rm FAUxMERS* REGISTER— MARLING AND MANAGEMENT OF HORSES. 



back about one eighlh of an inch (hick, but thin- 

 ner on (iic sides and near the end, the rod should 

 be made of round rod iron hall an inch in diame- 

 ter. One dolKir will purchase as much round rod 

 iron as will make the three augers : the cost of ma- 

 king will probably be about one dollar. The iron, 

 when the augers arc no longer wanting, will be 

 worth about one dollar. We use three augers to look 

 for marl, but keep longer ones at the pit to bore 

 through and through a hed before a pit is dug, for 

 fear of losing time and lalior. In some soils con- 

 siderable labor is required to bore, in others but 

 little. We have found a good many beds, by 

 boring, that had never been known betbre. 



We l:ad never marled before last winter, nor 

 seen any marl; and had every thing to learn. — 

 We soon found we wanted a pump, but what size 

 we did not know. One was ordered, but proved 

 too large : another was ordered to be made as 

 light as possible with an inch and a half bore, and 

 to have an iron band at the lower end as well as 

 at the top and middle, to prevent its splitting from 

 drying when out of the water. This was found 

 to answer very well. We commenced digging- 

 marl with grubbing hoes, which v.as found tedi- 

 ous and laborious : we then made grubbing hoes 

 or picks, with blades only two inches wide : with 

 these the laborers were greatly pleased, and said 

 the labor was not half as great. Another thing 

 required attention. The laborers threw the marl 

 out of the pit with hoes and spades, as the carts 

 could not conveniently descend hito the pit : the 

 hoe was tedious, and the spade required stooping, 

 Avhich was painful and laborious, to obviate which 

 socket shovels were obtained, and handles got 

 from the woods of the size and form supposed 

 most suitable, with some of which the laborers 

 were pleased, but it was evident there was room 

 for great improvement. A pattern was therefore 

 made and taken to the woods, and a suitable tree 

 selected : the handles were then sawed out four and 

 a half feet in length and about the size of a weed- 

 ing hoe handle, but rather larger one Avay than 

 the other, and dressed off rather of an oval form 

 like the handle of an axe, or grubbing hoe, to pre- 

 vent their turning in the hand : thus made and pro- 

 perly put into the socket the laborer consults his 

 own ease, and throws in any direction that suits 

 his convenience, and frequently, directly over 

 head. In using it, the left foot comes within about 

 a foot of the shovel, the handle passes by the left 

 knee and about eight inches above the right knee. 

 Probably the most convenient way to make a pat- 

 tern to get the handles by, is to take a thin piece 

 of plank four and a half feet long, and five inches 

 wide, and to lay the shovel on the back with the 

 socket end a little elevated, and to cut the plank 

 to fit the socket, which will take in length six 

 inches. When fitted, cut the superfluous plank 

 on the upper side away in a circular manner from 

 the socket to near the left knee ; at the left knee, 

 none is to be taken off on the upper side, but all 

 from the under side in a circular manner ; then 

 i'rom about the left knee on the upper side take, it 

 off to the lower corner of the upper end, in a cir- 

 cular manner. 



While these improvements for the relief of the 

 laborers wore going on, the oxen were suffering 

 greatly. The cart bodies were too large and 

 heavy, and the oxen were frequently overloaded ; to 

 obviate which, bodies were made of light timber 



to hold about fifteen bushels. But we were at a 

 great loss how to fix the body conveniently to 

 keep it from being thrown oft' in turning up, as it 

 was too short to rest on the ground, but at last a 

 simple plan answered exactly. A two inch hole 

 « as cut through the cart axle, and a little piece of 

 timber put into the hole to strike the middle sill of 

 the cart, and so fixed as to slip in and out at 

 pleasure. 



We marled during the winter about one hun- 

 dred acres of land, 2-50 bushels to the acre, in 

 strength from /p~ to Vyn of carbonate of lime. — 

 The marl used was of the large white shell, im- 

 bedded in what is called blue clay, but more pro- 

 perly a mixture of fine blue sand and clay. We 

 have a good deal of " little shell" marl, which is 

 in strength only about half that of the large shell. 

 I am nol sure tliat drying and weighing marl be- 

 fore analyzing, is that perfect way of knowing its 

 calcareous value for agricultural purposes as is 

 generally supposed : for marl is carried from the 

 bed in the state it is there found, and there is no 

 earth below the surface perfectly dry. Given 

 weights of earth from difi'ercnt soils, when wet, 

 vary very widely after drying. We see in our 

 branches, sand that loses but little by drying, 

 and along side, we see earth thrown out of our 

 ditches, that was heavy like the sand, but when 

 dry, is as light as ashes. Evaporation makes this 

 important difference. I should therefore suppose 

 marl containing the most calcareous earth in pro- 

 portion to its weight at the bed, to be the most 

 profitable ; and nol the one giving the most, when 

 analyzed, in proportion to its dry weight. For 

 example, say there are two beds of marl, one as it 

 is dug from the bed, contains, in one hundred 

 parts, of lime jW, of sand j%\, of water y-/^; the 

 other bed is of lime -fj"^, of earth when dry almost 

 as light as ashes y-^o, of water j^/^ ; these two beds 

 as far as respects the calcareous matter is the same, 

 and whether fij"^ of sand or /„"„ of water be carri- 

 ed out is immaterial. But how different would be 

 the result if analyzed : one would lose ^^^^ of water 

 by evaporation, the other would lose /— of water 

 by evaporation. The balance, in one case, would 

 be J lime, the other ^ — instead of both being the 

 same and that only ^. Not many days ago I re- 

 ceived some marl from an adjoining county which I 

 think would have been by analysis y'^^ by first 

 drying it ; but I doubt, from the soil it was im- 

 bedded in, w hether it would have reached —„ as 

 taken from the bed. I have analyzed a good 

 deal of marl (without an apparatus, but) agreea- 

 ble to the directions given in your " Essay on Cal- 

 careous Manures," and I find from good beds of 

 marl, samples can be selected to show by analysis 

 almost any thing. 



It was not my intention when I began this com- 

 munication to write one tenth as much as I have — 

 however, I will merely touch one or two other 

 subjects. While writing this letter, my attention 

 was arrested by a pterson calling to another to run 

 and prevent a horse from breaking his bridle, that 

 he had just been tied by. I will therefore state how 

 I broke a valuable mare from that habit a few years 

 ago. I came home one day and tied her, and had 

 scarcely reached my door before she broke a new 

 bridle into three parts, and ran off. I ordered her 

 to be brought back, and after some reflection, I 

 cut a piece of leather about four inches long and 

 about as wide as the head stall, and drove two 



