FARMERS' REGISTER. 



685 



There can be no doubt there is no manure more 

 permanent ; but (or the use of marl, I am con- 

 vinced my land, under my severe cropping, 

 would have been reduced to a lower condition, 

 if possible, than it was in when 1 began its use. 



17th. — Upon a few acres, not more than five or 

 eix, of sandy gravelly hill-side, I have seen the 

 corn I think injured by marl. The stalks in the 

 spring grew larger than before, but they fired 

 early, and in many cases produced no ears. 

 The land was unimproveable, and not worth the 

 cultivation. It looks rather better than formerly, 

 and produces meager crops of corn and oats, 

 but does not pay for the labor, which, however, 

 is trivial, that is bestowed on it. I do not re- 

 member that I have sown clover on this piece of 

 land — here I suppose 800 bushels of marl were 

 used to the acre. On no other spot do I perceive 

 that damage has been done by too much marl. 



18th. — The effect of putrescent manures has been 

 very much increased by the marl. I do not 

 know that the first crop has been much better; 

 but the improvement from their use has thus 

 been rendered permanent. My practice is never 

 (o permit these manures to be turned in without 

 accompanying them with a heavy dressing of 

 marl. Plaster of Paris acts on clover, when the 

 land has been marled, with wonderful efficacy. 

 The result of an experiment I made will be 

 found in the 4th Vol. of the 'Farmers' Register,' 

 p. 579. My subsequent experience confirms 

 that experiment. 



19th and 20th. — The average crops of corn per 

 acre before I began the use of marl did not ex- 

 ceed three or four barrels — they are now from 

 eix to eight. 



21st. — The wheat crop has varied so much, even 

 on the very best lands in this part of Virginia, 

 depending, as it would eeem, much more on the 

 season than on the cultivation or soil, that it is 

 difficult to state an average; but 1 think the in- 

 crease has been in an equal ratio with the corn 

 crop. 



22d. — The Increased product of my land from the 

 use of marl, aided by a somewhat improved 

 agriculture, I estimate t.t from 50 to 100 per 

 centum. The effect of the marl has been in- 

 creased by the application of large quantities of 

 manure Irom every source from which it could 

 be derived. 



23d. — My experience in no manner conflicts with 

 any thing I remember in your * Essay on Cal- 

 careous Manures.' Sorrel I have seen growing 

 even on piles of marl ; but after it has been in- 

 corporated with the soil the sorrel certainly dis- 

 appears. [ will not undertake to say whether 

 this is owing to the chemical action of the marl 

 on the land or to its promoting the growth of 

 other plants, clover for instance, that eradicate 

 the sorrel ; but the result is as 1 have stated it. 

 I have attended rather to facts than to theorj', 

 not giving myself much concern about the vio- 

 dus operandi. If my observations are in any 

 manner inconsistent with your views, you will 

 find them mentioned in this communication ; 

 but I am not apprised there is any discrepancy. 



Here permit me to bear testimony to the accu- 

 racy and the great value of your ' Essay.' It has 

 been of incalculable benefit to all the calcareous 

 region of lower V^irginia, (to which however it is 



by no means confined,) and the efli'ectg of your 

 zeal must continue /or generations. 1 know of 

 no treatise on any branch of agriculture eo valu- 

 able and 60 complete. 



In the use of marl, I have directed my attention 

 but little to minute experiments, being satisfied 

 with general results. The whole character of the 

 soil, and of the estate on which 1 have used it, has 

 been changed, and no passing observer can fail to 

 be struck with the difierence of the land to which 

 it has been applied, and the surrounding country 

 where it has not been used. In the progress of 

 the operation the limits of the marled land have 

 generally been defined with the greatest preci- 

 sion ; eo that the transition from barrenness to fer- 

 tility has been marked as if a line had been drawn. 



1 said the marl with apparently the greatest 

 proportion of green-sand had proved the most effi- 

 cacious. The following is an extract from a me- 

 morandum made at the date it bears. The land 

 to which it relates, about fifteen acres, was much 

 exhausted, and is at this time in the highest state 

 of improvement. Here and there, on the weaker 

 spots, a small quantity of putrescent manure has 

 been used, but not to the extent of one-tenth part 

 of the whole. Clover has always been sown on 

 it at that stage of my rotation that permitted it. 

 The land is slightly undulating. 



Extract.— " IS^O, May 10/A — The most re- 

 markable effect I have ever seen from manure, 

 [meaning marl,'] is on the clover crop, in the river 

 field at the Lane. It was marled in the summer 

 of 1828, then fallowed and sown in wheat — and 

 clover was sown on it in the spring of 1829. The 

 marl shows its efi'ect in this manner — 



A. 

 C. 



"A. Marled throughout, well taken in clover, 

 and a heavy crop in the bottoms. 



" B. Half a bed not marled and scarcely any 

 clover. 



" C. Not marled and very little clover, though 

 as much seed was sown on B and C as on A. 

 The difference between the marled land and that 

 not marled, can now be distinguished to a line as 

 Car as the field can be distinctly seen. The upper 

 end of the field (not included in the above expe- 

 riment,) was manured from the farm-yard. It 



