128 CALCAREOUS MANURES— PRACTICE. 



and generally does, obtain less gross product from a large or a rich farm, 

 than his more necessitous, and therefore more attentive and economical 

 neighbor gets from a smaller or poorer farm, in proportion to the producing 

 power of each ; and even the same persons, when young and needy, have 

 often made more profit according to their means, than afterwards when 

 relieved from want, and having lands increased to a double power of 

 production. These, and similar facts, however general, are only examples 

 of the obvious truth, that the profits of land depend principally on the in- 

 dustry, economy, and good management of the cultivator ; and that many 

 a farmer, who can manage well a siriall or poor farm, is more deficient in 

 industry, economy, or the increased degree of knowledge required, when 

 possessed of much more abundant resources. In short, if these considera- 

 tions were to direct or influence our estimates, we should not be comparing 

 and estimating the value of lands, but the value of the care and industry 

 bestowed on their management by their proprietors. 



Another objector may ask, "If any poor land is raised in value, (accord- 

 ing to this estimate,) from one dollar to thirty, by marling, would a purchaser 

 make a judicious investment of his capital, by buying this improved land 

 at thirty dollars!" I would answer in the atnrmativ^e, if the view was 

 confined to this particular means of investing fai-ming capital. The pur- 

 chaser would get a clear interest of six per cent. — v.'hich is always a good 

 return from land, and is twice as much as all lower Virginia now yields. 

 But if such a purchase is compared with other means of acquiring land so 

 improved, it would be extremely injudicious ; because thirty dollars expend- 

 ed in purchasing and marling suitable land, would serve both to acquire and 

 improve, to as high a value, five or six acres. 



Estimates of the expenses required for marling are commonly erected 

 on as improper grounds as those of its profits. We never calculate the 

 cost of any old practice. We are content to clear wood-land that after- 

 wards will not pay for the expense of tillage — to keep under the plough 

 land reduced to fi.ve bushels of corn to the acre— to build and continue to 

 repair miles of useless and perishable fences — to make farm-yard manure, 

 (though not much of this fault,) and apply it to acid soils — without once 

 calculating whether we lose or gain by any of these operations. But let 

 any new practice be proposed, and then every one begins to count its cost ; 

 and that on such erroneous premises, that if applied to every kind of farm 

 labor, the estimate would prove that the most fertile land known could 

 scarcely defray the expenses of its cultivation. 



According to estimates made with much care and accuracy, the cost of 

 an uncommonly expensive job of marling, 4036 bushels in quantity, in 

 1824, amounted to $5.35 the acre, for 598 bushels of marl. This quantity 

 was much too great ; 400 bushels would have been quite enough for safety 

 and profit, and would have reduced the whole expense, including every 

 necessary preparation, to $3.50 the acre. The earth which was taken off, 

 to uncover the bed of marl, was consideraljly thicker than the marl itself. 

 The road from the pit ascended hills amounting to fifty feet of perpendicu- 

 lar elevation — and the average distance to the field was 847 yards. The 

 full estimates of these operations will be presented in the next chapter. 



It is impossible to carry on marling to advantage, or with any thing 

 like economy, unless it is made a regular business, to be continued through- 

 out the year or a specified portion of it, by a laboring force devoted to that 

 purpose, and not allowed to be withdrawn for any other. Instead of pro- 

 ceeding on this plan, most persons, who have begun to marl, attempt it in 

 the short intervals of leisure afforded between their different farming 

 operations — and without lessening for this purpose the extent of their usual 



