22 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



recent has'y visit to the county, my personal ob- 

 eervations were almost confined to the first and 

 third of the above divisions, not having seen any 

 of the Maltapony low-grounds, and very lilile of 

 the sandy high or "forest land," that being the 

 common designation in this and the neighboring 

 counties for the high and naturally poor lands 

 back from the rivers, and which name has no 

 relation to the existence of trees on the land. 

 Hence the term "forest land" before used in the 

 Iburlh ofthe queries on marling, would here be mis- 

 construed, unless explained to mean wood-land, as 

 it was designed, and as it will now be changed lor. 



The high or "forest" land, or "ridge" land, as 

 I have elsewhere termed such, whether of the 

 s;ifJ' or light class, was originally poor, as euch 

 soils are every where else in the tide- water region 

 of Virginia. Before I had seen any of this stiff 

 kind, it was so described to me by Mr. Fontaine, 

 (in reference to his own farm,) that 1 recognized 

 it at once as the same kind which forms a small 

 part of the Coggins' liirm, which I formerly occu- 

 pied, and nearly the whole of the Maycox farm 

 adjoinin<r. and much other land in that neighbor- 

 hood. The peculiar marks of this very base soil 

 were described at page 40 of ihe ' Essay on Cal- 

 careous Manures,' as the subject of several marl- 

 ing experiments ; and on referring to the descrip- 

 tion copied below, Mr. Fontaine declared the per- 

 fect resemblance, and adopted the description for 

 his own general soil, with the slight exceptions 

 which he slates in his answer. 



The description given of that portion of my 

 own land was as (bllows; and so lar as I saw o! 

 the high level stiff land of King WilliaiT), my 

 own observation, as well as the better authority 

 and testimony of a resident cultivator, declared 

 the resemblance to be very close : 



" The soil is very stiff, close, and intractable un- 

 der cultivation — seems to contain scarcely any 

 sand — but in fact, about one-half of it is composed 

 of silicious sand, which is so fine, when separated, 

 as to leel like flour. Only a small proportion of 

 the sand is coarser than this state of impalpable 

 powder. Aluminous earth of a dirty fawn color 

 forms nearly all of its remaining ingredients. 

 Before being cleared, the soil is not an inch deep, 

 and all below for some leet is apparently composed 

 of the like parts of clay and fine sand. This is 

 decidedly the most worthless kind of soil, in its 

 natural state, that our district furnishes. It is 

 better (or wheat than for corn, though its product 

 is contemptible in every thing. It is difficult to be 

 made wet, or dry — and therefore suffers more than 

 other soils from both dry and wet seasons, but 

 especially from the (iirmer. It is almost always 

 either too wet or too dry for ploughing — and some- 

 times it will pass through both states, in two or 

 three clear and warm days. If broken up early 

 in wiriter, the soil, instead of being pulverized by 

 frost, like most clay lands, runs together asain by 

 freezing and thrawing— and by March, will have 

 a eleek (though not a very even) crust upon the 

 surface, quite too hard to plant on before a second 

 ploughing. The natural growth is principally 

 white and red oaks, a smaller proportion of pine, 

 and whortleberry bushes throughout." 



In addition to the ordinary acid character which 

 I have elsewhere attributed to this kind of land, in 

 common with all other of our naturally poor soils, 



and which acid is of vegetable formation, T have 

 long believed this very peculiar kind of soil (as 

 known under my own cultivation) to contain also 

 a portion of sulphuric acid, either free, or in com- 

 bination with iron or alumine. The reasons are 

 stated at pages 50, 51, of the work above quoted 

 from. If this supposition is correct, it serves to 

 explain several strange and otherwise inexplica- 

 ble circumstances, viz.: the remarkable sterility 

 before marling — the non-effect of gypsum not on- 

 ly before marling, (as on all other acid soils,) but 

 also after marling, contrary to the result on most 

 other soils — and the remarkable and great growth 

 of the first clover after marlinir, as if receiving 

 the greatest possible benefits of gypsum. And 

 in fact so it is, if my supposition ol' the previous 

 presence of sulphuric acid is correct ; for, by union 

 with the lime of the marl, that acid, or its com- 

 pounds, would be necessarilj' converted to iryp- 

 sum, and in such quantity that any additional 

 dressing of gypsum given at the same or an ear- 

 ly time, being superfluous, could have no addi- 

 tional effect. Mr. Fontaine has 200 acres of 

 wood-land of this kind marled before clearing. 

 The soil seemed already deepened and improved 

 (rom almost nothing) by this mere top-dressing 

 of two years old; and if permitted so to remain 

 for 10 years before killing the trees for cultivation, 

 I have no doubt that the delay, as well as the 

 marling, will be well paid for in the greater than 

 ordinary improvement from sui'h an application. 

 The earlier and particular effects of marl on this 

 soil may be seen in the answers to the general 

 queries which will follow.* 



One of the earliest successful and noted expe- 

 riments with marl was made in King William, 

 by Mr. Richard Hill. Whether his trial was 

 earlier or later than my first, (in 1818,) I could not 

 learn positively ; but it was somewhere about the 

 same time.f I heard the first intimation of it some 

 time after my own practice was in successful pro- 

 gress, and since, from time to time, by loose and 

 uncertain rumor. The first account heard was of 

 remarkable improvement from the marling ; next, 

 after some years, that the land was " ruined" by 

 the marl, and was good for nothing. It seems that 

 the first benefits had not induced a regwlar conti- 

 nuation in the practice, either by Mr. Hill or any 

 of his countymen ; and this disastrous result dis- 

 couraged further efforts, until after the lapse of 

 some 10 or more years, and the eslabfishment of 

 a better understanding of the cause of injury. Dr. 

 William Westmore began and made great and 

 profitable improvements by marling on the adja- 

 cent field of similar very sandy soil. The effects 

 of this part of the operations of this now deceased 

 successful marler and estimable man, I visited, aa 

 well as the subject of Mr. Hill's earlier experiment, 

 adjoining. The latter is on the Kumfbrd Academy 

 tract, and adjoining the public road. The present 

 occupant, Mr. Christian, was from home, and I 

 could get no particular information of the treat- 

 ment of the land after it had been "ruined by 



• The Pampatike land, the subject of Mr. Garter's 

 answers which will follow, was generally of this stiff 

 and otherwise bad character. The crop of corn on it 

 seemed to my eye as much as seven barrels to the acre. 



t Mr. Fontaine, on further inquiry, heard, and in- 

 formed me by letter, that it was in 1816. 



