J38 CALCAREOUS MANURES— PRACTICE. 



Brought forward, loads 191 



And the same day began nearest work with - - - 4 



May 18th, 3 carts for 4 hours (stopped by heavy rain,) - 22 

 19th and 20th, 3 carts at work elsewhere, on drier land. 



21st, 3 " again marling, 75 



22d, rain, no work done by horses. 



23d, Sunday. 



24th, 1 " at other work. 



25th, 3 " again marling, 74 



26th, 3 " . - - 75 M 



27th, 3 " 72 



28th, 3 " 72 



29th, 3 " (shafts of one broken and repaired,) - - 64 



30th, Sunday. 



31st, 3 " until rain at 4 P. M. 53 



511 



702 J 



After this stoppage, the horses were put to ploughing the corn, that the 

 cultivation might be sufficiently advanced to use all the laborers in harvest, 

 which began on the 11th of June. As near as I could determine by in- 

 spection, and a rough cubic measurement, about one half of the uncovered 

 marl was then dug and carried out. As the remainder was not dug until 

 August, when I was absent from home, I have no more correct means of 

 ascertaining these proportions ; and shall according to this supposition 

 charge half the actual cost of the whole uncovering of earth, to this sup- 

 posed half of the marl which formed this last operation. 



The list of days' work shows that the average number of loads per day, 

 at eight hundred and forty-seven yards, was twenty-four and a half for 

 each cart, which made twenty-three and a half miles for the day's journey 

 of each horse. The first four days' work finished the farthest piece, of 

 which the average distance was nine hundred and ninety-seven yards— but 

 this part of the work was on the nearest side of that piece, and at less than 

 that average distance. I shall not make any separate calculation, for these 

 hundred and ninety-one loads, but consider all as if carried only eight hun- 

 dred and forty-seven yards. 



The daily cost of the laboring force, 2 men, 2 boys, 2 horses, 

 and 1 mule, was before estimated at ^2 11— which served to 

 carry out 73^ loads, or 422 bushels. At that rate, (to May 

 31st,) 702 loads, or 4036 bushels, cost, - - - - $20 15 

 Add half the expense of uncovering, (half the marl still remain- 

 ing not dug,) 1 3 74 



For spreading, at 3 H cents per hundred loads, ... 2 ISf 



Total cost of 4036 bushels laid on, ... $36 07f 



Which makes the cost per bushel, 9 mills nearly. 

 And per acre, at 104 loads, or 598 bushels. - ... $5 34^^ 

 Or, at 400 bushels, which would have been a sufficient, and much 



safer dressing, per acre, $3 57^ 



In 1828, at Shellbanks, Prince George county, a very poor, worn, and 

 hilly farm, I commenced marling, and in about four months finished 120^ 

 acres at rates between 230 and 280 bushels per acre. The time taken up 

 in this work was five days in January, and all February and March, with 



