L24 CALCAREOUS MANURES— PRACTICE. 



CHAPTER Xfll. 



THE EXPENSE AND PROFIT OF MARLING. 



Proposition 5 — con eluded. 



At this time tliere are but few persons among us wlio doubt tlie great 

 -benefit to be derived from the use of marl : and many of those \yho ten 

 years ago deemed the practice the result of folly, and a fit subject for ridi- 

 cule, now give that manure credit for virtues which it certainly does not 

 possess; and from their manner of, applying it seem to believe it a univer- 

 sal cure for sterility.* Such erroneous views have, been a principal cause 

 of the many injudicious and even injurious applications of marl. It is as 

 necessary to moderate the ill-founded expectations which many entertain, 

 as to excite the too feeble hopes of others. 



The improvement caused by marling, and its permanency, have been 

 established beyond question. Still the improvement may be paid for too 

 dearly— and the propriety of the practice must depend entirely on the 

 amount of its clear profits, ascertained by fair estimates of the expenses 

 incurred. 



With those who attempt any calculations of this kind, it is very common 

 to set out on the mistaken ground that the expense of marling should bear 

 some proportion to the selling price of the land : and without in the least 

 under-rating the effects of marl, they conclude that the improvement cannot 

 justify an expense of six dollars on an acre of land that would not pre- 

 viously sell for four dollars. Such a conclusion would be correct if the 

 land were held as an article for sale, and intended to be disposed of as soon 

 as possible : as the expense in that case might not be returned in imme- 

 diate profit, and certainly would not be added to the price of the land by 

 the purchaser, under present circumstances. But if the land is held as a 

 possession of any permanency, its previous price, or its subsequent valua- 

 tion, has no bearing whatever on the amount which it may be profitable to 

 expend for its improvement. Land that sells at four dollars, is often too 

 dear at as many cents, because its product will not pay the expense of cul- 

 tivation. But if by laying out for the improvement ten dollars, or even 

 one hundred dollars to the acre, the average increased annual profit would 

 certainly and permanently be worth ten per cent, on that cost of impr.ove- 

 ment, then the expenditure would be highly expedient and profitable. We 

 are so generally influenced by a rage for extending our domain, that ano- 

 ther farm is often bought, stocked and cultivated, when a liberal estimate 

 of its expected products, would not show an annual clear profit of three 

 per cent. : and any one would mortgage his estate to buy another thousand 

 acres, that was supposed fully capable of yielding ten per cent, on its price. 

 Yet the advantage would be precisely the same, if the principal money was 

 used to enrich the land already in possession, (without regard to its extent, 

 or previous value,) with eg'ual a.ssurance of its yielding the same amount 

 of profit. 



Nothing is more general, or has had a worse influence on the state of 

 agriculture, than the desire to extend our cultivation and landed ' posses- 

 sions. One of the consequences of this disposition has been to give an 

 artificial value to the poorest land, considered merely as so much territory, 



* This was in 18.31, when these remarks were first printed. They are less applicable 

 now than formerly. 



