164 



Great yield of Potatoes. — Utility of Shell-Marl. 



Vol. VI. 



modities that might happen to be of the same 

 value as its indivisible portions, or as whole 

 multiples of them : without the second, or 

 the capacity of being hoarded without dete- 

 riorating, no one would choose to exchange 

 commodities for money, except only when he 

 expected to be able speedily to le-exchange 

 that money for something else: without the 

 third quality, or facility of transportation, 

 money could not be conveniently used in 

 transactions between places of any consider- 

 able distance: without the fourth, or perfect 

 sameness, it would be extremely difficult to 

 appreciate the value of different pieces of 

 money : and without the Jifth quality, or com- 

 parative steadiness of value, money could not 

 serve as a standard by which to measure the 

 value of other commodities; and no one would 

 be disposed to exchange the produce of his 

 industry for an article that might shortly de- 

 cline considerably in its power of purchasing. 

 "The union of the different qualities of 

 steadiness, of value, divisibility, durability, 

 facility of transportation, and perfect same- 

 ness in the precious metals, doubtless formed 

 the irresistible reason that has induced every 

 civilized community to employ them as 

 money." — Am. Far. 



Great yield of Potatoes. 



" In 1839, the late Major Caleb Stark plant- 

 ed potatoes (the large round red) on several 

 small patches of ground in Suncock village 

 in the town of Pembroke ; he planted them 

 without assistance and hoed them three times 

 himself. They were planted in drills, one 

 piece (cut) every ten inches, and when he 

 dug them in the fall, they were weighed, and 

 he proposed, from the result, the following 

 questions to Hon. John Vose, then preceptor 

 of Pembroke Academy. I find the questions 

 and answers among some of his papers, and 

 send them to you. 



aUESTIONS. 

 1st portion, 168 square feet, produced 12C pounds. 

 2d •' 147 " " 138 



3d " 18 feet pquare, " 3H4 



4th " 43 " 1435 



ANSWERS. 



lat portion, per acre, 32,070 lbs. 605 bushels per acre. 



2d •' " 41.745 " 773.0.55 



3d " " 51,626 2-3 " 956.;i49 



4th " •« 33,806 " 426.05 



The above results were brought about by 

 Mr. Brown : of their accuracy, I have exam- 

 ined them, so as to be satisfied they are cor- 

 rect. I witnessed the progress of the growth 

 of the potatoes, and the average weight of 

 them was 54 lbs. per bushel. John Vose." 

 Far. Mon. Visitor. 



On old mossy land, or, when the gfass is 

 rank and sour, a good coat of lime will en- 

 tirely change the nature of the herbage. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Utility of Shell-Marl. 



Mr. Editor, — At your request, when in 

 our little State a few days ago, I send you a 

 short statement of the effects of this inva- 

 luable manure. The shell-marl, which is 

 found in New-Castle county, Slate of Dela- 

 ware, has been discovered on a few iarnts 

 along the eastern limit of the Chesapeake 

 and Delaware canal only, or that part of the 

 canal which has defaced a part of the origi- 

 nal St. George's creek. It is generally found 

 at the head of little streams making into this 

 creek, which is the dividing line between 

 Red Lion and St. George's hundreds. Marl 

 has been discovered in both hundreds, but 

 much the largest quantity has been found and 

 used in the former hundred, although it has 

 only been a few years since there has been 

 any general use made of it. In the spring 

 of 1837, I came into possession of a farm, 

 now known by the name of 31arl Farm, 

 about three miles west of where I reside. 

 The soil, at that time, was in an extreme 

 state of poverty — reduced to that degree by 

 successive cropping and hard tillage, through 

 a long term of years, without the application 

 of any kind of manure; in fact, the whole 

 farm was so poor, that the crops obtained 

 from it would not pay the cost of tillage. 

 From four to six bushels of corn per acre on 

 an average, was as much as it would produce; 

 of wheat you could not raise as much as you 

 sowed ; red clover would scarcely sprout, 

 and grow it would not. Now, the question 

 may be asked, how came I to purchase a farm 

 so extremely poor? A large bed of this shell- 

 marl had been discovered on it, three or four 

 years previous to the time that I came into 

 possession, but it had been sparingly made 

 use of; some two or three acres only having 

 been covered with it, for an experiment, at 

 the time when the discovery was made.— 

 Thus the improvement by the marl, progress- 

 ed no farther, until I came into possession. 

 But the effects of the above experiment were 

 sufficient to satisfy any inquiring mind, of the 

 vast importance of this new manure for en- 

 riching the soil. To till this farm in its ex- 

 treme poor state, I well knew would not pay 

 expenses; I concluded, therefore, that the 

 first thing to be done, would be to marl it 

 over, and then go to cropping. According- 

 ly, I hired a man for the season, furnished 

 him with a cart and two yoke of oxen, and 

 made it his business to do nothing but cart 

 marl, until I had covered the whole place 

 over, at the rate of from six to eight hundred 

 bushels per acre. What I would get covered 

 over one year, I put in corn the next; and 

 would obtain about twenty bushels per acre* 

 The corn-ground was followed the next spring 



