THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR 
167 
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1844. 
PLANTER’S CLUB OF HANCOCK. 
|:;j=The annual lair of the Planter’s Club of 
Hancock, will take place at Sparta on Friday 
and Saturday, the first and second days of No- 
vember. An address v/ill be delivered before 
the club on Saturday by a member. 
The friends ol Agriculture, and the public 
are respectfully invited to attend. 
TUTTLE H. AUDAS, Secretary. 
Sparta, Oct. 10, 1844. 
H^Editors friendly to the cause -will please 
copy- 
PROFITS OF R.USING FRUIT. 
The product of one large peach orchard in the 
little state ol Delaware was sold last year to a 
company in New York city for fifty thousand, 
dollars, and it is said the company realized six- 
teen thousand dollars profit by the operation. — 
From the same orchard, Iruit has been sold to 
the amount of one hundred thousand dollars. 
For the Sonthern Cultivator. 
ANALYSIS OF BLUE MARL. 
EuF.tuLA, Ala., 25th Sept., 1844. 
Mr. Editor: — I wrote /ou from Elberton, 
Ga., on my way home from the West, giving 
my plan ol preparing Cotton lor market. I now 
forward you for publication, the analysis of the 
blue marl of this region, as prepared by the 
kindness of the Rev. Doct. Means, ol Oxford, 
Ga. 
Col. McDonald — 
Dear Sir: — I have made an analysis of 
the fine specimen of blue Marl which you were 
pleased to send me, and am entirely satisfied 
that it must contribute largely to the fertility of 
ordinary soil. 
The productiveness of lands, you are well 
aware, depends upon a suitable proportion of 
the earths which compose them, and the com- 
parative value of different marls must depend 
upon the constituent character of the soil for 
which they are designed, and the description ol 
crop intended to be grown. Compact lime- 
stone, by an increase of aluminous earth, pas- 
ses gradually into marl; and while in some in- 
stances the calcarious matter predominates, in 
others the argiUaceous is most abundant. II, 
therefore, a natural soil be loose and porous, with 
a good proportion of sand, the argillaceous marl 
will give it adhesiveness and tenacity, and make 
it retentive of moisture ; if on the contrary the soil 
is close and tenacious, the calcarious marl is 
preferable. The clay (silex and alumina) which 
constitutes in different marls from 10 to 95 per 
cent, of the mass, is best suited to tenacious soils 
when the silicious element predominates. Marls 
which furnish 25 per cent, of the carbonate of 
lime may be regarded as very rich. In- 
I deed many locations (some within the limits ol 
I our own State, Georgia) do not give more than 
\ from 5 to 7 per cent. In the examination ot your 
j s. eci.men, a quantitive analysis was not prose- 
I cuted, farther than to ascertain precisely the 
I proportion ol the carbonate of lime in the mass, 
j which it was hoped would be sufficient lor all 
j practical purposes. I found it to contain of that 
j salt 13.72 per cent , i e. every 100 grains ol the 
j marl furnished 13 72-100 grains of the carbonate. 
I I found it also to contain mica, silex, alnraina, 
! and iron,, the latter ingredient in considerable 
quantity ; and, as I believe, in the form of the 
sulphate of the peroxide, constitutes an ad- 
mirable substitute for sulphate of lime 
(plaster of paris) in soils which are designed 
for culinary vegetables, and especially what are 
called cruciferous plants, as the white and 
black mustard: also, turnips, cabbage, celery, 
red clover, &c., all of which contain sulphur 
as an element and ingredient, and require a soil 
supplied with sulphates, which by decomposi- 
tion, the sulphate may be separated and as- 
similated to the purpose of vegetable life, 
Nightsoil, and especially human urine, which 
has undergone putrefaction, used in connection 
with sulphate of iron (green vitriol) furnishes, 
by a change of base, the sulphate of ammonia 
— an admirable salt to promote vigorous growth 
in the class of vegetables above named. 
The silicious and aluminous portions of 
your marl are, I think, in fine proportion to 
meet the general distribution of the earths in 
most natural soils in your region of country. 
On the whole, your Alabama marl seems to re- 
semble the Burlington county marl, New Jersey, 
and especially in containing shells and iron: 
the latter beingbynomeansacommon ingredient 
of marl; and I trust, if found in sufficient quan- 
tities, will brighten the auspices of an enlightened 
and patient industry — redeem hundreds of ex- 
hausted, unproductive acres, and clothe them 
afresh with annual luxuriance of a healthful 
and vigorous vegetation. 
