MAR 
MAR 
which generally fpread on the fides arid bottoms of 
the pots, fo that the plants do not receive much nou- 
rifhment from the water. But where they are con- 
ftantly kept in the tanners bark, and have proper air 
and moifture, they will thrive, fo as from a fmall 
root to fill the pot in which it was planted, in one 
lummer. About Michaelmas the firft fort will begin 
to decay, and in a fhort time after the leaves will die 
to the ground, but the pots muft be continued all the 
winter in the bark-bed, otherwife the roots will pe- 
riili ; for although they are in an unaftive irate, yet 
they will not keep very long from fhrinking, when 
taken out of the ground •, and if the pots are taken out 
of the tan, and placed in any dry part of the flove, 
the roots often fhrivel and decay ; but when they are 
continued in the tan-bed they fhould have but little 
water given to them when their leaves are decayed, 
left it rot them. The firft fort doth flower conftantly 
in July or Auguft, and will often produce ripe feeds 
in England ; but the fecond fort doth not flower fo 
conftant, nor do the flowers appear fo confpicuous, 
being very fmall and of a fhort duration. This fort 
never hath produced any feeds in England, nor could 
I ever obfcrve any rudiment of a feed-veffei fucceed- 
ing the flower. The green leaves abide on this fort 
moft part of the winter, feldom decaying till Febru- 
ary ; and fometimes will continue green until frefh 
leaves come up, and thruft the old ones off-, in which 
particular there is a more remarkable difference be- 
tween the two forts, than can be obferved in the face 
of plants. 
MARJORAM. See Origanum. 
MARLE is a kind of clay, which is become fatter, j 
and of a more enriching quality, by a better fermen- 
tation, and by its having lain fo deep in the earth as 
not to have fpent or weakened its fertilizing quality 
by any produd. 
Marie is fuppofed to be much of the nature of chalk, \ 
and is believed to be fertile from its fait and oily qua- j 
lity ; and that it contracts its falts from the air, and 
for that reafon is the better the longer it is expofed 
to it. 
Maries are of different qualities in different counties 
of England. There are reckoned to be four forts of 
Maries in Suffex, a gray, a blue, a yellow, and a red ; 
of thele the blue is accounted the beft, the vellow the 
next, and the gray the next to that ; and as for the 
red, that is the leaft valuable. 
The Marie in Sufiex is moft like fullers earth, and 
therefore muft certainly be the fatteft, whereas that 
in the north country runs much upon the loam. 
In Chefhire they reckon fix forts of Marie : 
1. The cowfhut Marie, which is of a brownifh co- 
. lour, with blue veins in it, and little lumps of chalk 
or lime ftone ; it is commonly found under clay, or 
low black land, feven or eight feet deep, and is very 
hard to dig. 
2. Stone, Hate, or flag Marie, which is a kind offoft 
ftone, or rather flate, of a blue or bluifh colour, that 
will eafily diffolve with froft or rain. This is found 
near rivers and the Tides of hills, and is a verv laftino- 
fort of Marie. 
In Staffordlhire they efteem the dice or flate Marie 
better than the clay Marie, and reckon the blue beft 
for arable land, and the gray for pafture. 
3. Peat Marie, or delving Marie, which is clofe, 
ftrong, and very fat, of a brown colour, and is found 
on the Tides of hills, and in wet boggy grounds, 
which have a light fand in them about two feet or a 
yard deep. This is accounted the ftrongeft of all 
Maries, and is very good for fandy land, but the 
land muft have a double quantity laid on. 
4. Clay Marie; this refembles clay, and is pretty 
near akin to it, but is fatter, and fometimes mixed 
with chalk ftones. 
5. Steel Marie, which lies commonly in the bottom 
of pits that are dug, and is of itfelf apt to break 
into cubical bits ; this is fometimes under fandy land. 
6. Paper Marie, which refembles leaves or pieces of 
brown paper, but fomething of a lighter colour ; rifts 
lies near coals. This fort is lefs efteemed, it being 
hard to be got. 
