THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
3 
From the American Farmer. 
MARLING AND LIMING. 
We subjoin a letter upon the subject of marl- 
ing^ addressed by GoV. Hammond to the ^Agri- 
cultural Society of the State of South Carolina. 
It details a series of experiments made by him 
in the use of rtiarl on his land, in diifeient quan- 
tities, per acre, varying from 100 to 300 bush- 
els, and their results fairly tested and compared 
by other lands not marled. The results are na- 
tural, and accord precisely with our preconceiv- 
ed, and often expressed sentiments, in respeci to 
the use of lime and marl. The experiments of 
Gov. Hammond prove, that though lime maybe 
bread, it is net bread and meat too: that worn out 
lands require animal and vegetable substances as 
well as mineral: that large doses of lime or 
marl upon soils deprived of their organic re- 
mains, or vegetable food, by a long course of 
exhausting cropping, are injurious, and will im- 
pair, rather than benefit such soils for present 
purposes: that small doses are better than, large 
ones, under any circumstances; and that the 
frequent or periodical application of lime, in 
small quantites, is the policy indicated alike by 
economy and nature. Lands that are rich in 
undecomposed vegetable matter, of themselves, 
or where it may be applied in large quantities, 
can bear, and will be benefitted by, any reasona- 
ble quantity of lime or marl; but in its applica- 
tion the party must exercise a sound, discrimi- 
nating j udgment, or he may da more harm than 
good. We will here advance an opinion which 
we have often attempted to impress upon our 
readers. It is this — that whenever they are 
about to improve a worn out field with either 
lime or marl, and it may cot be convenient to 
apply stable or barn-yard manure, that they 
should prepare the ground for the reception of 
the calcareous matter, by previou.sly growing 
thereon, and turning under, at least two crops of 
buck wheat, which should be so turned under 
just when the plants are first beginning to bloom. 
Lime, we consider, in some form, as being in- 
dispensable to every soil; but as it is far from 
being the only food upon which plants feed, 
those other kinds in which, for variety sake, 
they may delight, must also be provided for 
them. 
No man is disposed to go further than we are 
in the rational praise of the wonderful effects of 
calcareous matter as an improver of the soil — 
we believe that no permanent improvement can 
be effected in an exhausted soil without it — and 
that by a judicious use of it and nutritive ma- 
nures, that many soils maybe made better than 
they were in their virgin state— but with all our 
preconceived opinions in its favor, we cannot 
get our consent to adopt the opinion, that lime 
alone is sufffeient to restore fertility to worn out 
land. 
And we will here seize the occasion to im- 
press these truths upon our readers— that twenty 
jive bushels per acre, of lime, for all present pur- 
poses, is better than a hundred^that upon poor, 
exhausted land, more never should be applied, 
at one time-^^and that these quantities should be 
repeated every four years, until one hundred 
shall have been applied; and then, that five 
bushels a year will be enough. 
Thursday Evening, Nov. 20, 1843. 
The Proceedings of the last meeting were 
read, and a letter from his Excellency Jas. H. 
Hammond was read, as follows: 
Columbia, November 17, 1843. 
Dear Sir— rin fiulfilment of my promise made 
last November, I again communicate to you 
the results of my experiment in Marling. The 
year has been so unfavorable for cotton, and my 
crop has fallen so far below the promise of July, 
that if I had not left some unmarled acres for a 
test, I should, as no doubt has often been done 
in other experiments, have come to the conclu- 
sion that all my labor had been in vain; and 
that, in fact, the marl had seriously injured my 
land. The truth, however, is very far to the 
contrary, and I now think that but for the marl 
X should have made no crop at all. 
I planted this year seven hundred acres of 
marled land: of which six hundred and eighty 
were in cotton, the remainder in pindars and 
potatoes, of which no accurate account was 
kept. The cotton turned out about as much 
per acre in the whole, as the average of the same 
land fvir the last ten crops. But believing this 
year to have been at least 20 per cent more un- 
favorable than an average one, I attribute that 
much increase to the effect of the marl. 
In my last communication I stated that I had 
selected four acres of good mulatto land, and 
four others of very light sandy soil, one acre of 
which in each selection was left unmarled, and 
the others marled with one, two and three hun- 
dred bushels respectively. For the purpose of 
showing the difference between the most favor- 
able and the m.ost unfavorable seasons I have 
known for cotton, as well as to indicate the pro- 
gressive comparative influence of the marl, I 
subjoin the results of the last, as well as the 
present year, on these expertmental acres. 
Experiment No. 1 — Mulatto 1842. 
Unmarled acre, 1111 lbs seed cotton. 
100 bushels do 816 do dec’ t 265 lbs 22.8 per cent 
200 do do 1003 do do ISO 9.7 do 
300 do do 1318 do inc’se 207 17.7 do 
Same Land, 1843. 
Unmarled acre, 493 lbs seed cotton. 
100 bushels do 654 do inc’se 161 lbs 32.6 per cent 
200 do do 759 do do 266 53.9 do 
300 do do 841 do do 348 70 do 
As 1 remarked last year, the acres with one 
and two hundred bushels of marl are decidedly 
inferior in quality t« the other two. The un- 
marled acre and that with 300 bushels, are as 
nearly equal as any two on the plantation. It 
is hardly necessary to say, that these acres lying 
side by side, were all planted on the same day, 
and cultivated in precisely the same manner. 
