a like course — and ten times as 

 much benefit, if a judicious and proper system were 

 adopted and pursued. — Ed. Far. Reg. 



[From the Southern Agriculturist.] 



Mr. Editor — In your number for the month of 

 May, you insert an article from the Farmer's Re- 

 gister, on the "marl of South Carolina," and its 

 uses as a manure. To excite some interest in the 

 importance of this subject, I beg leave to observe, 

 that marl is found in great abundance in that part 

 of our state which requires it most, and which 

 has a soil peculiarly adapted to it. That marl is 

 found in Barnwell, Colleton, Orangeburg, Charles- 

 ton, and Sumter districts, I know to be a liict, 

 and believe it to exist in all that section oJ" the 

 state, called the middle and low country. By 

 manuring with it only once in five or six years, and 

 then putting only a shovel of it in each hill,* I 

 have been assured that the land yielded three times 

 as much as ever had been obtained Irom it, by any 

 other means. One gentleman, who obtained it 

 at his landing on the Ashley river, assured me, 

 that in the imperfect mode of his using it on a 

 part of his field, the produce liad been increased 

 50 per cent, over that of the rest of the same 

 field. But that he afterwards sold the place, and 

 the experiment was at an end. It is peculiarly 

 suited to the flat, sour, poor, sandy soils, of this 

 part of our state, where it is most easily obtained. 

 On the banks of Ashley river, it is so abun- 

 dant, that it is brought to Charleston, and used for 

 filling up the streets; and yet they who own the 

 fields adjoining, do not employ it as a manure, 

 although required only once in five or six years 

 for that purpose.t It is also found on the Savan- 

 nah, the Edisto, Cooper river, Santee, and Wa- 

 teree, but not used any where, that I know of, as a 

 manure. 



The fossil shells, and rotten limestone, found on 

 the Santee, and in some other places, in immense 

 quantities, are also of incalculable value as a ma- 

 nure. The marl is different from this, because it is 

 a mixture of clay and sand, with lime. But the 



*Which is a very improper mode of application. 



Ed. Far. Reg. 



t More correctly, once to last for ever. 

 Vol. VI.— 34 



lime made from these shells is stronger, and will 

 go farther as a manure, than marl, because of its 

 greater purity and warmth. I believe the lime 

 thus made, is peculiarly suited to the exhausted, 

 cold day lands; and one gentleman in Sumter 

 district, who had used shell lime on his old ex- 

 hausted lands, told me that it had rendered tliern 

 more productive than ever they liad been — more 

 productive than the best oak and hickory land, 

 which could be found. Who would not rather 

 manure three acres of land, than clear one acre, 

 even in the common troublesome mode of haul- 

 ing manure? Lime made from these shells, gives 

 but little trouble, compared with other manures, 

 and old land so manured, afibrds more profit than 

 the best new lands. I believe that lime is not 

 suited to the light sandij lands which abound in 

 this part of the country, but the rotten limestone 

 and shells need not be burnt into lime — they may 

 be only scattered unburnt over the soil, and put 

 into each hill, like the marl. There are numerous 

 instances in which the broken .shells, old lime, 

 and rotten limestone, have caused an extraordi- 

 nary increase in the crop. One gentleman told 

 me, that in ploughing an old field, he came upon 

 several old lime-kilns, which had probably been 

 burnt 40 or 50 years before, when indigo was cul- 

 tivated, and whereverthese hall-burnt shells were 

 turned up and scattered by the plough, the cotton 

 was vastly finer than in the rest of his field. I 

 did not ask him if he had profited by the discove- 

 ry, and covered the rest of his field v/ith shells 

 also. 



Pray, sir, let me suggest that the Agricultural 

 Society should offer a liberal prize for three suc- 

 cessive years, to the best series of experiments 

 with these articles; in which the use of either 

 marl, limestone and sliells, or lime, can be proved 

 to be beneficial; and which is best adapted to dif- 

 ferent soils. Q. 



Remarks bij the Editor of the Southern Agricul- 

 turist. 



We commend to the notice of our readers, the 

 remarks of our correspondent Q., on the plentiful 

 supply and value of marl, in our own state, to be 

 had by many, at only the cost of conveyance fi-om 

 its bed, to the point where it is intended to ferti- 

 lize the soil. If Q. be correct, and we doubt not 

 he is, we have within our own borders, a mine of 

 incalculable wealth; and, vvilh ordinary exertion, 

 we can very soon wipe from our 'scutcheon the 

 reproach, of importing the greater part of our 

 provisions. Our correspondent has, in naming 

 rivers, on the banks of which marl, or fossil shells, 

 &c., abound, omitted the Pee-Dee. We take the 

 liberty of adding that river to the catalogue, lest 

 those living on, or near its banks, may excuse 

 themselves, while ihey wonder others overlook 

 and do not avail themselves of such valuable, and 

 cheap manure. No observant man ever crossed 

 Port's or Godfrey's ferry over the Pee-Dee, about 

 forty miles above Georgetown, without remark- 

 ing the mighty mass of fossil shells, &c., yet no 

 man on the Pee-Dee ever (so far as comes within 

 our knowledge) used this manure. The Pee-Dee 

 country, was once, even without the application of 

 this aid, a fine grain country — a country of prime 

 bacon memory — a country happier than 'tis now. 

 We say to the people of Pee-dee, in coraraon 