The properties of any forts of Maries, arid by which 
the goodnefs of them may be beft known, are better 
judged of by their purity and uncompoundednefs, 
than their colour : as if it will break in pieces like 
dice, or into thin flakes, or is fmooth like lead ore, 
and is without a mixture of gravel or fand : if it 
will lliake like flats ftones, and fhatter after wet, or 
will turn to duft when it has been expofed to the fun : 
or will not hang and ftick together when it is tho- 
roughly dry, like tough clay ; but is fat and tender, 
and will open the land it is laid on, and not bind ; 
it may be taken for granted, that it will be beneficial 
to it. 
Some advife to try the goodnefs of Marie, by put- 
ting Tome of it in a glafs of water ; and they ac- 
count it to be good, if it be fo tender, that the lumps 
break, and diffolve as foon as it comes to the bot- 
tom ; they alio reckon it a good fign, if it fparkle 
in the water, and feel fat between the fingers *, but 
the fureft fign of its goodnefs is, if it diffolve by wet 
or froft. The ftrength of Marie may alfo be known, 
by putting a lump of it in a glafs of good vinegar, 
where, if the fermentation is great, it is a fure fign 
of the goodnefs of the Marie. 
Some approve of marling land Ihallow, becaufe they 
fay, it is apt to work downwards ; others of laying 
it in deep at firft, becaufe the fun waftes the fatnefs 
of it. 
Some recommend Maries for the improving of fandy 
loofe land, but the fureft way to know what lands it 
will beft fuit with, is to try with a little of it on lands 
fuppofed to be of a contrary nature to it. 
Maries do not make fo good an improvement of lands 
the firft year as afterwards. 
Some advife, firft to burn the Marie before it is laid 
on the lands •, which if it be done, one load will go 
as far as five. 
The quantity of Marie ought to be in proportion to 
the depth of the earth, for over-marling has often 
proved of worle confequence than under-marling, es- 
pecially where the land is ftrong ; for by laying it in 
too great quantities, or often repeating the marling, 
the land has become fo ftrong, and bound fo clofely, 
as to detain the wet like a difli, fo that the owners 
have been obliged to drain the ground at a great ex- 
pence, and have often been obliged to lower their 
rents ; but in fandy land there can be no danger in 
laying on a great quantity, or repeating it often, for 
it is one of the beft dreflings for luch land. 
MAR RUB I AS TRUM, Baftard Horehound. See 
SlDERITIS. 
MARRUBIUM. Tourn. Inft.R.H. 192. tab. 91. 
Lin. Gen. Plant. 640. Pfeudodictamnus. Tourn. 188. 
tab. 89. Lin. Gen. Plant. 640. [feme derive the name 
of 3 no, Heb. Marrob, i. e. bitter juice ; others 
from the Latin word Marcidurn, becaufe the leaves of 
this plant are fo wrinkled, that they appear to be wi- 
thering.] Horehound. 
The Characters are, 
The empalement of the flower is funnel-fhaped . , of one 
leaf and equal at the brim , which fpreads open. The 
flower is of the Up or grinning kind , with a cylindrical 
tube opening at the brim , where it is divided into two lips , 
• the upper being very narrow and acute , the ufiden broad , 
reflexed , and cut into three fegments , the middle one is 
broad and indented. It has four ftamina , which are un- 
der the upper Up , two of which are a little longer than 
the other , terminated by fimple fiimmits. It hath a four- 
pointed germen , fupporting a fender flyle of the fame 
length , and fituated with the fiamina , crowned by a bifid 
fiigma. The germen afterward turns to four oblong feeds , 
fitting in the empalement. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the firft feftion of 
Linnteus’s fourteenth clafs, intiiled Didynamia Gym- 
nofpermia, which iocl udes thofe plants whofe flowers 
have two long and two fhort ftamina, which are fuc- 
ceeded by naked feeds fitting in the empalement. 
The 
