CALCAREOUS MANURES— APPENDIX. ] 39 



giving long and (in some respects) niinnte statemeTits of marl, and marl- 

 ing, omit to tell, or leave their readers to doubt, whether the manure or the 

 soil is the most calcareous— or what proportions of calcareous earth, or 

 whether any is present in either — then have I fully established that the 

 American reader who may attempt to draw instruction from such sources, 

 as to the operation, effects and profits of either marl or calcareous ma- 

 nures in general, will be more apt to be deceived and misled than enlight- 

 ened. 



I have now to refer to an author, whose works, well known as they may 

 be to others, had not come under my view until after the publication of 

 most of the foregoing extracts. Otherwise, Marshall would have been 

 stated as an exception to the general silence of British authors as to the 

 true and precise nature of what they treated of as marl. But though he 

 has not been like others, so faulty as to leave in doubt what was the cha- 

 racter and value of the marls of which he spoke, and the nature of their 

 operation on the soils to wiiich they were applied, still no other writer 

 furnishes stronger proof of the general ignorance and disregard of the 

 nature of marls and calcareous manures, and of their mode of operation ; 

 and even the author himself is not free from the same charge as will be 

 shown. I shall quote more at length from Marshall, because he presents 

 the strongest opposition to what I have stated as to the general purport of 

 publications on marling ; and also, because whatever may be their charac- 

 ter, there is much to interest the reader in his accounts of the opinions and 

 practices of those who have used calcareous manures longest and most 

 extensively, although without knovv' ing what they were doing. 



In his Rural Economy of Norfolk, ihe "marls" and " clays" most used 

 in the celebrated improvements of that county are minutely described, 

 and the chemical composition stated, showing that both are highly calca- 

 reous. Of the " marls" or chalks, most used for manure in Norfolk, he 

 analyzed three specimens, and one of clay, and found the proportions of 

 pure calcareous matter as follows : 

 Chalk marl of Thorp-market, contained, per cent. - - - 85 



Soft chalk of Thorp-next-Norwich, - 98 



Hard chalk of S waff ham, almost pure, — nearly - - - - 100 

 Clay marl of Hemsby, 43 



24. Of these he spoke previously and in general terms, thus : 



" The central and northern parts of the district abound, universally, with a whitish- 

 colored chalk marl ; while the Fleg hundreds, and the eastern coast, are equally fortu- 

 nate in a gray-colored clay marl. 



" The first has, in all probability, been in use as a manure many centuries ; there are 

 oaks of considerable size now going to decay in pits which have obviously been hereto- 

 fore in use, and which, perhaps, still remain in use, as mari-pits. 



" The use of clay marl, as a manure, seems to be a much later discovery ; even yet. 

 there are farmers who are blind to its good effect ; because it is not marl, but " clay ;" 

 by which name it is universally known. 



" The name, however, would be a thing of no import, were it not indiscriminately- 

 applied to unctuous earths in general, whether they contain, or not, any portion of cal- 

 careous matter. Nothing is " marl" which is not white ; for, notwithstanding the county 

 has been so long and so largely indebted to its fertilizing quality, her husbandmen, even 

 in this enlightened age, remain totally ignorant of its distinguishing properties ; through" 

 which want of information much labor and expense is frequently thrown away. 



" One man, seeing the good effect of the Fleg clay, for instance, concludes that all 

 clays are fertile, and finding a bed of strong brick earth upon his farm, falls to work, at 

 a great expense, to " claying" — while another, observing this man's miscarriage, con- 

 cludes that all clays are unprofitable ; and, inconsequence, is at an expense, equally ill 

 applied, of fetching " marl" from a great distance ; while he has, perhaps, in his own 

 farm, if judiciously sought after, an earth of a quality equally fertilizing with that he is 

 throwing away his time and his money in fetching.— -JlifarsAa/rs Norfolk, vol. i., p. 16. 



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