34 CALCAREOUS MANURES-PRACTICE. 



Results, 1820. In corn. October 13th, three lialf acres of marled land 

 were measured, and as many on that not marled, and close adjoining, and 

 produced as follows : 



Not marled. Marled. 



Bush Pecks. 



Half acre in A, 7 1 adjoining in C, 



The same in A, 7 1 " « D, 



Half acre in B, 7 2|- " " E, 



The average increase being 121- bushels of grain to the acre, nearly 100 

 per cent, as measured, and more than 100 if the defective filling, and less 

 matured state of the corn not marled, be considered. The whole would 

 have lost more by shrinkage than is usual from equal products. 



1821. The whole in wheat; much hurt by the wetness of the season. 

 The marled part more than twice as good as that left out. 



1822 and 1823. At rest. A good cover of carrot weeds and other kinds 

 had succeeded the former growth of poverty grass and sorrel, and every 

 appearance promised additional increase to the next cultivated crop. No- 

 vember, 1823, when the next ploughing was commenced, the soil was found 

 to be evidently deeper, of a darker color and firmer, yet more friable. 

 The two-horse ploughs with difficulty (increased by the cover of weeds,) 

 could cut the required depth of five inches, and the slice crumbled as it 

 fell from the mould-board. But as the furrows passed into the part not 

 marled, an immediate change was seen, and even felt by the ploughman, 

 as the cutting was so much more easy, that care was necessary to pre- 

 vent the plough running too deep— and the slices turned over in flakes, 

 smooth and sleek from the mould board, like land too wet for ploughing, 

 which however was not the case. The marling of the field was completed 

 at the same rate, (800 bushels,) which closed a third side (B) of the marked 

 square. The fourth side was my neighbor's field. 



1 824. In corn. The newly marled (on B) showed as early and as great bene- 

 fit as was found in 1820 on C and D— but yet was very inferior to the old, 

 until the latter was 10 or 12 inches high, when it began to give the first 

 known evidence of the very injurious effects of using this manure too 

 heavily. The disease thus produced became worse and worse, until many 

 of the plants had been killed, and still more were so stunted as to leave no 

 hope of their being otherwise than barren. The effects will be known 

 from the measurements which were made as nearly as could be on the 

 same ground as the corresponding marks in 1820, and will be exhibited in 

 the table, together with the products of the succeeding rotations. Besides the 

 general injury suffered here in 1824, there were one hundred and three 

 corn hills in one of the measured quarter acres (in C,) or more than one- 

 sixth, entirely barren, and eighty-nine corn hills in another quarter acre 

 (D.) In counting these, none of the missing hills were included, as these 

 plants might have perished from other causes. This unlooked for disaster 

 diminished the previous increase gained by marling, by nearly one-half; 

 and the damage has since been still greater, at each successive return of 

 cultivation until some years after 1832. 



Just before planting the crops of 1832, straw and chaff very imperfectly 

 rotted by exposure, and which containedjio admixtui'e of animal manure, 

 were applied at the rate of 800 bushels the acre to half the square without 

 marl (A, 1) and to the adjacent parts of the marled land. The vege- 

 table manure showed but slight benefit, until after all the worst effects of 

 excessive marling had been produced ; and the later operation of the ma- 

 nure served barely to prevent a still farther diminution being exhibited by 

 the land injured by marl. 



