1839] 



F A R M E 11 S ' REGISTER 



105 



some Turner's cerale, (some tallow or nny mild 

 ointment would do as well,) in ihe middle of the 

 plaster put some calomel, say 29 i^rains, and eve- 

 ry night apply it to the piles, lt'tiin<? it reaiain all 

 night ; the relief will be almost immediale. Con- 

 tinue it (ill cured, and when the disease apfjears 

 disposed lo return, apply it again. I have recom- 

 mended it to a number. Calomel, to piles, is as 

 certain a cure as tooth-pulling is tor tooth-ach, and 

 the only remedy [ know of worth using. 



RoBKRT R. Harden. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 MARSH-MUD AS MANDRE. BLUE MARL. 



In the Inst No. of the Register, you solicit in- 

 formation in relation to the application of marsh- 

 mud ; I have made several short communications 

 to the Register on this subject, and have but lit- 

 tle to add. 



I commenced the use of marsh-mud, on a large 

 scale, in the year 1S2S, and have never been dis- 

 appointed in its effects. In stating my opinion of 

 the relative value of marsh-mud and marl, in 

 1834, I observed that mud would cease to benefit, 

 after a few years' cultivation. Experience has 

 convinced me of its more durable eli'ecis, and 1 

 now say, wiih confidence, that mud taken from a 

 ravine, on a salt-water river, where ve^etaliie ac- 

 cretions, and the washings from a good soil, have 

 gradually surmounted the tide, is more durable in 

 its productive qualities than stable or barn-} ard 

 manure. 



I made a small experiment with marsh mud in 

 1824. Last season I cultivated the field in corn, 

 where the mud had been applied ; though by rea- 

 son of the drought, nothing grew well, the dura- 

 bility of the improvement was manliest, by com- 

 paring it with the corn on the adjacent lands. 

 This year I propose applying marl lo lands here- 

 tofore covered wiih marsh-mud ; and, if 3'our 

 theory be right, that marl will give permanent ef- 

 fect lo puirescent manures, I calculate those lands, 

 under a moderate system of cultivation, will, liir a 

 long time, require no farther improvements. 

 That lands should be manured lor every crop of 

 wheat, as they are in Pennsylvania, I readily 

 agree ; but in a country which depends almost 1 

 exclusively upon srrain, labor has become a very j 

 serious matter. The (i'ee people of color, for the I 

 most part, go to the cities, where their career is 

 generally short and we cannot purchase slaves at 

 Mississippi prices. I have no knowledge of the 

 profits of slaves sold to the planters of the south ; 

 but 1 know of no instance of a successful emi- 

 grant, with his slaves, from this part of the coun- 

 try. Son)e of them, alier a short absence, have 

 returned with large credits to purchase slaves, and 

 with very seductive accounts of the profits of cot- 

 ton and sugar plantations. A iew years have 

 generally sufficed to wind up ihe concerns of these 

 adventurers, by death, or insolvency, and ffene- 

 rally by both; and I am much inclined to think 

 that if the slave-holding emigrants, or their repie- 

 sentatives from this part of the country, could set- 

 tle a general account, they would find" the balance 

 as much against them as it was witlithe Balti- 

 more privateers-men at the conclusion of the last 

 war. I do not mean lo tay. that all who gu to 

 Vol. VI 1-14 



the south iiul. A sharj) lellow, whose raoral.-< 

 subserve his vviis, will make money at any filace 

 where he has room, and his success (at least /or a 

 titne) will be certain, if he has the good fortune lo 

 get to be a director of a paper bank. Rut a Vir- 

 ginian or a Marylander, who had grown up under 

 the influence of moral habits, and checks derived 

 from his parentage and education, would feel 

 strange in a country where the Lynch-law is part 

 of their code, bowie knives of their dress, and 

 where whigs, democrats, nullifiers, members of 

 the legislature, members of the church, and min- 

 isters of the gospel, circulate "Oakland notes," 

 he would hardly feel himsell' justified in taking a 

 hand in this srame, or as if one of these holy 

 men, would join him as a partner.* 



I know a gentleman of this state, who, from 

 small beginnings, by prudence and industry, had 

 realized a handsome fortune, sullicient lo supply 

 him with all the comforts and many of the eh- 

 gances of lile ; he had also been a successlLiI po- 

 litician; and in a evil hour, was induced to think, by 

 bad advice, that his time and capital was misspent 

 in cultivating tobacco, wheat and corn, on a beau- 

 tiful farm, which had been improved under his 

 care and direction. To make his fifty thousand a 

 million, he purchased a large tract of land, on 

 some of the waters of the xMississippi, and 

 sent his son, with a laroe number of his slaves, 

 to settle. The last account I had of the concern, 

 was, that the entire crop of corn and cotton hail 

 been ruined by the overflow of the river, seven- 

 teen of the slaves had died of levers, generated, by 

 the malaria, and that the son was slowly recover- 

 ing from the li^vcr of the country, which at one 

 time, left but litile hope of life. 



1 leel a paternal regard for cultivators of the 

 earth, and to those of them, who shall at any time 

 leel a desire lo become rich, by the growth of 

 three, or four crops of cotton, or two or three of 

 sugar, and then return lo their native plains, to 

 enjoy otium cum dignilaie, 1 recommend iEsop's 

 Fables, They are all of them entertaining, and 

 some of them well suit their case. I recommend 

 this book, in sober earnestness. I learnt from it 

 in my youth, lessons of practical wisdom, some 

 of which have served me in my journey of lile. 



In communications heretofore made to the Re- 

 gister, I have suggested that blue-marl, contain- 

 ed properties fertilizing beyond the lime contained 

 in it. Farther observation has confirmed the opi- 

 nion. I have worked, principally, two pits, one of 

 blue, the other of yellow-marl. Professor Duca- 

 t"^! reported the latter lo be richest in lime. I 

 have applied the marl from those pits to land 

 equal in point of leriility, and exhaustion, and 

 have always found the l(?rtilizing eliects from the 

 lanils covered with blue-marl, more quickly dis- 

 closed, and exceedinLT in product. Your Pro- 

 fesf:or Rogers, in the 3d vol. of the Register, page 

 G34, in speaking of blue-marl, suggests that iis 

 coloring appears to consist of carbonaceous mat- 

 ter, diMived, probably, from the organic materials, 

 associated with the shells, which imparts toil, fer- 

 tilizing properties. The qualities and the quanti- 

 ties of substances combined with matter used in 

 acricullure, was a matter of diligent and success- 

 ful inquiry, by Sir 11. Davy; and \ should think, 



* Sec Dr. Ha;;an"s letter on Missiissippi banking, i» 

 Farmcn' Register lor Dcceiuber, p;!ge 729. 



