MARL. 



MARSH. 



very considerable quantities, and it is often 

 some years before it is sufficiently incorpo- 

 rated with the soil to produce an evident im- 

 provement ; but then that advantage is almost 

 always, sooner or later, not only decided, but 

 permanent. 



The clay marls render light sandy soils 

 more tenacious ; the sandy marls materially 

 improve the friability of the heavy clays. In 

 Cheshire, they often apply 128 cubic yards of 

 clay marl per acre to light sandy soils, and 

 about half that quantity to their heavy lands 

 In many parts of Scotland it is spread on grass 

 lands, and suffered to remain for two or three 

 winters exposed to the frost, before it is 

 ploughed in, in about the same proportions per 

 acre. 



"The beginning of all improvements in Ger- 

 many," says Mr. S. S. Carr, in his Prize Essay, 

 " is, to give a dressing of marl (containing, on 

 an average, 60 per cent of carbonate of lime), 

 at the rate of 164 cubic feet per acre : by this 

 means land, not worth cultivation previously, 

 yields excellent crops for 8 or 10 years; and 

 if the straw produced during that tiine is care- 

 fully converted into manure, the productive- 

 ness does not materially decrease. Should 

 that, however, be the case, the deposits of 

 ponds, and even plots of peat-moss, which not 

 unfrequently occur, are carried upon the fal- 

 lows in winter, where these substances, when 

 broken down by the frost, prove a valuable al- 

 ternative to the texture of the soil, especially 

 where the pulse, rape, and clover crops are 

 gypsumed." 



On the heathy sands of Norfolk much im- 

 provement might be effected by the application 

 of marl. Mr. Kiddle, of Marsham, in that 

 county, made many experiments with marl; 

 he preferred, from long experience, the variety 

 denominated "clayey marl," which he thought 

 the best for sandy lands, even if brought from 

 a considerable distance. " A few years since," 

 said General Vavasour, "I purchased, with 

 other lands, a field of 10 acres ; it had been 

 part of a common enclosed about 15 years be- 

 fore, and was tithe-free, the soil sandy, mixed 

 with moory earth. I ploughed and sowed it in 

 divisions with various crops, most of which 

 failed. Having discovered a stratum of rich 

 clay marl, within 400 yards of the field, I cart- 

 ed on 75 cubic yards per acre, at 10</. per yard, 

 or 3/. per acre." The result was, that the 

 value of the land increased from 6*. to I/. Is. 

 per acre. 



In Europe, the term marl is applied to va- 

 rious mixtures of calcareous matter with clay, 

 sand, &c., and the common test is to effervesce 

 on the addition of vinegar, or other acid. But, 

 in ,the United States, those at least on the At- 

 lantic coast, where this fertilizer is met with 

 in great abundance, two kinds of marl are ex- 

 tensively used, one of which has been already 

 described under the head of GREEX SAND. 

 This is often so free from lime, as scarcely to 

 retain a trace, and, consequently, the addition 

 to it of vinegar, or other acid, would not pro- 

 duce that effervescence necessary to constitute 

 it a marl in accordance with the common test. 

 What, in the states of New Jersey, Delaware, 

 Maryland, and Virginia, is usually called green ! 

 100 



] sand marl, instead of containing lime, abounds 

 i in potash. See GREEN SAND. 



The calcareous marl found in the states 

 named, generally contains more or less of the 

 green sand ; and this combination of lime and 

 potash forms a natural fertilizing mixture, the 

 value of which is scarcely yet appreciated as 

 it deserves to be. Its great weight makes it an 

 expensive application to land, wherever much 

 hauling is required, and consequently it yields 

 to burned lime under such circumstances. 

 The admirable treatise upon the subject of 

 " Calcareous Manures" by E. Ruffin, of Virginia, 

 has been extensively circulated throughout the 

 United States, and maybe referred to as contain- 

 ing the most useful body of information upon the 

 subject of marl ever brought together, embrac- 

 ing every detail in relation to lifting, transport- 

 ing, application, and effects, that can be de- 

 sired by the farmer or general reader. See 

 MIXTURE OF SOILS, LIME, CHALK, EARTHS, &c. 

 MARRAM. One of the common names of 

 the sea mat-weed or sea-reed (jSnmdo amiaria). 

 See REED. 



MARSH (Sax. menre, a fen). A flat surface, 

 the soil of which is so far saturated with water 

 throughout the year as to be unfit for culture 

 by the spade or plough ; but not so much as to 

 prevent it from producing coarse grasses, and 

 other kinds of herbage. Marshes are generally 

 situated in bottoms, where they are kept moist 

 by the water which descends from the sur- 

 rounding lands; or along the banks of rivers 

 or lakes, where their humidity arises from 

 their being nearly on the same level with the 

 adjoining water. Where a marsh is situated 

 so as to be occasionally overflowed by the sea, 

 or by a river, up which the tide flows, it is 

 called a salt marsh ; and the herbage produced 

 by such lands is found highly conducive to the 

 health of animals which pasture on them for a 

 certain portion of the year, from the alterative 

 effect of its saline properties. 



Salt marshes abound along the shores of the 

 bays and inlets of the Atlantic coast of the 

 United States. The natural grasses which 

 grow so luxuriantly are extensively mown, 

 and furnish an inferior, and generally a coarse 

 description of hay, which, however, is much re- 

 lished by cattle in consequence of its saltness. 

 It furnishes excellent litter, and thus contri- 

 butes greatly to swell the manure-heap. On 

 the Delaware bay it sells for about $2 to $4 

 per ton. 



Salt marshes are often reclaimed by em- 

 bankments, which keep off the tide-water. The 

 best mode of managing land thus reclaimed, is 

 well worth knowing ; and the following direc- 

 tions from Mr. T. F. Lambson, of Salem, New 

 Jersey, contain valuable information, the result 

 of much experience and expense: " Isf. The 

 marsh should be secured from the tide by a 

 permanent bank. 2d. A sluice or sluices of 

 sufficient capacity must be laid to discharge 

 the rain-water and back-waters which pro- 

 ceed from adjacent uplands, so that at no time 

 the water-courses and ditches will be filled to 

 overflowing. The sluices should be laid deep 

 nough to draw the water through them from 

 the lowest part of the marsh : great care should 

 be taken to have the doors made tight, so as to 

 3X 793 



