Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 599 



Value of this Marl. 

 Tlie shell-marl, so-called, is, therefore, valuable only as a source of 

 lime, and in the absence of other supplies of lime must be of great 

 worth for this purpose. In order to render the material more soluble 

 than in its shell condition, it should be calcined or reduced to the 

 state of quick or air-slaked lime, and in this form may be used in 

 the same manner as when derived from other sources for any agricul- 

 tural or other purposes. The sample of muck was a soft, pliable 

 substance, dried by exposure to the air, and having a brown color, as 

 was shown by the prussiate of potash test, due to the presence of 

 peroxyd of iron. Its composition was determined to be as follows : 

 Water, twenty-one, and eighty-two one hundredths per cent ; organic 

 matter, eighteen and eighteen one hundredths per cent ; inorganic 

 matter, sixty-one per cent. The composition of the muck does not 

 indicate any unusual value in the material, nor any other use for it 

 than the common one of an absorbent for liquid manures, or a com- 

 ponent of the compost heap, for which purpose it should be as 

 thoroughly air-dried as possible. 



Analysis of Clay Sttesoil. 

 The clay, the subsoil so-called, said to underlie the whole area of 

 the farm from which it came, was hard and compact, containing 

 minute black specks of an apparently carbonaceous nature, and when 

 pulverized gave a buff-colored powder. It gave not the slightest 

 trace of calcareous matter, as it failed to effervesce with nitric acid. 

 It also showed an entire absence both of potash and phosphoric acid, 

 although carefully tested for both. It is simply a nearly pure silicate 

 of alumina, and apparently belongs to that variety of clay which 

 is commonly used in the manufacture of yellow earthenware, and is 

 worth about three dollars a ton. This, however, can only be satis- 

 factorily ascertained by burning it in a potter's kiln, which would 

 require from twelve to fourteen days. All of which is respectfully 

 submitted. 



Proposed Patents for Kew Seedlings. 



Mr. A. H. Moore, Berlin Heights, IST. J., protested against any 

 protection, by law, for seedling growers. 



Mr. Quinn, of Newark, said that few horticulturists were willing 

 to have a law passed for any special object like that. The American 

 Pomological Society liave passed a resolution to Congress, wishing 



