266 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



gth.— 250 and 300 buehele, are the quantiUes usu- 

 ally applied to the acre. 

 lOth.—There never has been less than 200 bush- 

 els put on the acre, and I am satisfied -hat it 

 was not enough, as ihe land marled wiili that 

 quantity vvas^'noi very poor: but 1 have seen 

 land that at even 100 bushels to the acre 1 

 should con.~ider heavily dressed. 

 llth.—ln 1835 the land marled was dressed at 

 the? rate ot 500 bushels per acre, and the [ire- 

 ceding year culiivtiied in corn, which vviis very 

 fine, yieiduig nearly double as much as it did 

 the previous'year— no kind of either .vegetable 

 or putrescent manure be\ucr used at all. It 

 was put in corn again in 1839, and the crop, 

 was evidently injured by over marlinir, particu- 

 larly in the weaker pans of the field, ihough 

 the grain equalled the crop o! '30, but the lod- 

 der,"however, was very much injured. 

 12/A,— The general managemeni of the farm, for 

 some years previous to its beini: marled, was 

 not such as could be considered meliorating, or 

 even as preserving its leniliiy. 

 13/A.— The three-shift rotation has been followed 

 since mailing, with clover on all the hind that 

 would grow it profitably. Nocrazing allowed, 

 save iforu Christmas until IVlarcli — tiuU it^, 

 from the lime the corn crop is gathered until 

 the time to plant again : but even this partial 

 grazing will be abandoned alter this wimer. 

 I4th.—The usual and general results ol' the ap- 

 plications of marl, ha\'e been highly salisficio- 

 ry, the least being 25 per cent., mid on i-ome 

 fields 100, the first year of its application. 

 Since its first application, the progression of 

 improvement has been steady, on some fields 

 more and on others less dependent, it seem?, on 

 the quantity applied. When a very heavy 

 dressing was applied to a field, ihe effect was 

 immediate and very great, and Ihe subsequent 

 less and very gradual, and vice versa. 

 \5ih.—The earliest lenilizing effects of marl 

 have continued to increase Irum the lime of its 

 first application until the [iresent time, and in no 

 instance whatever, have I ever known it to di- 

 minish, that is, I have never known any pre- 

 sent crop to be lep>-, than the preceding one. 

 I6th. — I am decisively of the opinio-i, that the 

 early increased product of the marled land, 

 will'nol be snbsequenily diminished, under any 

 rotation of crops or course of culiivation, that 

 would not have been decidedly exhausting 

 and injurious to the lands if it liad not been 

 marled. 

 \7th. — Inconsiderable portions of the marled lands 

 have suffered from over marling, such lor in- 

 stance, as Ihe galls and the weaker parts of the 

 field, while the field, generally, was greatly im- 

 proved and not at all injured ; but even these 

 places have never bien reduced to steiility. 

 The system of cultivation (as said in the an- 

 swer to (he 13ih query) was the ihree-shil't ro- 

 tation, and the soil a ligli! or\p. 

 18th. — From my experience, 1 sh.ould say that 

 either vegetable or animal manures are worth 

 double as much applied to marled lands, as to 

 unmarled land.^ ; lor on all trials vviih manures 

 on unmarled lands, they have always pro- 

 ven to be exceedingly evanescent, so much so, 

 indeed, (especially on light soils,) that I have 

 often doubted whether tbey were worth the trou- 



ble and expense of making, and then the ad- 

 ditional trouble of caning and spreading on the 

 land. 



19/^. — This query I can scarcely answer salis- 

 lactorily, to myself, hut I do not think the farm 

 would have exceeded 9 or 10 busliels of corn 

 to the acre — probably a bushel or so under 

 that estimation. 



20th. — The crop of corn this year, (and the last 

 also,) on the marled land, averaged between 19 

 and 20 bushels of sound corn per acre, by ac- 

 tual nieasurement. 



23(/. — Neither my experience nor observation 

 contradicts any of the statemenis of actual re- 

 sults in praciice, as presented in the "recapitu- 

 lation" embraced in the ' Essay on Calcai'eous , 

 Manures.' 



///. Answers by Peter T. Spratley of the county 

 of Surry. 



Answer to query \st. — Commenced in August, 

 1834, when I only marled about one acre, the 

 poorest spot in the field. 

 2d. — The farm was then, and had been for many 

 years before, and ever since, my own property, 

 and under my direction. 

 3d. — The quaiuiiy ol cleared land, subjected to 

 cultivation in its turn, was three hundred acres, 

 or ihereaboiitp. 

 ith. — None of consequence added since. 

 Mh. — About 200 acres have been now marled. 

 Qth. — The strength of the marl from Ao to .50 per 

 cent, as a general avera<ie — some of it much 

 richer. 

 lih. — Besides the calcareous eanh in ihe marl 

 there is green-=and, and a portion of blue soapy- 

 looking clay, of a strong and somewhat unplea- 

 sant odor. 

 Sth. — There were occasionally some hard lumps, 

 so strongly cemented that a whole winter's frost 

 would not decompose them. 

 9fA.— From 250 to 500 bushels of marl put to the 



acre. 

 \Oth and Wth. — No quantity applied lighter or 



heavif-r than wiihin 'he limits just slated. 

 12/^.. — The previous cuhivation had been on the 

 three-shift rotation — 1st, corn ; 2d, oats upon 

 all wor h peedirig; 3d, rest. The land was 

 gradually improving under this system. 

 13{^. — The same rotation was continued, with 

 clover, and but little grazing allowed, and with 

 manifest improvement. 

 \Ath. — When the marl was spread any length 

 ot time previous to the filoughing and tillage, 

 the increase of the corn crop has been fully 50 

 per cent, and that of the oats [following] up- 

 wards of one hundred. 

 15//j. — My experience does not enable me to an- 

 swer this question, not having made a second 

 crop of corn on the marled land, except as to 

 the acre marled in 1834; the second crop of 

 corn on this spot after marlmg, was increased 

 fully 300 percent., with no other aid to the marl 

 than a slight covering of leaves and litter from 

 the woods. The crop of oate succeeding the 

 corn was a good one ; and, previous to marling, 

 oats would not have grown on it more than 

 ; three or lour inches high, perfecting no grain. 



