CALCAREOUS MANURES— PRACTICE. J07 



be subjected to grazing during the other two ; and that a sufRcient cover 

 of marl has been laid on for use, and not enough to cause disease. It is 

 true, that it is difficult, if not impossible, to fix that proper medium, vary- 

 ing as it may on every change of soil, of cropping, and of the kind of marl. 

 But whatever error may be made in the proportion of marl applied, let it 

 be on the side of light dressing, (except where putrescent manures are also 

 laid on, or designed to be laid on before the next course of crops begins) 

 — and if less increase of crop is gained to the acre, the cost and labor of 

 marling will be lessened in a still greater proportion. If, when tillage has 

 served to mix the marl well with the soil, sorrel should still show to any 

 extent, it will sufficiently indicate that not enough marl had been applied, 

 and that it may be added to, safely and profitably. If the nature of the 

 soil, its condition and treatment, and the strength of the marl, all were 

 known, it would be easy to direct the amount of a suitable dressing; but 

 without knovidng these circumstances, it will be safest to give not more 

 than 200 or 250 bushels of marl, of say 40 per cent, to the acre of worn 

 acid soils. Twice or thrice as much might be given, safely and profitably, 

 to newly cleared wood land, or well manured land. Besides avoiding 

 danger, it is more profitable to marl lightly at first on weak lands. If a 

 farmer can carry out only ten thousand bushels of marl in a year, he will 

 derive more product, and confer a greater amount of improvement, by 

 spreading it over forty acres of the land intended for his next crop, than 

 on twenty ; though the increase to the acre would probably be greatest in 

 the latter case. By the lighter dressing, the land of the whole farm will be 

 marled, and be storing up vegetable matter for its progressive improvement, 

 in half the time that it could be marled at double the rate. 



The greater part of the calcareous earth applied at one time cannot be- 

 gin to act as manure before several years have passed, owing to the coarse 

 state of many of the shells, and the want of thoroughly mixing them with 

 the soil. Therefore, if enough marl is applied to obtain its full effect on 

 the first course of crops, there will certainly be too much afterwards. 



Perhaps the greatest profit to be derived from marling, though not the 

 most apparent in the first few years, is on such soils as are full of wasting 

 vegetable matter. Here the effect is mostly preservative, and the benefit 

 and profit may be great, even though the increase of crop may be very 

 inconsiderable. Putrescent manure laid on any acid soil, or the natural 

 vegetable cover of those newly cleared, without marl, would soon be lost, 

 and the crops reduced to one-half or less. But when marl is previously 

 applied, this waste of fertility is prevented; and the estimate of benefit 

 should not only include the actual increase of crop caused by marling, but 

 as much more as the amount of the diminution which would otherwise 

 have followed. Every intended clearing of woodland, and especially of 

 those under a second growth of pines, ought to be marled before cutting 

 down ; and it will be still better, if it can be done several years before. If 

 the application is delayed until the new land is brought under cultivation, 

 though much putrescent matter will be saved, still more must be wasted. 

 By using marl some years before obtaining a crop from it, as many more 

 successive growths of leaves will be converted to useful manure, and fixed 

 in the soil ; and the increased fertility will more than compensate for the 

 delay. By such an operation, the farmer makes a loan to the soil, at a distant 

 time for payment, but on ample security, and at a high rate of compound 

 interest. 



Some experienced cultivators have believed that the most profitable way 

 to manage pine old fields, when cleared of their second growth, was to cul- 

 tivate them every year, until worn out — because, as they said, such land 



