1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



225 



IMPROVEMENTS BY MARLING IN NORTH CA- 

 ROLINA. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Newbern, June, 22, 1835. 



Dear Sir — .1 have lately received from Mr. 

 Benners the enclosed letter, and supposing it to 

 possess some interest for you, 1 have accordingly 

 forwarded it. I should he pleased to send you 

 some of Mr. Benners' specimens, if an opportu- 

 nity of forwarding them should be found. Mr. 

 Bs position, you may remember, is on the north- 

 ern bank of the Neuse River, about 16 miles be- 

 low Newbern. He is the only person in this sec- 

 tion of country who has any considerable expe- 

 rience in marling. A few other persons however 

 have begun to make experiments. 



Yours respectfully, 



II. B. CROOM. 



P. S. The marl pits of Mr. Benners are remark- 

 ably interesting for the variety of shells and fossil 

 bones which they afford. These have proved, in 

 the estimation of Mr. Conrad, the existence here 

 of the newer pliocene formation. — Sec Sillimaii's 

 Journal lor April, 1835. 



To H. B. CroojIj Esq. 



Moseville, June 14, 1835. 



Dear Sir — In reading the Essay on Calcareous 

 Manures, I learn for the first time, that our shell 

 marl is not what is properly understood by marl in 

 English books and practice. The solution of the 

 two kinds is widely different. The test of marl is 

 pure water — and acids the test ive use for the same 

 purpose. Observing this fact, I immediately re- 

 cognised an old acquaintance overlooked and ne- 

 glected by me, as I only knew him by the name 

 of clay, but since his introduction to my notice un- 

 der his proper name, I have made it my business 

 to become more intimate with his character and 

 calling, and find upon investigation, that marl is 

 his real name. Brick mortar has certainly done 

 him great injustice, both here and in England, in 

 assuming the garb, quality, and character of marl 

 — to the great loss and detriment of society in 

 general, and farmers in particular. At the same 

 time begging pardon for our past neglect of him, 

 and promising every attention to him in future, 

 we remain his humble servant. About ten years 

 past, I did offer this marl a glass of vinegar, but 

 having refused it, I cut and broke off all farther 

 acquaintance, until latterly, I have fortunately dis- 

 covered he is a pure water drinker. It is also re- 

 marked, that he is none the worse for his temper- 

 ate habits. Nos. 1 and 2 are samples of this 

 marl. I am now enabled to give you an account of 

 the position and order of the different kinds of marl 

 as they come to view in working the pits. 



The first bed is a fat blue or red clay marl. 

 Nos.T and 2, from two to five feet below the 

 surface, and from three to seventeen feet thick. 



The second bed under this, rich red or yellow 

 shell marl, from one to five or six feet thick — ef- 

 fervesces in acids. 



The third bed is a very deep blue marl, without 

 shells, with here and there the impression of the 

 whole exterior surface of the shell, forming a cell in 



Vol. Ill — 29 



which is a lump of marl the size and shape of the 

 fish. This kind is very tough to cut up, but when 

 dry, crumbles to a very fine powder, as light as 

 ashes, and about the same color — effervesces in 

 acids. Soecimens No. 3. 



The fourth bed is (either) a blue or white shell 

 marl, and works like coarse mortar, hardens in 

 lumps as it dries, but crumbles in moving about — 

 effervesces in acids. This last or lower bed is 

 from three to five feet below common tide-water, 

 and has never been worked through. I have 

 selected from the different beds of shell marl, a 

 variety of specimens which I intend sending to 

 you very shortly, and some fossil bones, &c. I 

 am at present working a pit which exhibits the 

 different strata, in the order in which 1 have at- 

 tempted to describe them above, but very imper- 

 fectly. 



It is very easy to be deceived in the strength of 

 marl by merely handling it, or by the eye, as I 

 have experienced the injurious effects of a too 

 liberal application of it on an impoverished soil. 

 Fifteen years ago, I burned vp a piece of an old 

 -field by laying on too great a quantity of shell 

 marl at the first dressing: but it is now excellent 

 land. As this was my first experiment, (1818) I 

 was mortified and disappointed, and was of course 

 laughed at and ridiculed, because the experiment 

 had fulfilled the prediction of those who merely 

 guessed at what they knew nothing about. I soon 

 discovered my mistake by observing that where 

 the heaps were left unspread, and ploughed through 

 and planted, that the young corn died, and that no 

 grass would grow on the pure marl — but this was 

 not the case in the intervals between the heaps; 

 these spaces showed evident improvement, but 

 so very gradual, as to be unobserved by every one 

 but myself, and the hands employed on the farm. 

 I soon perceived that my land was getting better. 

 My means were extremely limited, and of course 

 my land improved in proportion, and continues so 

 to do up to the present moment. I very soon dis- 

 covered that manure went a great deal farther on 

 my marled land, than on land of a better quality 

 not marled. The improvement, however, became 

 at length too evident to all to be any longer doubt- 

 ed; but the jest continued, and the whole improve- 

 ment placed to the credit of the manure, of which 

 I have never raised as much as would afford a 

 tolerable dressing to half of my corn crop, with- 

 out the marl, and both combined with enclosing 

 and alternate cropping; corn, cotton, potatoes, 

 and wheat or rye: * the land divided in two 

 equal parts, and one-half tended as above des- 

 cribed, while the other half remains enclosed. 

 This is the course I have pursued steadily for the 

 last fifteen years, and have no disposition to change 

 it for a better, unless our climate Avas more con- 

 genial to the cultivation of artificial grasses. White 

 clover grows in my fields, but receives no assis- 

 tance from cultivation — it dies in July and August, 

 while the crop grass and carrot weed cover the 

 land, and are invaluable, being capable of resist- 

 ing the dryest and hottest weather. 



*Rye should succeed corn and potatoes on all our 

 light lands, instead of wheat. It is a most profitable 

 grain for stock, and the quality and texture of our high 

 lands are admirably adapted to the production of this 

 grain, as a very profitable crop. My attempts at a 

 good crop of rye have never failed — wheat on the 

 other hand is just as uncertain. — l. b, ■ 



