402 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



sorrel on the greater part of it, except upon the 

 marl heaps. 



The universal opinion, I believe, is that mar! 

 u'ill kill sorrel ; but here is a I'aci vvhi' li bad been 

 wilnessed by many, that appears directly an<l 

 undeniably to disprove it. Can it be possible 

 thai the same substance can produce and nourish 

 a particular epecies ol plant, the seeds ol which 

 must either have been blown upon the mass by 

 the winds, or deposited (herein Irom time imme- 

 morial ; and yet destroy these plants when plough- 

 ed into the earth wherein they previously grew 1 

 To me the matter seems altogeiher incomprehen- 

 sible. The lact admits of neither doubt nor con- 

 tradiction—it is absolutely certain ; for there were 

 the piles ot marl, hundreds of them to be seen 

 for weeks together, covered with luxuriant sorrel, 

 which continued to Hourish, until the marl was 

 spread and ploughed in. Do let us hear what 

 you think of ibis matter ; and continue to believe 

 me, yours, very sincerely, 



Jaivies M. Gaknett. 



[As we had given an answer to a similar in- 

 quiry formerly, which has been forgotten by our 

 correspondent, and never seen by much the 

 greater number of our present readers, we beg 

 leave to republish it, together with the inquiry 

 and statement of facts which drew it forth.] 



fVilliamsburg, Jan. 15, 1833. 



* * * * On a recent visit to my farm, one 

 fact struck me with considerable surprise, as it 

 seemed to be inconsistent with one of your leading 

 principles respecting calcareous manures. The 

 marl which I am now using is very strong, sup- 

 posed lo contain ,"„^j ol lime, and is in heaps ol 

 from four to five bushels. On these heaps 1 ob- 

 served sorrel was growing in bunches ol conside- 

 rable size. Will you have ihe goodness to account 

 for this fact? It seems to me that I can never 

 get clear of sorrel by the use of marl, since it 

 grows on a marl bed. Your experience, however, 



may explain this effect, and assist my luiure use 



of the manure. ***** 



jfnswer by the Editor, 



* * * * My own experience, more than 

 ten years ago, flirnished me with several opportu- 

 nities of observing facts similar to those you de- 

 scribe — and, like yourself, 1 was alarmed at first, 

 at what seemed to be a positive contradiction ol my 

 previous opinion, that calcareous manures in suf- 

 ficient quaniity rendered a soil incapable of sup- 

 porting the growth of sorrel. But i'uriher obser- 

 vation served to remove these tears, and even al- 

 forded additional prool of ihe general position be- 

 fore assumed. Where I found sorrel growing on 

 heaps of marl, it was under these circumstances : 

 the loads had been dropped on acid soil (subject 

 to produce sorrel) and had remained without being 

 spread, perhaps twelve months. By carefully re- 

 moving the marl from the plants, I found that they 

 had sprung, not from the marl, but from the acid 

 soil below — and that the communication between 

 Ihe soil and the air, where the leaves opened, was 

 through a single tap-root, which merely passed 

 through the heap of marl, without drawing any 



sustenance from it. The plants were usually 

 where the marl was thin, near the edges of the 

 heaps — but oueorihe roots which I examined was 

 ol the leaiaikunle length of nine inches; it had 

 thrown out a lew horizontal fibres ol about an inch 

 in length, as if in search of nourishnipnt, but 

 which were then (some time in June) quite dead. 

 The lew plants then observed, ihouifh lull of the 

 C0V( tings !br seeds, yet were quite destitute of the 

 seeds which should have been within : but this 

 remaikable abortion, though often to be seen 

 under like circumstances, is not general. 



Calcareous earth alone is insoluble in water, and 

 can in no way affect growing plHtiis except when 

 mixed with, and acted on by other substances in 

 soils. A load of marl dropped on ihe surface of 

 the land and left undisturbed, can have no more 

 effect ihan so much tilicious sand, or any other 

 substance of like insolubility, weight and lexture, 

 though perfectly woiililess huH inactive as manure. 

 Marl, if thinly spread, though leli on the surface, 

 in the course of tmie would liave ail its finer parts 

 carried down into the soil by rains; and thus, 

 ultimately, would act as a manure. But even 

 this slow effect would be prevented by the thick- 

 ness of a cart load of marl, which would shelter 

 the covered soil from rain, except what it could 

 imbibe slowly by absorpiion. By ihus calling to 

 your mind the existing circumstances, and the in- 

 soluble quality of calcareous earth, you will see 

 that in no way could your marl exert its chemical 

 power of neutralizing the acid quality of the soil ; 

 by which means only it destroys the growth of 

 sorrel. The germination of the seeds at such 

 depths, and ihe rising of the plant through such a 

 layer of dead earth, (as marl is in such cases,) 

 proves the remarkable hardiness of sorrel ; but its 

 growth in such situations furnishes no proof what- 

 ever, that marl when acting as a manure is not 

 destructive of sorrel. To produce this effiect, it 

 only requii-es that a suffnienl quantity shall be 

 applied, and equally and ihorouijhly mixed with 

 the soil by tillage. If plants of sorrel are found 

 on a field that has been sufRcienily marled, and the 

 soil well stirred by cultivation, it only proves that 

 (i"om careless spreading, those spots were left 

 without their share of ihe dressing. But should 

 my reasoning be not entirely satisfactory, you may 

 rely on the testimony of my experience, which 

 pronounces that sorrel will never be Ibund plenty 

 enough to be injurious alier even a moderate 

 marlinfr, and that alier a proper application, " the 

 soil is Ibund not only cleared of sorrel, but incapa- 

 ble of producing it." 



Since answering your letter, I have examined 

 many p'anis of sorrel growing in my heaps of 

 marl which were dropped last year on a poor 

 broom-sedge field. Contrary to my former opinion, 

 I found that the slender horizontal roots stretched 

 through the marl, sometimes eight or (en inches, 

 and were alive early in the spring. But by the 

 middle of June, ihey were either dying or dead. 

 In one plant only, I found that a horizontal root 

 after passing nearly a loot through the marl, had 

 struck the soil below, and had become nearly as 

 large as the main tap-root. These roots, so long 

 as they are altogether in Ihe marl heap, instead of 

 drawing support for Ihe plant, are themselves sus- 

 tained by its juices, drawn through the main root 

 from the acid soil. In every case, the only im- 



