CALCAREOUS MANURES— PRACTICE. ] g ] 



great majority of cases, there will be much less labor and care and skill re- 

 quired, because there will not be encountered such obstacles as high and 

 steep hills to ascend, thick over-lying earth to remove, or wet pits and roads 

 to keep drained. 



In large operations and in dry marl, much labor of digging might be 

 saved by slightly undermining a perpendicular body of marl, and then 

 splitting of large masses at once, loy driving in a line of wedges on the 

 upper surface. 



For hard or firm marl, narrow and heavy picks are the best digging 

 utensils. Gravel shovels, with rounded points and long handles, are the 

 cheapest and most effective for throwing out the marl and loading the carts, 

 as well as for afterwards spreading the heaps on the field. 



Tumbrel carts, drawn by a single horse or mule, are most convenient for 

 conveying marl short distances. Every part of the cart should be light, 

 and the body should be so small as only to hold the load it is intended to 

 carry, without a tail-board. This plan enables the drivers to measure every 

 load, which advantage will be found on trial much more important than 

 would at first be supposed. If carts of common size are used, the careless 

 laborers will generally load too lightly, yet sometimes will injure the horse by 

 putting on a load much too heavy. The small sized cart-bodies prevent both 

 these faults. The load cannot be made much too heavy; and if too light, the 

 farmer can detect it at a glance. Where there is a hill to ascend, five heap- 

 ed bushels of wet marl is a sufficient load for a horse or good mule. If the 

 marl is dry, or the road level and firm, six bushels will be not too much^ 

 and may be put in the same carts, by using tail-boards. 



Strong laborers are required in the pit for digging and loading ; but boys 

 who are too small for any other regular farm labor, are sufficient to drive 

 the carts. Horses or mules kept at this work soon become so tractable 

 that very little strength or skill is required to drive them. 



One of the most general and injurious errors is the irregular and unequal 

 distribution of the marl over the fields. By this error, it often happens 

 that in the same acre there is both too much and too little marl, on many 

 different parts. It will save much time and trouble, and ensure far greater 

 accuracy in depositing the loads, and afterwards in spreading them, to 

 have the field marked off slightly by a plough, in checks or squares of sizes 

 suitable to the desired amount of the dressing. A load (or the half of a 

 load for very light marling) should be dropped in every square, and the 

 heap be required to be spread over that marked space precisely. 



All these hints and expedients, or perhaps better plans, might perhaps 

 occur to most persons before they are long engaged in marling. Still these 

 directions may help to smooth away some of the obstructions in the way 

 of the inexperienced ; and they will not be entirely useless, if they serve to 

 prevent even small losses of time and labor. 



