1J4 CALCAREOUS MANURES-PRACTICE. 



first used as litter for animals. Not only tlie.se, but every other vegetable 

 and putrescent material t!iat is accessible should be saved and applied, and 

 even without any intci'mediate process of preparation, and at any time of 

 the year, and state of the fields, provided no growing or commencing crop 

 be thereby molested. Surplus straw, not needed for food oi" litter, is most 

 valuable and cheaply applied as top-dressing to clover or other grass ; though 

 it is an inconvenient and troublesome manure if immediately ploughed 

 under. Leaves from the woods of the farm may be used most profitably 

 in the same manner, to the full extent of the resources offered. And though 

 the manuring operations on the Coggins Point farm have not yet been ex- 

 tended beyond the last named putrescent material, it is believed that other 

 and abundant sources yet remain untried and unproductive on that and 

 most other farms, and to use which would be -but a waste of labor or 

 money, if in advance of marling. Among the most abundant of such ma- 

 terials, may be mentioned marsh grasses and marsh or pond mud ; and also 

 the purchase of rich alimentary manures from towns, to be carried by land . 

 or by water carriage to much greater distances than has yet been done, 

 or can be afforded to be done, on other lands. Even saw-dust and spent 

 tanner's bark, which, because of their insolubility, are generally deemed of 

 no value as manures, would form important and valuable materials for 

 fertilization, in situations where they can be obtained cheaply and in great 

 quantity. Mixing these or other insoluble vegetable substances with rich 

 putrescent matters, and still more if with some alkaline matter also, would 

 render them soluble, and convert them to food for plants. 



But putting aside the consideration of all such unusual oi* untried re- 

 sources and operations for additional fertilization, and limiting the present 

 view merely to the ordinary materials furnislied by every farm, the progress 

 and profit of improvement by such means only, after marling, will be greater 

 than will be at first believed by most cultivators of acid soils, not yet marled 

 or limed. If, on such soils, the general course above advised be pursued, 

 (and using merely the resources of the farm after marling,) the products of 

 crops on all the marled land usually will be doubled in the first course of 

 the rotation— often in the first crop immediately followiiig the marling ; and 

 the original product may be expected to be tripled by the third return of 

 the rotation. And this may be from merely applying marl insufficient 

 (and not excessive) quantities, and giving the land two years rest in four 

 without grazing. But on the parts having the aid of farm-yard and other 

 putrescent manures, and of clover, still greater returns may be obtained. 



When such statements as these are made, the question naturally occurs 

 to the reader, "Has the writer himself met with so much success, and what 

 has been the actual result of his labors in general, in the business so 

 strongly recommended ?" This question I have no right to shrink from, 

 although the answer to be given fully will be objectionable, from the ego- 

 tism inseparable from such details, which are certainly not worth being 

 thus presented to public notice, and which are called for only because silence 

 on this head might be considered as operating against the general tenor of 

 this essay. It will be sufficient here to state generally, that my average ■ 

 profits from marling, and the increased fertility -derived from It, hav^e not 

 been as great as are promised above, nor such as might be expected from 

 the most successful experiments of which the results have been reported — 

 and for these reasons. 1st. The greater part of my land was not of soil 

 the best adapted to be improved by marling. 2d. Having at first every 

 thing to learn, and to prove by trial, much of my labor was lost uselessly, 

 or spent in excessive and injurious applications. 3d. The fitness given to 

 the soil by marl to produce clover was not found out until after that best 



