No. 1. 



Peach Trees — Marl. 



19 



the nauseous taste of gnrlick was soon per- 

 ceptible." Now do not these experiments go 

 to show how readily plants that are deposit- 

 ed in a pntrid snbsoil imbibe and circulate to 

 their destruction tiie deleterious matter! And 

 I contend, that an impoverished surface is 

 calculated to enjrender disease, just as we 

 witness the prevalence of cutaneous and other 

 disorders incident to poverty amongst the 

 poor, ill-fed, half-starved, and filthy popula- 

 tion of countries of which we have heard. It 

 is a law of nature, that putricity engenders 

 life. 



There is yet another instance I wish to 

 mention, which, stranffe as it will appear to 

 your correspondent, I cannot help thinking 

 is much to the purpose. On looking over a 

 field of beets the last year, I observed, about 

 the middle of the plantation, a strip about 

 three or four yards in width, extending quite 

 across the piece, and as definitely marked as 

 though it had been laid off by line, on wiiich 

 the crop appeared to be in a very languish- 

 ing condition: the owner believed it Ind been 

 occasioned by a hot blast ; but I knew, if my 

 theory was correct, it arose from a poisonous 

 subsoil, and I observed that this patch was 

 lower than the other parts of the field : on 

 examining several of the plants, we found 

 their leaves yellow and withered, and giving 

 out a disagreeable, mouldy, putrid smell, and 

 their tap roots cankered and decayed, in con- 

 sequence of having reached to the stagnant 

 water in the suhsoil. Some years ago I grew 

 a heavy crop of ruta baga on a soil which lay 

 on the declivity of a hill ; at the time of tak- 

 ing them up, it was observed that the point 

 of almost every one of their tap roots was rot- 

 ten, but as that was not within several inches 

 of the bulb, no farther notice was taken of the 

 circumstance, and they were covered with 

 earth and secured m the usual way for win- 

 ter use. On opening the pit, however, it 

 was discovered that the disease had extend- 

 ed to the root or bulb, and that nine-tenths 

 of them were completely rotten, the rtenrti 

 arising from them being unbearable. 1 should 

 have said, the crop was grown the first year 

 of my having possession of the farm ; by the 

 next year I had discovered the cause of t'le 

 evil — it was a wet and poisonous subsoil. 



But I must apologize for this lengthy epis- 

 tle. To one, who has expressed the " liope ! 

 that none, except some of the 'old folks' will 

 believe that the disease can be owing to a 

 poisonous subsoil or an exhausted surface," I 

 dare say, all I have advanced will appear to 

 be in onposition to common sense, " and were 

 it not," as your correspondent very justly and 

 pertinently remarks, "that errors in opinion 

 when promulgated are always dangerous — 

 for no one — and especially no one who writes 

 for an Agricultural Journal — can be-supposed 



so obscure, or so insignificant, as not to ex- 

 ert some influence on the minds of his rea- 

 ders," I should, in all probability, have left 

 your correspondent unanswered. 

 I am, sir, still 



An " Old Farmer." 



For thfi Farmers' Cabinet 



ITIarl. 



In Vol. II. No. 11, I saw an article over the 

 signature of 'Farmer,' in which he re(|ucsled 

 an account of our marl, thetjuantity per acre 

 that is found the most useful, and the efi'ect 

 on grass, corn, potatoes, grain, &c. 



The locality of this prime assistant of ag- 

 riculture varies much more than one would 

 expect wiio never had an opportunity of vis- 

 iting that part of the country where it abounds. 

 In many places it is found to rise in the banks 

 from to 8 feet, and in others the reverse, 

 sinking as far below. The average depth in 

 the ground is from five to six feet. When 

 the marl has 6 feet of earth on the top of it, 

 a pit can be sunk 8 feet without affecting or 

 injuring the meadow from whence it was 

 taken. There Ls on the top of most marl in 

 New Jersey a mixed substance called grey 

 marl, which is quite efiicacious to land if put 

 on in abundance. In other places it varies 

 from the grey to the iron stone, oyster shells, 

 and sometimes a stratum of clay or sand. And 

 I have known marl to exist in any quantity 

 in low sunken gullies, and, as you approached 

 the banks, to disappear, leaving nought but 

 sand, water, &c.; likewise in other places to 

 rise with the bank 12 feet perpendicular. — 

 The color there varies e.xcecdingly. On the 

 same vein of marl is often found three distinct 

 colors, black, blue, and a dark brown. The 

 black with green grains therein, called by 

 way of distinction the green sand, is (bund to 

 be the most fertilizintrof any. Professor Ro- 

 srers, in his Geological Survey of the State, 

 says " Squankum marl is the best in New Jer- 

 sey," owing to its being composed principally 

 of green grains with but a small portion of 

 black sand. Out of one pit you will very 

 often find three distinct kinds of marl. First, 

 black, composed of sand and clay. Second, a 

 mixture of clay and green crrains, and. Third- 

 ly, a white, resemblingr fullers' earth, which, 

 when coming in contact with vinejar, will 

 hiss and boil like pulverized chalk applied to 

 the same. It is not my intention to extend 

 my views on the subject, for fear of consum- 

 ing too much of the reader's time, but would 

 observe that there are great quantities of fos- 

 sils, such as shells, teeth, bones, sulphur, de- 

 cayed wood, &c., dug out of marl. 



Nature has put every thing in its proper 

 place ; therefore it behoves man to be con- 



