No. 6. 



Delaware Marl. 



191 



culate that they are paid in the shape of extra 

 rent, and it is a fact that lands in Scotland are 

 charg-ed with very high rents. 



With regard to the nutritive quality of oat 

 hay, I presume there is no question that it is 

 great, the saccharine properties being en- 

 hanced by sacrificing the crop of grain; but 

 I should be inclined to allow it to stand a Hltle 

 longer, so as to give time for the grain to 

 form, but not to ripen ; it might require judg- 

 ment to fix the exact period, but there would 

 be no difficulty about it. To cut such hay 

 into chafr", must be by far the best mode of 

 expending it, and it is reasonable to suppose 

 that such fodder would be particularly sweet 

 and suitable for milk-cows in winter, espe- 

 cially when given with sugar-beet, which 

 also might be raised in this country as a se- 

 cond crop of the greatest luxuriance. I tell 

 you, Mr. Editor, no one knows the blessings 

 of such a climate — in other countries it is, of 

 course, unknown, while here, we are so ac- 

 customed to it as to be unable, properly to 

 appreciate its advantages. A. Rankin. 



Perliaps our correspondent is not aware that the 

 Scotch acre is one-fifth larger than the Englisli acre — 

 say, therefore, 4 Scotch acres are equal to five acres 

 English. — Ed. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 DelaAvare Marl. 



Mr. Editor, — 1 am much pleased and in- 

 terested with Mr. P. Reybold's account of the 

 management of his poor farm, by means of 

 shell-marl, and would ask, what would be the 

 result if the English mode of fallowing had 

 been commenced on such a soil with such 

 facilities for improvement *? Would it not 

 have been quite possible to raise the product 

 of the land in the first year, to an extent 

 which, in the common and ordinary course of 

 things, requires the labour of about half a 

 dozen 1 If, for instance, the soil had been 

 turned deep and completely over in the au- 

 tumn — and when I say deep, I mean so as to 

 turn up a couple of inches, perhaps, of the 

 subsoil if it be good and healthy — harrowing 

 it well, and covering it during the wmter 

 with a very heavy Aressmg of marl, spreading 

 it as quickly as possible, and harrowing and 

 exposing it to the influence of the frosts and 

 rain and snows, and ploughing it under so 

 soon as the land will work in the spring, by 

 which time the last year's weeds will be de- 

 composed; then, harrowing the surface and 

 covering it again with another very heavy 

 dressing of marl, which should be well pul- 

 verized and mixed with the earth by repeated 

 harrowing; and as soon as the seed-weeds 

 appear, turning them down and bringing up 

 the first covering of marl, to be again har- 

 rowed and worked with the soil, leaving it to 



be again covered with seed-weeds; repeating 

 the ploughings and harrowings five times, by 

 the month of July, when turnips may be sown 

 as winter food for stock, the crop drawn and 

 housed ; or, if preferred, the fallowing and 

 working may be continued through the sum- 

 mer, and wheat sown early in the autumn, 

 seeding it in the spring, if thought proper, 

 with clover and herd-grass or timothy, top- 

 dressing that crop the next spring with com- 

 post, formed of marl, stable-dung, virgin 

 earth, or any other substance more conve- 

 nient — 1 ask, what would be the result? and 

 fancy I hear some of my neighbours answer, 

 by asking the question, what result could ever 

 pay for such expensive management ? I reply, 

 debit the land with the expense, and await 

 the result. 



I grant, that but little in extent could be 

 done by the means which are within the 

 reach of the generality of farmers, but my 

 faith in the truth of our motto is so strong, 

 that I feel confident of success, even in a pe- 

 cuniary point of view ; and the creative pow- 

 ers which would immediately be brought into 

 operation by the enlargement of the dung- 

 hill, would increase in four-fold ratio the 

 means of an extended plan of cultivation, by 

 which a saving of several years might be re- 

 alized, in the time usually spent in the reno- 

 vation of a worn-out soil. And this would 

 be no more than the plan adopted by every 

 wise man on coming to an exhausted farm, 

 namely, to defer the purchase of live-stock 

 imtil he had the means of feeding them — for 

 what would be the use of cropping lands be- 

 fore they were able to feed and bring them to 

 perfection! — a very interesting question, but 

 one that is often overlooked in our calcula- 

 tions. Now to me it appears, that the power 

 possessed by an industrious man, situated on 

 the edge of such a marl-bank as that de- 

 scribed by your correspondent, is about as 

 inexhaustible as the marl-bank itself; and I 

 would ask him to ascertain, by experiment, 

 what would be the result, if a spot of land 

 were to be covered by marl to the depth of 

 six inches, when intimately mixed with the 

 soil and worked regularly through in the 

 common course of cropping — nothing but 

 good, 1 presume. This would indeed be a 

 " fact" worth fabricating, and the readers of 

 the Cabinet would be much indebted to such 

 men as Mr. Reybold, who have the means, 

 would they give us the benefit of their expe- 

 rience from time to time in its pages ; it 

 would indeed be refreshing even to those of 

 us whose lot has been cast in a land far re- 

 moved from any of those stimulating manures 

 which we hear so much about in the distance, 

 and whose whole dependence is upon bog- 

 earth and barn manure. John Taney. 



Luzerne Co., Fa. 



