1836] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



263 



marl have been laid upon the land, though its ef- 1 

 fects last longer, yet, unless cultivation be carried 

 on with great intelligence and care, these are at 

 length worn out, and by severe cro|)ping to repay ! 

 the expense, large tracts ot" mailed land have been 

 much exhausted. In such cases, too, a second 

 application has been attended with very little ben- 

 efit; whereas, when it has been laid on in moder- 

 ate quantities, a second and further applications 

 have been successful; the reason of which evident- 

 ly is, that, in the first instance, the fertility of the 

 mould was either exhausted by the chemical effect 

 of the marl, or that, the soil being of a heavy 

 kind, and the marl containing too great a propor- 

 tion of clay, this addition became injurious; while, 

 in the second, dung had been applied in aid of the 

 marl, or, its earthy properties bcinff of a nature op- 

 posed to those of the soil, assisted in its ameliora- 

 tion. The latter of which suppositions is, indeed, 

 supported by the fact, that when a second applica- 

 tion of clay-marl has failed, lime has been laid up- 

 on the same land with sensibly good effects*. 



It has also been observed, in those places where 

 marl is applied to the land in small quantities at 

 stated distances of time, and where a sufficiency 

 of dung is likewise used, that when weeds of any 

 peculiar species push forward with extraordinary 

 vigor, marl, if accompanied by a clean fallow, 

 not onl}' destroys them, but produces better corn 

 than when dung has been laid on alone, though 

 also upon a fallow, and instead of marl: which has 

 been thought to be accounted lor by the exuber- 

 ance of the weeds proving that the soil is already 

 abundantly furnished with nutritive matter lor the 

 promotion of vegetation, but that it is more appro- 

 priate to the production of the weed with which 

 the ground is covered, than to cereal crops: 

 whence it has been inferred, that the chemical ac- 

 tion oi" the marl probably changes the nature of 

 the mould. t 



The durability of the effects of marl necessarily 

 depends upon its power over the soil. A very 

 large dose of argilaceous, or clayey marl, amelior- 

 ates sandy soils to such a sensible degree by the 

 consistence which it affords to the land, that, if pro- 

 per attention be paid to its complete combination 

 with the surface, and to the prevention, by careful 

 culture, of its sinking to the subsoil, as well as to 

 the employment of putrescent manure, the im- 

 provement thus effected will be found permanent. 

 When laid on in smaller quantities, its effect and 

 duration will, on those light soils, of course, be 

 proportionate; but on clays, as its chief power con- 

 sists in the calcareous matter which it contains, its 

 greatest effect is apparent when the land is brought 

 into the second course of tillage, after which it 

 gradually begins to decline, and after six or eight 

 crops have been grown, it usually ceases to operate. 

 No rule can therefore belaid down for its value 

 among tenants upon a change in the occupation 

 of the land, and it can only be estimated by the 

 opinion generally prevalent throughout those parts 

 of the country where it is used. 



It is extensively employed throughout Cheshire, 

 Lancashire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, and most of 



the midland counties, in almost every part of 

 which it is found, but in the greatest abundance 

 where the prevailing soil is a clay, or a clayey loam. 

 It is there generally red, dark brown, or bluish-gray, 

 intersected with veins of light yellow, of a greasy 

 touch when moist, and friable when dry : the land 

 where this species of marl forms the subsoil is like- 

 wise very commonly found to be of first-rate qual- 

 itv. There is also an excellent kind of marl some- 

 times met with, which is vulgarly called dove-dung, 

 from resembling that of pigeons. Under sandy or 

 mixed soils it is also very frequently met with, but 

 usually at a more considerable depth. It is some- 

 times laid on the green sward in winter; and after 

 being acted upon by the frost, is ploughed in the 

 ! f]jllowing spring, usually for oats. If, however, al- 

 lowed to lie for twelve or eighteen months, it will 

 have a still bettereffect; for the successive changes 

 of the atmosphere moulder it down, and the roots 

 of the grass combine it with the surface of the 

 I irround, by which means it becomes more benefi- 

 I cial to the following crop than if stirred immedi- 

 i ately bv the tillage of a fallow*. Marling on ffil- 

 ! lows is^ however, practised to a very considerable 

 [ extent, and is there found generally productive of 

 irreat benefit to the soil. It is spread, immediately 

 after being carted, upon the land, but its pulveriza- 

 i tion is leftalmost entirely to the atmosphere. Some 

 kinds are much more easily reducible to a powde- 

 ry state than others, and the difierence determines, 

 in many instances, the propriety of their respective 

 { application. On the stiff clfiylands, or where im- 

 j mediate crops are the direct object of marling, 

 j those marls which pulverize with the greatest ra- 

 pidity on exposure to the weather contain the lar- 

 1 eest portion of calcareous matter, and are, there- 

 j fore, found the most beneficial. On light sandy 

 I soil, or Avhere marl is employed with a view of 

 producing durable effects, the more tenacious kinds 

 may also be used with even greater advantage. 

 Under the latter mode of application, the effects 

 produced on the soil are not, indeed, evident until 

 afier repeated ploughings, and they frequently 

 continue to manifest themselves during a long pe- 

 riod, f 



There is, however, a bad sort of red clay-rnarl, 

 as well as a kind of brown shining clay, sometimes 

 mistaken by farmers for marl, which, having been 

 dug out of almost every field, and laid during ma- 

 nyliges on some heavy soils, has increased their 

 tenacity, and rendered them less fit lor the pur- 

 poses of agriculture. Its effects are, indeed, so 

 apparently unfi^vorable, that its further use has 

 been prohibited to the tenantry on the estates of 

 the Duke of Sutherland, in Staffordshire and Sa- 

 lop, and a distinct line in the appearance of the 

 crops now points out with precision the land which 

 was formerly so treated. Of this fiict all the intel- 

 liffent part of the tenantrv are themselves convin- 

 ced, though some are still so wedded to their old 

 customs, That they lament the regulation which 

 excludes its usej. 



Marl is, also, t'enerallyused in Norfolk, in which 



* Berwickshire report. Naismith, on Manures 

 Gon. Report of Scotland; App. vol. ii. p 75. 



t Thaer, Principcs Raisoniics d'Agriculture, 2de ed. 

 torn xi. p. 415. 



* Arthur Youns's Essay on Manures, in the Papers 

 of the Bath and West of England Society, vol. x., p. 

 106, 



t Holland's Survey of Cheshire, p. 233. 



\ Loch's Account of the Improvements on the Es- 

 tates of the Marouis of Stafford (now Duke of Suther- 

 land), p. 190. 



