FARMER'S REGISTER— PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. 



117 



sustenance from it. The plants were usiiallj^ where 

 the marl was thin, near the edt^es of the heaps^ 

 but one of the roots which I examined was of the 

 remarkable length of nine inches: it had thrown 

 out a few horizontal fibres of about an inch in 

 length, as if in search of nourishment, but which 

 were then (some time in June) quite dead. The 

 tew plants then observed, though full of tlie cover- 

 ings for seed, yet were quite destitute of the seeds 

 which should have been within : but this remarka- 

 ble abortion, though often to be seen under like 

 circumstances, is not general. 



Calcareous earth alone is insoluble in water, and 

 can in no way affect growing plants except v.'hen 

 mixed with, and acted on by other substances in 

 soils. A load of marl dropped on the surface of 

 the land and left undisturbed, can have no more 

 effect than so much silicious sand, or any other 

 substance of like insolubility, weight and texture, 

 though perfectly worthless and inactive as manure. 

 Marl if thinly spread, though left on the surface, 

 in the course of time would have all its finer parts 

 carried down into the soil by tiie rains; and tlius, 

 ultimately, would act as a manure. Bui even 

 this slow effect Avould be prevented by the thick- 

 ness of a cart-load of marl, which would shelter 

 the covered soil from rain, except what it could 

 imbibe slowly by absorption. By thus calling to 

 your mind the existing circumstances, and the in- 

 soluble quality of calcareous earth, you will see 

 that m no way could your marl exert its chemical 

 power of neutralizing the acid quality of the sni! ; 

 by which means only, it destroys the growth of 

 sorrel. The germination of the seeds at such 

 depths, and the rising of the plant through such a 

 layer of dead earth, (as marl is in sucli cases,) 

 proves the remarkable hardiness of sorrel; bul its 

 growth in such situations furnishes no proof what- 

 ever, that marl when acting as a manure is not 

 destructive of sorrel. To produce this effect, it 

 only requires that a sufficient quantity shall be 

 applied, and equally and thoroughly mixed with 

 the soil by tillage. If plants of sorrel are found 

 on a field that has been sufficiently marled, and the 

 soil well stirred by cultivation, it only proves that 

 from careless spreading, those spots were left with- 

 out their share of the dressing. But should my 

 reasoning be not entirely satisfactory, you may 

 rely on the testimony of my experience, Avhich 

 pronounces that sorrel will never be found plenty 

 enough to be injurious after even a moderate 

 marling, and that after a proper application, " the 

 soil is found not only cleared of sorrel, but incapa- 

 ble of producing it." 



Since answering your letter, I have examined 

 many plants of sorrel growing in my heaps of 

 marl which were dropped last year on a poor 

 broom-sedge field. Contrary to my former opinion, 

 I found that the slender horizontal roots stretched 

 Ihi'ough the marl, sometimes eight or ten inches, 

 and were alive early in the spring. But by the 

 middle of June, they were either dying or dead. 

 In one plant only, I found that a horizontal root, 

 after passing nearly a foot through the marl, had 

 struck the soil below, and had become nearly as 

 large as the main tap-root. These roots, so long 

 as they are altogether in the marl heap, instead of 

 drawing support for the plant, are themselves sus- 

 tained by its juices, drawn through the main root 

 from the acid soil. In every case, the only im- 



portant fact is uniform — namely, the principal root 

 of the sorrel being fixed in the soil below the heap 

 of marl. 



Haivoveu, June 18, 1833. 



* * # j^/fay I suggest the propriety of call- 

 ing the attention of j-our readers to the danger of 

 suiicring servants to have hog pens, manure, and 

 litter, about their houses.? About five years past, 

 I had a very sickly family of negroes at a farm 

 near Richmond, two of whom died ; ti)e hog pen 

 was very near their dwelling — a subsequent event 

 induced me to think the disease (which was typhus 

 fever with sore throat,) was at least aggravated 

 l)y the pen. This has always been considered as 

 healthy a place as any in the neighborhood. Some 

 few months after, tv.o white persons in this county 

 died, as the attending physician thought, from ne- 

 glecting a hog pen : a third was ill, but was re- 

 moved, and recovered. Is it not probable that 

 many farmers suffer accumulations to take place 

 of what may render them unhealthy.' If you think 

 so, a few lines from you might put some on the 

 alert. 



We concur entirely in the opinion of our corresDon- 

 dent, which we cannot exhibit better than by extract- 

 ing his own words. He will see that the same subject 

 has already been treated of in the earlier part of this 

 number, (page 77.) 



Calcareous Iffanures of Central Virginia. 

 Prikce Edward, June 20, 1833. 



I have spread marl on between tv/elve and fifteen 

 acres in all — but, I apprehend, rather sparingly. 

 Its effects are very perceivable on the corn — the 

 cotton and tobacco are not yet sufficiently ad- 

 vanced to show its efficacy. I think, however, 

 the texture of the soil is manifestly improved. A 

 small spot in clover was heavily covered on the 

 third of April, and although there has been no 

 opportunity for the marl to freeze, the crop, I 

 think, at least doubles that on tlie adjoining land. 

 I had no clover growing near the marl beds, or I 

 would have tried it more extensively. The ex- 

 treme v.etness of the season has put a" stop to that, 

 and indeed to almost every other agricultural ope- 

 ration. The wheat crop is deplorably damaged. 

 The corn is yellow, from rain and smothered by 

 gvass ; and on lov/ grounds, much of it entirely 

 destroyed. ^ There is a prospect for a great oat 

 crop. I intend to make arrangements for spread- 

 ing marl much more extensively as soon as the 

 weatlier becomes dry, should that occur at all this 

 season. 



My other avocations have entirely forbidden any 

 special researches on the subject, but I cannot help 

 hoping that there will be marl found in many 

 places where I had not hoped for it. I received, a 

 day or two past, a large calcareous concretion fi'om 

 the northv/estern part of Lunenburg, and I learn 

 that Col. Asa Dupuy, of the southeastern part of 

 this county, has found marl on his land. He lives 

 about ten miles, I believe, to the east of the stripe 

 of land before supposed to be the extent of the 

 secondary formation. I learn, also, that there is. 

 an abundance of it in the county of Mecklenburg. 

 I think it highly probable that there is much land 

 of secondary formation between this and the head 

 of tide-Avatcr] and^ of coursCj that there may be 



