1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



693 



or 350 [French] feet in depth.* [n such cases, 

 the fixing a horse or ox to draw up the marl, may 

 greatly diminish the labor. 



In land where water is reached at but little 

 depth, deep borings are useless, and a small auger 

 will serve. It consists of a rod of iron, of 10 or 12 

 feet in length, steeled and properly shaped at the 

 point. It is worked by a handle like that of a 

 common auger, but which is raised and lowered 

 at will, and is fixed, by the pressure of a screw, at 

 any height desired. 



The marl lies nearest the surface in the spots 

 where the earth seems dryest — where the argilo- 

 silicious soil is reddish, rather than gray. When 

 it has been found, if not deep, it is preferable, to 

 uncover it entirely : in this case, some veins of 

 water ought not to prevent the. extraction of the 

 marl. Whatever is begun in the day, should be 

 dug to the bottom by night: the water, during the 

 night, fills the hollow dug in the previous day, and 

 the next day, it is either got rid of, or another pit is 

 dug by the side of the other, leaving a sufficient 

 wall to keep out the wafer, until the last digging 

 also reaches the bottom. 



When marl is found, or what is believed to be 

 such, (for no two things appear more alike than 

 earthy marl, and certain kinds of plastic clay,) its 

 nature may be ascertained by touching it. with ni- 

 tric or muriatic acid, or even strong vinegar. A 

 movement of effervescence announces marl; but it 

 is nothing more than clay, if the acid spreads 

 through it without causing it to swell. Again — if 

 a lump of dry marl is thrown into water, there 

 takes place immediately a slight ebullition, its par- 

 ticles separate as if by mutual repulsion, and they 

 fall to the bottom of the vessel in a kind of pap. 

 This is another of the specific characters which 

 marl communicates to soil, in a high decree. 



All these characters do not meet together in the 

 same degree in argillaceous, and in stony marls. 

 The latter has often need, after being laid in the 

 land, of the aid of freezing, and even of being bro- 

 ken by hand, to be crumbled enough to produce its 

 proper effects. 



.Magnesia is sometimes met with in marl, but 

 more rarely than in limestone: the effect of mag- 

 I nesian marl on soil, is to be avoided, as that of 

 magnesian lime.f To know its presence, it is 

 necessary to recur to the process indicated for 

 lime.J It is also to be remarked, that the wa- 



* The French foot exceeds ours (or the English) 

 as 1.066, to 1.000-*bthere fore, the marl-pit named above 

 was 373 one-tenth English feet deep. 



f The magnesia in burnt limestone, being pure* 

 and caustic, may wpII be hurtful to soil, ana yet the 

 mild or carbonated magnesia, as presented by nature, 

 might be beneficial. We know of no proofbf the car- 

 bonate of magnesia being injurious to soil — and on the 

 contrary, would suppose it to be an ingredient of much 



value. We found, by chemical tests, that a specimen made, for the execution of this i 

 of the alluvial soil of Red river in Louisiana, so cele^f^eciter sacrifices of mdustry and 

 brated for its fertility, contained carbonate of magne- 

 sia — and we have since seen stated, in another publica- 

 tion of M. Puvis, himself, that the soil on the borders 



ter which covers the pita whence magnesian marl 

 has been extracted, like that which stands in the 

 bottoms of quarries of magnesian limestone, re- 

 mains whitish; while that which covers marl, or 

 limestone, not magnesian, is quite transparent and 

 pure. 



Of the ancient date of the use of marl. 



The use of marl in our country is very ancient. 

 Pliny speaks of its being used in Gaul, in England 

 and in Greece: he has even preserved the Gaulic 

 names given to its varieties, the only remains, pro- 

 bably, that are known of the language of our an- 

 cestors. V T arro, the agriculturist relates, that when 

 in Germany at the head of the Roman legions, he 

 traversed countries upon the borders of the Rhine, 

 the inhabitants of which manured their fields with 

 a white fossil chalk. Since, it appears that the 

 usage has continued in some places, but much 

 more in England, than in France. In France 

 there were no remains of the practice, except in a 

 few provinces. However, Bernard Palissy, Oli- 

 vier de Serres, and even La Bruyere the moralist, 

 eulogize its effects.* 



The effects of marl, being similar to those of 

 lime, have furnished grounds for similar opinions 

 and facts. Marlings have ceased in places where 

 they had been much in use; and in some, indeed, 

 the prejudice was established that marl "enriched 

 the fathers and ruined the sons,'' and its application 

 was forbidden by the conditions of the leases. In 

 short, marlings, like limings, had become rare. 



All these tacts may be explained. Marl and 

 lime act upon the soil by the same agency. When 

 either by one heavy dressing of marl or of lime, 

 or by repeated dressings of one or the other, the 

 soil has been supplied with a sufficient proportion 

 of the calcareous principle, new applications can- 

 not produce any benefit, and may even cause in- 

 jury to the land. Both induce a great degree of 

 productiveness: but for this fecundity to be sus- 

 tained, it is necessary that a quantity of putres- 



the Nile, of still more noted fertility, has been found to 

 be magnesian. 

 } See page 385, Farmers' Register. 



* "Pliny is the first and the only Latin author 

 who wrote on agriculture who speaks of marl, [as being 

 used to enrich lands, in Gaul and Britain.] Cato and 

 Varro do not mention it. Columella, it is true, speaks 

 of the mixture of earths — but only of sand, to mix with 

 clayey soils, and of clay, with sandy soils. He com- 

 mends these mixtures very highly; but nothing that he 

 says indicates either marl or its effects. Palladius, who 

 wrote long after these, and after Pliny, is alike silent 

 as to marl: its use then was neither practised nor 

 known in Italy, nor even in Spain, of which country 

 Columella was a native. Gaul then could not have de- 

 rived the practice from the Romans. 



This practice, at that epoch, appeared to have been 

 long established. They drew the marl, says Pliny, 

 from pits of more than 100 feet deep, and having galle- 

 ries, [or horizontal diggings extending from the per- 

 pendicular pit,] as in mines. It seems then, that they 



improvement, much 

 time, than is done 

 which would prove that agriculture was in a 

 Hirisbing condition in our country at that early epoch, 

 consequently, that it was not covered with forests, 

 with Druids, as opinion seems to have established- 

 short, that civilization, which always follows 

 pgress of the arts and of agriculture, was then 

 lore advanced than is believed." Essai sur la 

 m. 15, 17. 



