MARL : ITS NATURE AND EFFECTS. 165 



tions. His theory may be judged by his practice. 

 The tree is known by its fruits. It is on these univer- 

 sally conceded principles that the order and taste 

 which prevail in a garden are to be regarded as an 

 evidence of the condition of the garden of the mind. 

 He who contrives to produce much fruit by cultivating 

 the earth, maybe expected to be a valuable man in the 

 community by the fruits of his judgment, counsel, and 

 philanthrophy. If he allows no noxious weeds to 

 choke the valuable plants, equally careful may he be 

 presumed to be that no bad principles are allowed to 

 obtain an ascendency over the virtuous sentiments of 

 his soul. Such men may generally be trusted ; and, if 

 the test we have suggested were adopted as a rule for 

 selecting citizens as magistrates and rulers, there can 

 be little doubt that we should have better order in 

 government, and less of the confusion of party strife 

 than we now have. Too many of our moral and po- 

 litical vineyards are grown over to thorns, and the de- 

 fences of virtue and patriotism are, like stone walls, 

 broken down. In the general rush and scramble for 

 the fruits of office, the plants and trees which produce 

 them are too often ill-treated, bruised, trodden down, 

 and well nigh destroyed. A good cultivator does not 

 cultivate any thing in this slovenly style. — Maine 

 Cultivator. 



MARL: ITS NATURE AND EFFECTS. 



The following extract from Professor Rogers' late 

 Geographical Report will give our agricultural readers 

 some more distinct idea of this remarkable and recent- 

 ly talked of manure, which abounds in Monmouth and 

 other counties of New Jersey. 



Marl, or green mineral, loses nothing of its potency 

 by a long exposure, even of years, to water and the 

 15 



