FARMERS' REGISTER. 



483 



cal process, a soil ofonly three inclies is increased 

 to five, aa mucii as il gains in depih, it looses in 

 richness. But wlicn a niarleJ soil is deepened 

 gradually, its daric color and apparent richness is 

 increased, as well as iis depth. Formerly einj^le- 

 Jiorse ploughs were used to break all my acid soils, 

 and even ihey would ollen turn up subsoil. The 

 avera<re depth off-oil on old land did not exceed 

 three inches, nor two on llie newly cleared. Even 

 belore marlina was commenced, my plougliinjj 

 had generally sunk into the subsoil — and since 

 1825, most of this originally thin soil has required 

 three mules, or two good liorses to a plough, to 

 break the necessary dt-pth. The soil is now irom 

 five to seven inches deep generally, Irom the joint 

 operation ol'marling and deepening the ploughing 

 a little in the beginning of every course of crops. 



How destructive to the power of soil this depth 

 of ploughing would iiave been, without marling, 

 may be inferred Irom the continued decrease ol 

 the crop, through lour successive courses ol'a very 

 mild rotation, on the spot kept without marl in ex- 

 periment 10. Yet th(! depth of ploughmg there 

 did not exceed six inches, and depths of nine and 

 even twelve inches were tried, without injury, on 

 parts of the adjacent marled land. 



Besides the general benefit which marling 

 causes equally to all crops, by making the soils 

 (hey grow on richer and more productive, there 

 are other particular benefits which affect some 

 plants more than others. For example, marling 

 serves to make soils warmer, and thereby hastens 

 the ripening of every crop, more than would take 

 place on the like soils, il made equally produc- 

 tive by other than calcareous manures. This 

 quality of marled land is highly important to col- 

 ton, as our summers are not long enough to ma- 

 ture the later pods. Wheat also derives especial 

 benefit from the warmth thus added to the soil : it 

 is enabled better to withstand the severe cold of 

 winter; and even the short lime by which its 

 ripening is forwarded by marling, serves very 

 much to lessen the danger of the crop from rust. 

 Wheat also profits by the absorbent power of 

 marled land, (by which sands acquire, to some ex- 

 tent, the best qualities of clays,) thoujzh less so 

 than clover and other grasses that flourish best in 

 a moist climate. Indian corn does not need more 

 time for maturing than our summers afford (except 

 on the poorest land,) and can sustain much 

 drought without injury; and therefore is less aided 

 by these qualities of marled land. Most (if not 

 all) the different plants of the pea kind, and all 

 the varieties of clover, derive such remarkable 

 benefit fiom mirling, that it must be caused by 

 some peculiarity in the nature of those plants. 

 Perhaps a large portion of calcareous earth is ne- 

 cessary as part of' their food, to aid in the forma- 

 tion of the substance of plants as well as to pre- 

 serve their healthv existence. 



On acid soils without manure it is scarcely pos- 

 siblfe to raise red clover — and even with es'ery aid 

 from putrescent manure, the crop will be both un- 

 certain and uriprofiiable. The recommendation of 

 this grass as part of a general system of cultiva- 

 tion and improvement, by the author ol"^/-fl<or," is 

 sufficient to prove that his improvements were 

 made on soils lar better than such as are general. 

 Almost every zealous cultivator and improver (in 

 prospect) of acid soil has been induced to attempt 

 clover culture, either by the recommendations of 



writers on this grass, or by the success witnessed 

 on better constituted soils elsewhere. The utmost 

 that has been gained by any of these numerous 

 efforts, has been sometimes to olitain one, or at 

 most two mowings, of middlmg clover, on some 

 very rich lot, which had been prepared in the most 

 perfect manner by the previous cultivation of to- 

 bacco. Even in such situations, this degree of 

 success could only be obtained by the concurrence 

 of the most fiu'orable seasons. Severe cold, and 

 sudden alternations of temperature in winter and 

 spring, and the spells of hot and dry weather 

 which we usually have in surtimer, were alike fa- 

 tal to the growtli of clover, on so unfriendly a soil. 

 The lf;w examples of partial success never served 

 to pay Ibr the more frequent fiiilures and losses ; 

 and a lew years" trial would convince the most 

 ardent, or the most obstinate advocate for the clo- 

 ver husbandry, that is introduction on the great 

 body of land in Lower Virginia, was absolutely- 

 impossible. Siill the general liiilure was by com- 

 mon consent attributed to any thing but the true 

 cause. There was always some reason offered for 

 each particular failure, sufficient to produce it, and 

 but for which (it was supposed) a crop miffht 

 have been raised. Either the young plants were 

 killed by freezing soon after first springing from 

 the seed — or a drought occurred when the crop 

 was most exposed to the sun, by reaping the shel- 

 tering crop of wheat — or native and hardy weeds 

 overran the crop — and all such ilisasters, were sup- 

 posed to be increased in force, and rendered gene- 

 rally fatal, by our sand soil, and hot and dry sum- 

 mers. But after the true evil, the acid nature of 

 the soil, is removed by marling, clover ceases to be 

 a feeble exotic. It is at once naturalized on our 

 soil, and is able to contend with rival plants, and to 

 undergo every severity and change of season, aa 

 safely as our crops of corn and wheat — and uffera 

 to our acceptance the fruition of those hopes of 

 profit and improvement from clover, with which 

 heretofore we have only been deluded. 



After much waste of seed and labor, and 5'ear3 

 of disappointed efforts, I abandoned clover as 

 utterly hopeless. But after marling the fields on 

 which the raising of clover had been vainly at- 

 ten)pted, there arose from its scailered and feeble 

 remains, a growth which served to prove that ita 

 cultivation would then be safe and profitable. It 

 has since been gradually extended nearly over all 

 the fields. It will stand well, and maintain a 

 healthy grotTth on the poorest marled land : but 

 the crop is Ion scanty for mowing, or perhaps for 

 profit of any kind, on most sandy soils, unless aided 

 by gypsum. Newly cleared lands yield better 

 clover than the old, though the latter may produce 

 as heavy grain crops. The remarkal)le crops of 

 clover raised on very poor clay soils, after marling, 

 have been already described. This grass, even 

 without gypsum, and still more if aided by that 

 manure, may add greatly to the improving power 

 of marl : but it will do more harm than service, if 

 we greedily take from the soil too large a share of 

 the supply of putrescent matter which it affords. 



Seme other plan's, less welcome than clover, are 

 equally favored by marling. Greensward, blue 

 grass, wire grass, and partridge pen, will soon in- 

 crease po as to be not less impediments to tillage, 

 than evidences of an entire change in the charac- 

 ter and power of the soil. 



If the foregoing views may be confided in, the 