With sincere regard, yours, &c., 
Oxford, June 29, 1844. A. Means. 
For the Southern Cultivator. 
FORM OF A LEVEL. 
Mr. Editor : — There is diversity of opinion 
in regard both to the form and span of a Level 
that best adapts it to agricultural purposes. 
Some say 10 feet span, others 15, or more. I 
propose to make a lew observations on this sub- 
ject, to my brethren of the plow, and with as 
much brevity as possible, knowing that details 
on such a subject are apt to be uninteresting. I 
prefer the span of about a rod, for reasons pre- 
sently to be assigned. The dimensions and the 
mode of constructing the one which I have used 
personally for many years in preparing for hori- 
zontal plowing, and which [ have found very 
convenient, are as follows : legs 11 feet long, | 
or I of an inch thick, inches wide, in the 
middle, tapered down at each end to IJ inch; 
cross them at 2i feet from one end, and separate 
the other ends to IGJ feet; fit them together by 
means of a half mortise or joggle, and secure 
with screws; fit in and secure in like manner, 
a cross piece ; from the large part of one leg to 
the large part of the other, it skoald be 2 or 2^ 
inches wide, and as thick as the legs ; one other 
cross piece, about the size of the last, fitted and 
secured like it, near the top of the legs (above 
the cross) completes the instrument. Now lor 
its advantages. 1st. More can be accomplish- 
ed by it than by a narrow one in a given time. — 
2nd. It is lighter in proportion to its span than 
any I have seen, and may be made still lighter 
than directed, if strength be left in the middle of 
the legs, w’heie the lower cross-bar is attached, 
and where all the strain falls in using it. — 3rd. 
The ends of the legs (the feet we will call them) 
rest so obliquely on the ground as not to sink 
much, even in ground recently plow^ed. — 4ih. 
The point w'here the plumbline is attached, — in 
the middle of the upper cross-bar — is remote 
from the lower cross-bar, where the indications 
of the plumb are seen, thereby securing greater 
accuracy. — 5th. It is more conveniently porta- 
ble ; the cross ol the legs may be put on the 
shoulder of even a man of low stature, and the 
instrument carried to, or from, or about the field, 
without any exertion of the arms or hands. Of 
course it is carried in the hand like all others, 
w’hen in actual use. 
A simple and sufficiently accurate mode of 
ascertaining the perpendicular of the level, is 
as lollovvs : put the feet as near on a level by 
the eye as possible, and mark where the plumb- 
line strikes the lower cross-bar, then reverse the 
feet, putting each one where the other stood be- 
fore, and mark again where the line strikes ; the 
centre between these two marks, is the correct 
perpendicular. Now to prepare for laying off 
drain ditches, move one foot of the level until 
the plumbline settles to the centre mark, then 
raise one foot two inches by putting a block un- 
der it, and mark where the line strikes or set- 
tles to, and put figure 2 over it on the cross-bar, 
*^hen raise the same foot one inch more or 3 
inches altogether, mark where the line strikes 
and put 3 over it ; then raise, mark and place 
the figures for the other foot in the same manner. 
The instrument is now prepared for leveling, 
ascending or descending at the rate of 2 and 3 
inches to the rod. 
Chopping with a hoe to indicate to the plow- 
man the course that the level has gone, is, in 
my opinion, a very poor, though common expe- 
dient. I prefer the following mode: split out a 
sufficient number of little sticks, 12 or 15 inches 
long, about as large as the little finger, and 
sharpen them at one end, one of which is to be 
stuck at the foremost foot of the level, at each 
successive stride, bringing the hind foot to 
the stick from which the lore one was last taken. 
The grounds of my preference are, — ist. Expe- 
dition, instead of the delay necessary to make 
several chops with a hoe; at a word, the slick 
is stuck down and the level is again in motion. 
— 2d. Accuracy. The point is precisely shown, 
W’here the fore-foot was taken from, and where 
the hind one must be placed. — 3d. Economy. 
A little boy, incapable of handling a hoe for any 
length of time, can carry and use a sufficient 
number of sticks; moreover, the plowman who 
succeeds, can see the course of the row and fol- 
low it, without Ihe necessity of an extra hand to 
lead his horse; and further, the zigzags in the 
row, occasioned by furrows and ridges, and oth' 