The experimental acres of the thin light land 
were planted last 5 ’’ear in corn. All the marled 
acres produced better than the unmarled, but I 
will not repeat the statement, as it does not af- 
ford an accurate comparison with the cotton 
crop of this year, of which the following is the 
result. 
Experiment No. 2 — very light, sandy soil — 1843. 
Unmarled acre, 361 lbs seed cotton. 
100 bushels do 451 do inc’se 90 lbs 24.9 per cent 
200 do do 384 do do 23 6.3 do 
300 do do 173 do dec’r 188 52. do 
The land, being very old, is bare of vegeta- 
ble matter for marl to act on, to which more 
than the texture of the soil, inferior as it is, I 
attribute the failure of any great improvement 
from it. I make the statement however because 
it is valuable in many respects. It shows the 
danger of heavy marling cn worn land without 
previous rest or manure. The acre with three 
hundred bushels has been destroyed. There is 
one rich spot, the bottom of a small basin in the 
centre of it, which produced nearly all the cot- 
ton gathered. On the rest of it the weed mostly 
died as soon as it came up — one hundred proves 
a belter quantity than two hundred bushels, and 
perhaps a little less would have been still better 
on this soil — at least to begin with. All the 
lightest land in the fields marled with two hun- 
dred bushels was evidently injured and now re- 
quires help. I anticipated this effect from what 
I saw last year, and reduced the quantity to one 
hundred and fifty bushels on all the land then 
marled. I have reduced it now to one hundred 
bushels and shall hereafter marl at that rate. I 
prefer to go over it again after I have finished 
all, and give it what it may prove itself able to 
bear after resting once or thrice, 
The crop of this year has satisfied me per- 
fectly that cotton will mature at least a fort- 
night earlier on marled than on unmarled land. 
Another unexpected effect of marl it may be 
worth while to state. I commenced in the 
spring of 1842 to put it in my stable, pretty free- 
ly, for the purpose of improving my manure. I 
did not think of its having any material effect 
on the health of the mules. But I have had but 
little sickness among them, and have not lost 
one since, while previously I lost on the average 
four annually, and never, in any year, less than 
two. I attribute this change in a great measure 
to the absorption of noxious gases by the marl. 
1 am now marling as actively as heretofore, 
and I esteem it so beneficial that 1 have this 
summer marled a field of over two hundred 
acres, the average haul to which is three miles 
from my landing: and being tolerably fresh land 
that has rested this year, and was sowed in oats 
last year, which were cot cut but grazed down 
after ripening, 1 have put on one hundred and 
fifty bushels. 
The fields on which my experimental acres 
are will rest next year. 1 shall not therefore be 
able to continue my report to you. Since, how’- 
ever, the valuable labors of Mr. Ruffin in the 
State have given a decided impulse to marling, 
I presume that all who are in reach of marl 
will at least experiment for themselves; aud it 
will be of no consequence that I should longer 
communicate my experience. I am very truly 
and respectfully your obedient servant, 
J. A. Hammon. 
Hon. Whitemarsh B. Searbrook. 
From the Southern Planter. 
SALT A PREVENTIVE OF SMUT. 
Sir — In perusing the pages of your excellent 
journal, I find salt recommended as a fertilizer; 
although my experience with this mineral is 
very limited, still such as it is, I have concluded 
to give it to you. 
A few years since ray crop of wheat was so 
badly injured by the smut, that I determined I 
would not use it for seed, and I, therefore, pur- 
chased from a neighbor a few bushels that was 
clean and good. I found, however, that I had 
not near enough to finish my crop, and having 
heard that salt sowed w’ith wheat would prevent 
the smut, 1 resolved to make the experiment. — 
Accordingly I took my smutty wheat and wash- 
ed it, and mixed with it while it was yet wet, 
about a quart of salt to each half bushel, and 
with it finished sow’ing my crop. 
"W hen|I harvested the crop, I found the wheat 
purchased of ray neighbor much injured by the 
smut, but my salted wheat was entirely free 
from this disease, and so superio" in quantity 
and quality, that I believe if I had let alone my 
neighbor’s clean wheat, and sowed my whole 
crop of my own smutty wheat, thus prepared, I 
should have made one hundred bushels more 
than I did. 
In the spring of 1842 I tried a similar experi- 
ment on a few bushels of smooth chaff spring 
wheat, which was much affected with the smut. 
I washed and mixed as above, about a quart to 
the half bushel, and sowed it by the side of the 
same wheat without this preparation. My 
salted w’heat grew about six inches higher than 
the other, and yielded me twenty bushels to one 
seeded, whilst the other did not yield half that 
quantity. 
Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
A. Lee. 
From the Farmers’ Journal. 
CABBAGE HEADS FROM STUMPS. 
Friend Cole — I do not know all that your 
Boston gardeners are up to, but I do know, that 
if cabbage stumps of any variety are set out in 
the spring in good order, that one, two, three or 
even four good sound heads will grow on them — 
and this they will do year after year, until they 
die by accident. 
They are managed in the following manner: 
When the upper, narroio leaved ones, which 
would bear seed, are carefully rubbed off, and 
likewise all the lower, round leaved ones, which 
will form heads except the number the strength 
of the stump and soil are capable of bringing 
to perfection. 
At our cattle show, last week, Mr. John Drew 
presented several such stumps, with one to four 
heads of low Dutch cabbage on each, which 
Iiave borne for three years. He sets them out 
in earth in the cellar in autumn, cuts off the 
heads when required for use, and places them 
pretty thick in the garden in spring. The labor 
is trifling, the out worm gives no trouble, and 
the crop sure and abundant. 
James Bates. 
