FARMER 8 



3 9 



EGISTER. 



Vol. HI. 



APRIL, 1S36. 



No. 12. 



EDMUND RUFFIN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



ON THE USE OF MARL AS MANURE. 



BY M . P U V I S . 



Translated for Hip Farmers' Register, from the Annates de 



1 'Agriculture Fraucaise, of 1835. 



[Continued from page 696.] 

 Among so many different practices, we may 

 nevertheless arrive at an estimate of a reasonable 

 dressing of marl, for soils of middling consistence, 

 which then may be altered as circumstances require: 

 it. will be a greai service rendered to practice, eve;; 

 to approach ihus near to the precise directions which 

 are so much wanted. 



The object of marling, is to give to a soil the 

 qualities and advantages of a calcareous soi!. 

 Then the analysis of the host calcareous soils, of 

 the best sails of Flanders among others — the prac- 

 tice o( the countries where marling is the most an- 

 cient, and the best regulated — the dressings thai 

 Thaer advises — the summary of numerous mar- 

 lings given by Arthur Young — all have made up 

 conclude, in the Essay on Marl,* that the propor- 



tion of 3 percent, of carbonate of lime, in the tilled 

 layer of soil, on an average, ought to suffice. But 

 marl more or less rich, and tillage more or less 

 deep, either or both, would require variations in the 

 quantities of marl, to preserve a fixed proportion of 

 carbonate ol lime in the soil. 



To facilitate the application of this rule, derived 

 from experience and reasoning, we yive a table 

 which contains all the elements of marlirur, and of 

 which it will he easy to make use. It is made for 

 marl of all degrees of richness, from 10 to 90 per 

 cent, of carbonate of lime, and tor all depths of 

 ploughing from 3 to 8 inches. By taking the. in- 

 termediate averages, we will have, for every depth 

 of ploughing, and lor every quality of marl, the 

 number of cubic leet to carry upon a hectare of 

 and. The cubic feet are estimated by the capaci- 

 ty of the carts; because the marl, in crumbling af- 

 rerwards upon the soils, acquires as much bufk as 

 it occupied in lumps in the carls, with the vacant 

 spaces between the lumps. f 



* Essai sur la marne, the original work of M. Puvis, 

 referred to in the introductory remarks to this transla- 

 tion. 



t The proportion of three per cent, of carbonate lime 

 is far too much for safe and profitable dressings. One- 

 third of that quantity is most generally enough, and it 

 would very often do injury to exceed this proportion. 

 It is true that no fixed proportion can be universally ap- 

 plied — and three per cent, may in some cases be given 

 with safety and advantage, and in others, one per cent, 

 would be hurtful. Still, if any general average may be 

 assumed, after making due allowance for causes foi 

 exceptions to the general rule, our experience would 

 fix on one per cent, as abundantly high for that ave- 

 rage dressing. This is for the acid, or naturally inferior 

 soils of Virginia, where marling in proper proportions 

 does most good — and most barm, if applied improperly, 

 Vol. Ill— 89 



or in excess. On better soils, having more lime natu- 

 rally, marl will be of far less service, but may be ap- 

 plied in heavier dressings, without damage to the soil. It 

 is probable that many of the marled soils in Europe are 

 of the latter kind. 



X The marling table of our author, is on a good plan 

 to aid calculation, but it is nearly useless to the Amer- 

 ican reader, not only for assuming 3 per cent, as a 

 suitable dressing, but because the land is measured by 

 hectares, and the marl by cubic feet, an unusual mea- 

 sure little suited to the practice of farmers, and still 

 less as the French linear foot is to ours as 1.066 to 

 1.000. For these reasons, the table would have been 

 rejected, and substituted by another, but for an unwil- 

 lingness to alter the author's text; and especially as 

 he refers to some of its particulars afterwards. The 

 following table is constructed upon a plan suited for 



