368 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



more,) can be compared to the superphosphate of lime, but the 

 other constituents are also valuable ; but the great value of marl 

 is to be found in the fact that it contains nearlj^ all the sub- 

 stances necessary to make up the ash of our common cultivated 

 plants. 



Marl has been found peculiarly adapted to the growth of pota- 

 toes. See what you get from Monmouth county ! White clover 

 is also a test for the value of marl, but not when acid is present. 

 After a few years use some soils will require the use of lime, and 

 then its benefits will again go on as useful as ever, like lime and 

 manure in parts of Parma, there seems no limit to the increased 

 productiveness of land by this grand fertilizer. The smaller the 

 marl grains, the inore promptly it acts. 



Squankum marl, probably the best, is worth seven cents per 

 bushel at Freehold, and railroad communications, diverge from 

 there in all directions. Water for navigable purposes approaches 

 these beds in many places. 



Mr. Lawton said that at 7 cents per bushel the marl was worth 

 $1.50 per load besides transportation. Putting on 200 loads to 

 the acre, it would amount to $300 ; the interest of which would 

 in itself go far towards keeping land manured. He believed, 

 therefore, that it would be impracticable to apply it in large 

 quantities where the cost of transportation would be consider- 

 able. He was in favor of the use of deodorised manure for fer- 

 tilizing purposes. 



Mr. Carpenter said that there were various concentrated 

 manures which would answer the purposes of farmers in this 

 vicinity better than marl. Land can be manured here for five 

 dollars an acre, which is less than the interest of the cost of the 

 marl would be. He referred to bone-dust and guano as excellent 

 manures. 



Dr. Waterbuiy. — Four pounds of potash at5| cents per pound 

 will amount to 22 cents for the potash alone in a bushel of marl, 

 which is sold for 1 cents. If this potash were soluble, the peo- 

 ple of New Jersey would leach it out rather than sell the marl at 

 that price. 



Dr. Trimble referred to the farming lands in New Jersey, which, 

 according to the census of 1850, were worth $7 per acre more 

 than those of any other State of the Union, as an evidence of 

 the value of marl, which had been the cause of the high value 

 of those lands. 



