78 



FARMERS' REGISTER— ON CALCAREOUS MANURES. 



curred in its production. Prol)ably one covering 

 of marl for each year would serve for most yards, 

 &c. but if required oftener, it would only prove 

 the necessity for the operation, and sliow the great- 

 er value in the results. The compost that might 

 be obtained from spaces equal to five hundred acres 

 in a populous town, would durably eni'ich tlirice 

 as many acres of the adjacent country : and after 

 twenty years of such a course, the surrounding 

 farms might be capalde of returning to the town a 

 ten fold increased surplus product. After the 

 qualities and value of the manure so formed were 

 properly estimated, it would be used for farms that 

 Avould be out of the reach of all other calcareous 

 manures. Carts bringing country produce to mar- 

 ■ ket might with profit carry back loads of this 

 compost six or eight miles. The annual supply 

 that the country might be furnished with, would 

 produce very different effects from the putrescent 

 and fleeting manure now obtained from the town 

 stables. Of tlie little durable benefit heretofore 

 derived from sucli means, the appearance of the 

 country oilers sufficient testimony. At three miles 

 distance from some of the principal towns in Vir- 

 ginia, more than half the cultivated land is too 

 poor to yield any farming profit. The surplus 

 grain sent to market is very inconsiderable — and 

 the coarse hay from the wet meadows can only be 

 sold to those who feed horses belonging to other 

 persons. 



But even if the waste and destruction of ma- 

 nure in towns was counted as nothing, and the pre- 

 servation of health by keeping t!ie air pure was 

 the only object sought, still calcareous earth; as 

 presented by rich marl, would serve the purpose 

 far better than quick lime. It is true, that the 

 latter substance acts })Owerfully in decomposing 

 putrescent animal matter, and destroys its texture 

 and qualities so completely, that the operation is 

 commonly and expressively called" burning" the 

 substances acted on. Eut to use a sufficient quan- 

 tity of quick lime to meet and decompose all pu- 

 trescent animal matters in a town, would be into- 

 lerably expensive and still more objectionable in 

 other respects. If a cover of dry quick lime in 

 powder was spread over all the surfaces requiring 

 it for this purpose, the town would be unfit to live 

 in ; and the nuisance would be scarcely less, when 

 rain had changed the suffocating dust to an adhe- 

 sive mortar. Woollen clothing, carpets, and even 

 living flesh would be continually sustaining injury 

 from the contact. No such objections would at- 

 tend the use of mild calcareous earth : and this 

 could be obtained probably for less than one fifth 

 of the cost of quick lime, supposing an equal 

 quantity of pure calcareous matter to be obtained 

 in each case. At this time the richest marl on 

 James River may be obtained at merely the cost 

 of digging, and its carriage by water, which if 

 undertaken on a large scale, could not exceed, and 

 probably would not equal three cents the bushel. 



The putrescent animal matters that would be 

 preserved and rendered innoxious by the general 

 marling of the scite of a town, would be mostly 

 such as are so dispersed and imperceptible that they 

 would otherwise be entirely lost. But all such 

 as are usually saved in part, would be dou- 

 bled in quantity and value, and deprived of their 

 offensive and noxious qiralitics by being kept mix- 

 ed with calcareous earth. The importance of this 

 plan being adopted with the products of privies, &c. 



is still greater in town than country. The vari- 

 ous matters so collected and combined should ne- 

 ver be applied to the soil alone, as the salt derived 

 from the kitchen, and the potash and soap from 

 the laundry, might be injurious in so concentrated 

 a form. When the pit for receiving this compound 

 is emptied, the contents should be spread over 

 other and weaker manure, before being applied to 

 the field. 



Towns might furnish many other kinds of rich 

 manure, which are now lost entirely. Some of these 

 particularly require the aid of calcareous earth to 

 he secured from destruction by putrefaction, and 

 others, though not putrescent, are equally wasted. 

 The blood of slaughtered animals, and the waste 

 and rejected articles of wool, hair, feathers, skin, 

 horn and bones, all are manures of great richness. 

 We not only give the flesli of dead animals to in- 

 fect the air, instead of using it to fertilize the land, 

 but their bones which might be so easily saved, 

 are as completely thrown away. Bones are com- 

 posed of phosphate of lime, and gelatinous ani- 

 mal matter, and when crushed, form one of the 

 richest and most convenient manures in the world. 

 They are shipped in quantities from the continent 

 of Europe to he sold for manure in England. The 

 fields of battle have been gleaned, and their shal- 

 low graves emptied for this purpose : and the 

 bones of the ten thousand British heroes who fell on 

 the field of Waterloo, are now performing the less 

 glorious, but more useful purpose of producing 

 wheat for their brothers at home. 



There prevails a vulgar but useful superstition, 

 that there is " bad luck" in throwing into the fire 

 any thing, however small may be its amount or 

 value, that can serve for the food of any living ani- 

 mal. It is a pity that the same belief does not ex- 

 tend to every thing that as manure can serve to 

 feed growing plants — and that even the parings of 

 nails, and clippings of beards are not used (as in 

 China) in aid of this object. However small each 

 particular source might be, the amount of all the 

 manures that might be saved, and which are now 

 wasted, would add incalculably to the usual means 

 for fertilization. Human excrement, which is 

 scarcely used at all in this country, is stated to be 

 even richer than that of birds ; and if all the en- 

 riching matters were preserved that are derived 

 not only from the food, but from all the habits of 

 man, there can be no question but that a town of 

 ten thousand inhabitants, from those sources alone, 

 might enrich more land than could be done from 

 as many cattle. 



The opinions here presented are principally 

 founded on the theory of the operation of calca- 

 reous manures, as maintained in the foregoing part 

 of this essay : but they are also sustained to con- 

 siderable extent by facts and experience. The 

 most undeniable practical proof of one of my po- 

 sitions, is the power of a cover of marl to pre- 

 vent the escape of all offensive effluvia from the 

 most putrescent animal matters. Of this pow- 

 er I have made continued use for about eighteen 

 months, and know it to be more effectual than 

 quick lime, even if the destructive action of the 

 latter was not objectionable. Quick lime forms 

 new combinations with putrescent substances, and 

 in thus combining, throws off effluvia, which 

 though different from the products of putrescent 

 matter alone, are still disagreeable and offensive. 

 Mild lime on Ihe contrary absorbs and preserves 



