90 CALCAREOUS MANURES— PRACTICE. 



per cent, on the first crop. No measurement was made — but the product 

 was estimated by comparison with an adjacent piece, which measured 

 thirty-one bushels, and which seemed to be inferior to this piece. 



The operation of marl on this kind of soil seems to add to the previous 

 product very slowly, compared with other soils; but it is not the less 

 effectual and profitable in fixing and retaining the vegetable matter accu- 

 mulated by nature, which otherwise would be quickly dissipated by cul- 

 tivation, and lost for ever. 



The remarkable sandy and open texture of the soil on which the last two 

 experiments were tried, will be evident from the following statement of the 

 quantity and coarseness of the silicious sand contained. 

 1000 grains of this soil, taken in 1826 from the part that had been both 



limed and marled, was found to consist of 

 811 of silicious sand moderately coarse, mixed with a few grains of 



coarse shelly matter (the remains of the marl.) 

 1 58 finely divided earthy matter, part silicious, as well as aluminous, &c. 

 31 loss. 



At the same time, from the edge of the adjoining wood-land which formed 

 the next described experiment, 1 5, and which had not then been marled, a 

 specimen of soil was taken from between the depths of one and three inches 

 — and found to consist of the following proportions. This spot was believed 

 to be rather lighter than the other in its natural state. 

 865 grains of silicious sand, principally coarse, 

 107 finely divided earthy matter (partly silicious,) &c. 



28 loss. 



CHAPTER VI. 



EFFECTS OF CALCAREOUS MANURES ON EXHAUSTED ACID SOILS, UNDER THEIR 

 SECOND GROWTH OF TREES. 



Proposition 5 — continued. 



Not having owned much land under a second growth of pines, I can only 

 refer to two experiments of this kind. The improvement in both these 

 cases has been so remarkable, as to induce the belief that the " old fields" to 

 be found on every farm, which have been exhausted and turned out of 

 cultivation thirty or forty years, offer the most profitable subjects for the 

 application of calcareous manures. 



Experiment 16. 



May 1826. Marled about eight acres of land under its second growth, 

 by opening paths for the carts ten yards apart. Marl 40 per cent. ; put 500 

 to 600 bushels to the acre— and spread in the course of the summer. In 

 August, belted slightly all the pines that were as much as eight inches 

 through, and cut down or grubbed the smaller growth, of which there was 

 very little. The pines (which were the only trees) stood thick, and were 

 mostly from eight to twelve inches in diameter— eighteen inches where 

 standing thin. The land joined experiment 15 on one side; but this is 

 level, and on the other side joins ridge woodland, which soon becomes like 

 soil of experiment I. This piece, in its virgin state, was probably of a 

 nature between those two soils — but less like the ridge soil than the "free 

 light land." No information has been obtained as to the state of this land 



