342 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



above article, (inasmuch as it proceeds from one 

 who seems to esteem marling very lightly,) that 

 there has been already excited in South Carolina 

 so much interest in regard to marl, and so much 

 anxiety to discover its existence. We agree with 

 the writer in or,e at least of his positions ; that is, 

 that a geological survey is not necessary to disco- 

 ver the existence, or to fix the value, of marl beds. 

 And though in a recent address, delivered belLre 

 a southern agricultural society, the discovery and 

 appreciation of marl, and the consequent great 

 value added to the poor lands of lower Virginia, 

 have been ascribed to the geological survey of this 

 state, we make bold here to assert that the geolo- 

 gical survey had no more agency in producing 

 this improvement than it had in exciting the Se- 

 minole war.* And, indeed, if it has produced any 

 good effects to the general and agricultural inte- 

 rests oi" Virginia, of as much worth as the marling 

 of even 100 acres of poor land, we confess that 

 we are unacquainted with all such results. 



The interest excited in regard to marl and marl- 

 ing in South Carolina must lead to the proper use 

 of the great resources for agricultural improve- 

 ment and wealth, which have been heretofore, or 

 until very recently, entirely neglected there. And 

 even if thoc^e most interested in the matter conti- 

 nue to refuse to receive information from any ex- 

 perienced source, merely because it comes from a 

 distance, the zeal and intelligent observation of 

 new beginners in South Carolina will ultimately 

 arrrive at experience and truth, though through 

 all the disadvantages and all the losses that must 

 attend an untaught and unaided iipprenticeship in 

 this new business. We could assure this writer, (if 

 he could ever hear any thing uttered so "far 

 north,") that although the person he names suc- 

 ceeded in quadrupling the income and value of 

 his land by the application of marl, yet, while so 

 laboring, untaught by books, and unaided by ex- 

 perience, that he encountered losses from his ig- 

 norance which were more than enough to have 

 paid for as extensive and profitable improvements 

 as he made ; and that the lights of experience 

 now published, and which then had no existence, 

 would, if then attainable, have been worth, as 

 aid, thousands of dollars to his first iew years' la- 

 bors. He did not then, or since, think that any 

 information applicable to his wants and his igno- 

 rance came from "too far north," or too far south ; 

 and he would have rejoiced to have obtained light. 



* " By a geolc;;ical survey of Virginia, in a district 

 of country considered unimportant, beds of marl have 

 been discovered and analyzed ; and, by successful ex- 

 periment and application to a poor soil, have enhanced 

 the value of lands fiom coinpaiMtively nothin;^ to a 

 very hi<;li price." .dddrcss to the Jgr. Soc. of Bar- 

 hour, Jlla. 



if it had existed, whether from scientific research, 

 or practical observation, from any available source, 

 or any remote region. However, these remarks 

 will not be seen by " Middle Country;" and if 

 they should be, by being republished, he probably 

 will attribute them t ) our anxiety to secure the 

 profit of selling him a 50 cent pamphlet, which, if 

 desired, would be gladly given to him or to any 

 other person who would probably receive benefit 

 from its instructions. We do not know, however, 

 that "Middle Country" would consider our pre- 

 cepts and facts as coming from " an authentic 

 source." 



A general remark is called for here by the con- 

 cluding passage in the above article — though we 

 have said and urged the same, in different forms, 

 many times before. We did not happen to see 

 the piece of our esteemed fellow laborer, the very 

 intelligent editor of the ' Carolina Planter,' which 

 compared " liming light and sandy land" to giving 

 "bitters without beef-steak," and therefore we 

 may not comprehend its scope and force. But we 

 entirely concur in the expression in one sense, 

 which was, we presiame, that in which the editor 

 spoke — and as much dissent from it in another 

 sense. It is very true that marl, or calcareous 

 earth, does not act directly by furnishing food to 

 plants, or as dung and other putrescent manures 

 do; and whoever marls under mistaken views in 

 this respect will probably incur loss, if not do ac- 

 tual injury. If all aid from putrescent manure, in 

 every form, were withheld, and if the very cus- 

 tomary system of unceasing exhausting cropping 

 is pursued, then indeed, to land so treated, mart 

 would be, in a great degree, " bitters without beef- 

 steak.'" But, on the other hand, it is not neces- 

 sary that artificially prepared putrescent manures, 

 from the stable or barn-yard, should accompany 

 marling, to render the latter highly profitable. 

 That, if attainable, would certainly be better ; but 

 without a load of such manure being applied, 

 enough putrescent matter may be given to land to 

 enable marl to double or even quadruple its pro- 

 ducts, by merely letting the land rest, and be co- 

 vered by, and not be deprived of by grazing, its own 

 natural growth of vegetable matter, by which na- 

 ture manures every soil that is capable of being 

 enriched; unless where man acts to cut off, or ren- 

 der useless, this natural and abundant supply. 

 Yet without calcareous earth to combine with it, 

 and render it operative, and to fix it in the soil, 

 this or any other supply of vegetable manure given 

 is not only like "beef-steak" without "bitters," 

 (reversing Dr. Gibbes' metaphor,) but also is gi- 

 ven to a stomach so weak as to reject, or to refuse 

 to digest, either beef-steak or the lightest and most 

 nourishing aliment. When such rejection, by a 



