670 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. II 



with your approval. Mr. Philips, the inventor, 

 gave me a bill of the timber, amounting to, say 

 1000 leet, and so full an explanation of the ma- 

 chine as to enable my own worUrnen to do all ex- 

 cept two or three days work, whicii was aided in 

 and superintended by Mr. Geo. Philips himself. 

 The machine was put in operation merely to try 

 it in March last, but no work done. When our 

 crop was " laid by" as the phrase is, my son 

 (1 being in Frederick in pursuit of health so long 

 unknown to me) did not keep an account of the 

 days employed, but it could not be more than 35 

 days. Four and sometimes five hands were em- 

 ployed. In the want of that sort of daily account 

 of progress it is impossible to say what number of 

 bushels were raised in any one day, but of the 

 general result there is but one opinion by my son 

 and myself. Upon my return we decided that 

 four hands could with ease do four times as much 

 as without it ; 5 or 6 can work without incommo- 

 ding each other. We think the quantity of 20000 

 bushels, and the work is by no means laborious. 

 In the preceding twelve months we had raised with 

 an equal or greater number of hands a little less 

 than 26000 bushels. I have begun only yesterday 

 to haul it with excellent teams, two wagons and 

 two ox-carts, for I find the wagon and ox-cart 

 more advantageous to employ than single-horse 

 carte. My son thinks s$80 ample pay for building 

 a machine, every thing being found. We find a 

 material difference between one pit and another; 

 some ground is very sandy, and caves badly, and 

 the water comes in'more freely. We have, how- 

 ever lew such spots. I think the machine will 

 raise in my common pits, with 5 hands, 600 and 

 probably 750 bushels per day; and the digging the 

 marl is the hardest of the labor. J. M. 



REMARKS. 



We are much gratified to meet our good old 

 friend as a contributor to the pages of the Far- 

 mers' Register ; and it adds much to this gratifi- 

 caiion to know, from this and other sources of in- 

 formation, that in his old age (and diseased and 

 feeble, as we regret to learn,) he is marling his land 

 with all the energy and enthusiasm of youth ; and 

 in a few years from the first discovery of his marl, 

 his labors will have doubled the product of the 

 farm which he had so long before cultivated, with- 

 out producing any increase of fertility or produc- 

 tiveness. May he not only see the certain and 

 speedy result of his present labors, but live long 

 in health to enjoy the greatest reward which can 

 be bestowed on a farmer — the seeing the new and 

 permanent productiveness of his land caused by his 

 own labors of mind and body. His example, too, 

 we hope will do more for his countymen, than have 

 our precepts and example united. For, very i'ew 

 landholders in Sussex have yet availed properly of 

 the marl which underlies the whole county ; and 

 there is no county in Virginia, possessing that 

 natural advantage, which is less indebted to our 

 instruction, or that has heretofore given less sup- 

 port lo, and of course received less benefit from, 



the publication of the Farmers' Register. Yet 

 we will dare to assert that if ihe instruction there 

 oll'ered, even as to marling alone, had been avail- 

 ed of, that the agricultural value and profits of the 

 county would have been already doubled, and 

 that by improvements yielding clear gain imme- 

 diately and permanently. We proceed to answer 

 our friend's inquiries. 



No precise quantity of marl can be correctly 

 prescribed as a general rule. It is necessary to 

 know in advance, 1st, the strength and character 

 of the marl, 2nd, the texture and degree of 

 fertility of the soil, and 3id, the treatment to 

 which it had been, and is designed to be subjected 

 in cultivation. Yet with these three data, it is- 

 easy lor any farmer to apply a proper quantity in 

 every possible case. The more clayey and still 

 more the richer the land, or the more llill of vege- 

 table matter, and the poorer the marl, the heavier 

 should be the marling ; and the lighter in propor- 

 tion to the extent of the reverse conditions — or lo 

 the sandiness, poverty and nakedness of the land, 

 and the richness of the marl. In one case, 100 

 bushels of marl may be as much as is profitable or 

 safe lo apf)ly; and in another it would be both 

 safe and profitable to give 800. General rules to 

 this effect, but more fully stated, are given at page 

 56 of 'Essay on Calcareous Manures,' 2nd Edi- 

 tion. 



We have never attached much importance to 

 the difference of laying marl on the grass or weeds, 

 and ploughing under lor a crop, or on the surfiice 

 of the land after being ploughed. Each mode 

 has its peculiar advantages and disadvantages, 

 which are so nearly balanced, that it is best to 

 consult convenience in other respects, and choose 

 accordingly. If to be ploughed under with the 

 turf or weeds, (and mixed by the tillage of the 

 crop,) marl will have most of early effect, because 

 of its being in contact with the putrescent matter,- 

 and of their reciprocal and beneficial action on 

 each other. But the attendant disadvantage is, 

 that, i( ploughed under with a good fiirrow, or 

 even five inches deep, the subsequent tilkige will 

 not serve fully to bring up and mix the marl with 

 the soil, without which (and especially if lying 

 beneath) the marl is of very little effect. If cart- 

 ed on after the land has been ploughed, and mix- 

 ed by the subsequent tillage, the mixture will be 

 much more perfectly made. But the labor of cart- 

 ing on ploughed land is greater, and the operation 

 is of course hurtful, by making the ground hard. 



But the ploughing under of marl is worse than 

 labor thrown away, unless for the immediate cul- 

 tivation of a crop. If laid on land a year or more 

 (as may sometimes be convenient) before the field 

 is to be cultivated, it will be much better to spread 

 carefully, and leave it on the surface, than to 



