4S4 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



general course most proper lo pursue in using cal- 

 careous manures may thence be deduced without 

 difficulty. But as I have found, since the publi- 

 cation of the first edition of this essay, ;hat many 

 persons still ask for more special directions ro guide 

 their operations, and as all such difficulties may 

 not be entirely obviated even by the more full de- 

 tails now given, 1 will here add the Ibllowing di- 

 rections, at the risk of their being considered su- 

 perfluous. These directions, like all the foregoing 

 reasoning, may apply generally, if not entirely, lo 

 the use of all kinds of calcareous manures, and to 

 soils in various regiohs : but to avoid too wide a 

 range, I shall consider them as applied particularly 

 to the poor lands, and to the fossil shells, or marl, 

 of the tide- water region, and addressed to persons 

 who arc just commencing their improvements. 



As the cheapest mode of furnishing vegetable 

 matter to land intended to be marled and cultivat- 

 exl, no grazing should be permitted. It is nest to 

 put the marl on the grass previous to ploughing 

 the field for corn, as the early effect of this manure 

 is greatest when it has been placed in contact with 

 the vegetable matter. But this advantage is not 

 so great as to induce the ploughing lo be delayed, 

 or to stop the marling after that operation. When 

 the marl is spread upon the ploughed surface, it 

 can be better mixed with the soil, by the cultiva- 

 tion of the crop — and this advantage in some mea- 

 sure compensates lor the loss of that which would 

 have been obtained from an earlier application on 

 the sod. If marl is ploughed in, it should not be 

 so deeply as to prevent its being mixed with the 

 Boil, speedily and thoroughly, by the subsequent 

 tillage. To make sure of equal distribution, the 

 marl should be spread regularly over the surface. 

 From neglect in this respect, a dressing of marl is 

 often too thin in many places to have its proper ef- 

 fect, and in others, so thick as to prove injurious. 

 Hence it is that marl-burnt stalks of corn, and 

 tufts ol' aorrel are sometimes seen on the same 

 acre. 



After the first year, the farmer may generally 

 marl fast enough to keep ahead of his cultivation: 

 and even though he should reduce the space of 

 his tillage to one-half, it will be best for him not to 

 put an acre in corn without its being marled. Fif- 

 ty acres can generally be both marled and tilled, as 

 cheaply as one hundred can be tilled without marl- 

 ing ; and the fifty will produce as much as the hun- 

 dred, in the first course of crops, and much more 

 afterwards. 



That rotation of crops which gives most vege- 

 table matter to the soil, is best to aid the effect of 

 marl recently applied. The four-shift rotation is 

 convenient in this respect, because two or three 

 years of rest may be given in each course of the 

 rotation at first, upon the poorest land ; and the 

 number of exhausting crops may be increased 

 first to two, then to three in the rotation, as the 

 soil advances to its highest state of productiveaess. 



After marling, clover should be sown, and gyp- 

 8um on the clover. On poor, though marled land, 

 of course only a poor growth of clover can be ex- 

 pected ; but wherever other manures are given, 

 and especially if gypsum is found to act Well, the 

 crop of clover becomes a most important part of 

 the improvement by marling. Without clover, 

 and without returning the greater part of its pro- 

 duct to the soil, the great value of raarlingwill not 

 be seen. A small proportion of the clover may be 



used as food for cattle ; and in a few years this 

 small share will far exceed all the grass that the 

 fields furnished before marling, and the limitation 

 of grazing. What is at first considered as lessen- 

 ing the /bod of grazing stock, and their products, 

 within a Cew years becomes the source of a far 

 more abundant supply. 



During the first few years of marling, but little 

 attention can (or ou<xhtto) be given to making pu- 

 trescent manures, because the soil much more 

 needs calcareous manure — and three acres may 

 generally be supplied with the latter, as cheaply as 

 one with the former. But putrescent manures 

 cannot any where be used to so much advantage, 

 as upon poor soils made calcareous, and noliirmer 

 can make and apply vegetable matter as manure 

 to greater profit than he who has marled his poor 

 fields, and can then withdraw his^labor from ap- 

 plying the more to the less profitable manure. Af- 

 ter the farm lias been marled over at the light rale 

 recommended at first, every effort should be made 

 to accumulate and apply vegetable manures, and 

 with their gradual extension over the fields a se- 

 cond application of marl may be made, making 

 the whole quantity in both the first and second 

 marling, 500 or 600 bushels to the acre, or even 

 more, which would have been hurtful if given at 

 first, but which will now be not only harmless, but 

 necessary to fix and retain so much putrescent 

 and nutritive matter in the soil. 



If the course here advised is pursued on poor 

 and acid soils, the products will be generally dou- 

 bled in the first course of the rotation — often in the 

 first crop immediately following the marling : and 

 the original product may be expected to be tripled 

 by the third return of the rotation. This will be 

 from merely applying marl in sufficient (and not 

 excessive) quantities, and giving the land two 

 years' rest in four, without grazing. But with the 

 aid of farm-yard and other putrescent manures, 

 and of clover, both of which should be largely in 

 use during the second course of crops, still greater 

 returns may be obtained. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE EARf.IEST MARLED 

 DISTRICT OF PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, 



Introductory to Queries and Answers in regard \o 

 the marling there. 



BY THE EDITOR. 



The portion of Prince George county to which 

 the following observations apply, is of very uni- 

 lorm character. It lies between Powell's creek and 

 Bailey's creek, which empty into James river 

 about 8 miles apart. The head-stream of Powell's 

 creek, the Birchen swamp, or rather its eastern 

 slope, may be considered as the eastern boundary, 

 and the western is the Branchester mill stream, or 

 eastern source of Bailey's creek. A line connect- 

 ing the head springs of these two streams is the 

 southern limit. James river forms the northern. 

 The space included is from 7 to 9 miles across in 

 both diameters. 



There are numerous smaller streams and rivu- 

 lets, besides the two already named ; and they are 

 generally bordered by strips of alluvial low-ground, 

 of sizes proportioned to the streams, and varying 



