DIFFICULTIES WITHOUT CAUSE. 175 



may bo fully explained. The heaps of marl, thus left, had not as 

 yet by any intermixture affected the original composition of the 

 soil below ; and the seeds or roots of sorrel therein were therefore 

 free to spring and grow ; and the great hardiness and remarkable 

 vital power of that plant enabled it to rise through the (to it) dead 

 matter and great obstruction of several inches thickness of pure 

 marl above. On examining the roots of sorrel thus growing out 

 of marl, it will be seen clearly, and invariably, that they drew all 

 their support from the still acid soil below, and merely passed 

 through t/he marl, without drawing anything therefrom.*] 



CHAPTER XX. 



DIRECTIONS FOE THE USE OF MARL IN CONNEXION WITH OTHER 

 FARMING OPERATIONS. 



PROPOSITION 5 continued. 



From the foregoing reasoning and statements, the general course 

 most proper to pursue in using calcareous manures, and for cultiva- 

 tion in connexion with them, may be well enough deduced. But 

 as I have found that, notwithstanding all such aids, many persons 

 still require and apply for more special directions to guide their 

 operations, the following suggestions and remarks will be offered, 

 at the risk of their being deemed superfluous. These directions, 

 like all the foregoing reasoning, may apply generally, if not en- 

 tirely, to the use of all kinds of calcareous manures, and to soils 

 of every region. But to avoid too wide a range, I shall consider 

 them as applying more especially to the lands of the tide-water 

 region ; and as addressed to farmers who have just begun the im- 

 provement of such lands, by means of the fossil shells or marl of 

 the same region. 



Many persons, at first, attach much importance to some of the 

 conditions of marling which I deem scarcely worth consideration. 

 Numerous inquiries have been addressed to me for the purpose of 



* In England the effect of lime in preventing the growth of sour plants 

 is stated by Johnston, though most of the plants are different from ours 

 of that character. Elsewhere he speaks doubtfully, and upon report only, 

 of calcareous manure eradicating sorrel. He says, liming kills heath, 

 moss, and sour and benty (agrostis) grasses, and brings up a sweet herbage, 

 mixed with red and white clovers." "All fodder, whether natural or arti- 

 ficial, is said to be sounder and more nourishing when grown upon land to 

 \vhich lime has been applied abundantly. On benty grass the richest 

 animal manure often produces little improvement, until a dressing of lime 

 has been laid on." p. 391. 



