COS 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 10 



marbles aniMime stones. The materials are then 

 to he had in abundance. 



To answer the third query, we must inquire into 

 what has been done in other countries or states, 

 and what is usually the expense. 



We have, on this subject, the undoubted testi- 

 mony of almost every European writer on agri- 

 culture. In those countries, carbonate of lime, in 

 the form and by the name of marl, has been used 

 to restore fertility to land from time immemorial. 

 Lime, in a caustic state, has also been much used 

 for the same purpose, and when applied with 

 judgement, the result, has always been satisfacto- 

 ry." Sir H. Davy says, (p. 1S2,) in his Agricultu- 

 ral Chemistry: "The labour of improving the tex- 

 ture or the. constitution of the soil, is repaid by a 

 great permanent advantage, less manure is re- 

 quired, and its lertility insured; and capital laid out 

 in this way. secures forever, the productiveness, 

 and consequently the value of the land.'''' Also, in 

 another place, (p. 164:) "The soils which con- 

 tain the most alumina and carbonate of lime, are 

 those which act with the greatest energy in pre- 

 serving manures. Such soils merit the appella- 

 tion which is commonly given to them of rich 

 soils; lor the vegetable nourishment is long pre- 

 served in them, unless taken up by the organs of 

 the plants." James Anderson, L. L. D. in his 

 .Essays relating to Agriculture, &c. says, (p. 169:) 

 "Lime is the most universal manure tor unproduc- 

 tive land. Of all the manures that can be obtain 

 ed for improving waste lands, nothing is equal to 

 lime, or other calcareous matter." And in p. 198: 

 "1 scruple not again to repeat, for it cannot be too 

 strongly inculcated, that lime, or other calcareous 

 matter, applied in large quantities, must form the 

 basis of all radical improvements of waste lands. 

 Lime tends to sweeten the grasses, produced on 

 every soil, to which it has been applied, so as to 

 render them more palatable to all animals; it aug- 

 ments the quantum of the produce considerably; 

 it thus renders the ground capable of sustaining 

 a greater number of beasts. These, of course, 

 produce more duns, and that dung if applied in 

 conjunction with the lime, will produce greater and 

 more lasting effects than it could have done with- 

 out it. It would seem that heaven with a view to 

 reward the industry of man, and to set no limits 

 to the melioration of the soil, had disposed this 

 universal fertilizer over our globe, as to bring it 

 within our reach, by the exertions of human in- 

 dustry, almost every where. Whatever, there- 

 fore tends to facilitate the acquisition of this ma- 

 nure to any particular place; whether by means of 

 roads, canals, or any other device, must be consi- 

 dered as amongst the most useful of human exer- 

 tions." 



The quotations, from these tw r o writers must 

 suffice, although numerous others, both from 

 Great Britain and the continent, might be advan- 

 tageously added, were if not for the fear of render- 

 ing this memoir much too voluminous. W T e can- 

 not, however, refrain noticing something of this 

 kind of improvement, that has been lately, and is 

 now going on in increasing progress in some of 

 our sister states, principally in Virginia. That 

 most interesting work, lately published bv Mr. 

 Edmund Ruffin, of Virginia, entitled an "Essay 

 on Calcareous Manures," second edition, together 

 with his most invaluable monthly periodical, the 

 "Farmers' Register," (publications which ought 



to be in the hands of every planter or farmer that 

 can read) have already produced in the short 

 space of little more than two years, very great im- 

 provements in the state of Virginia. These 

 works give such undoubted proofs of an increased 

 zeal, in the planters and farmers of that country, 

 as redounds, not only to their honor, but. also 

 greatly to their profits. Wherever it is found 

 practicable, the beds of fossil shells, are sought for, 

 and transported on the worn-out or even on lresh 

 lands, at an expense which may appear great in 

 this country, where we are unused to such exer- 

 tions, but in reality small when compared to the 

 great increase of the crops. By means of these 

 calcareous materials, fields which formerly pro- 

 duced eight or ten bushels of corn to the acre, and 

 other grains in the same proportion, produce now 

 thirty or more, and the land is thereby made fit 

 for the production of wheat and clover, followed 

 by another crop of corn or cotton. We cannot 

 here enter into details, although they are most in- 

 teresting; but we should not be doing justice to 

 our subject or to our country, were we to neglect 

 the mention of another very great advantage which 

 is found to be derived from the same application of 

 calcareous earths to the land, and that is, that the 

 health of the country has been considerably im- 

 proved by it. The short time that this invaluable 

 manure has been used in the low country in Vir- 

 ginia and Maryland, does not only afford the most 

 positive evidence of the permanence of this last 

 mentioned benefit, but, from analogy, we are war- 

 ranted in our hopes of the most permanent advan- 

 tages from it.* The city of Mobile, from being 

 some years ago, a very sickly place, is now, and 

 has been for a lew years, a most healthy one. 

 This is chiefly to he attributed to the paving of' its 

 streets with shells, and the filling up of the sunken 

 and marshy places, and covering them with the 

 same materials. 



The use of lime in its caustic state for the pur- 

 pose of disinfecting cemeteries, butcher-pens, &c. 

 has been known from time immemorial; but 

 that these great benefits could be extended over a 

 large extent of country, seems a discovery that 

 had been reserved for our own times. It is found 

 that the carbonate of lime possesses this disinfect- 

 ing power in at least as high a degree, and is pre- 

 ferable to the caustic lime, except when it is desi- 

 rable to consume the noxious, putrescent matter. 

 The greater cheapness of the carbonate ma}* ren- 

 der it useful with that view alone; and may be 

 used to cover battle-fields, which besides the 

 butcheries they have witnessed, frequently pro- 

 duce diseases in the country around. It is some- 



*It is with sorrow and shame that we oiler to correct 

 the mistake which the author of the report has fallen 

 into, and which has caused him to extend general eulo- 

 gy where it is so little deserved. It is perfectly true 

 that all the beneficial results of the use of marl spoken of 

 above, have been obtained, and to the fullest extent, by 

 many individuals in both Virginia and Maryland. But 

 it must also be admitted that a far greater number ir 

 both these states, and still more in INorth Carolina, whe 

 possess equal means for availing themselves of this 

 source of fertility and wealth, have either neglected it 

 entirely, or used it very partially. Ed. Far. Reg. 



