VOLUME III. NO. 4 
r 
ROCHESTER, N. Y-THURSDAY, JANUARY it, 1852 
-{ WHOLE NO. 108. 
Slgriraltnral Dcpnrtnmit. 
PIJO«Ki:SS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
MARL A3 AN AMELIORATOR OF THE SOIL. 
• _ 
Marl is a compound of the carbonate of 
lime mixed with clay, silica, shells, and oth¬ 
er inorganic substances in various propor¬ 
tions. The matters intermingled anc. the 
amount of each, determine its quality and 
value, and give rise to the several names by 
which it is known. The calcareous marls 
are those containing the most carbonate of 
lime, and consequently the richest kind.— 
Marl properly so called, has about half its 
weight in calcareous substances. Clayey 
marl, is that which contains three or four 
times as much clay as marl, and marly clay, 
is that which has but a small portion of cal¬ 
careous carbonate. The marls ai’e also dis¬ 
tinguished by their colors—white, gray, blue, 
&c.—and there are numerous varieties be¬ 
sides those above named, which it is unnec¬ 
essary to describe. 
Marl, like lime, strictly speaking, is not a 
manure. When added to the soil it acts as 
an ameliorator in improving its texture and 
modifying its natural condition rather than 
by giving materials for the growth of vege¬ 
tation. Its action upon the soil and the 
benefits derived from its application, are 
akin to those of lime, for it is in fact, but 
the carbonate of lime reduced to powder, 
and mixed with earthy matters. It slakes 
and expands when exposed to the air, and 
in common with lime, possesses the proper¬ 
ty of rendering stiff soils friable and easier 
of cultivation, and of giving more compact¬ 
ness to those too sandy and light. It also 
promotes the decomposition of vegetable 
matter, neutralizes acids, and induces the 
formation of the nitrates requisite to the 
highest fertility. It gives activity to the in¬ 
ert vegetable matters often present in bar¬ 
ren soils, as its successful employment in 
the renovation of over-cropped and worn- 
out lands in many districts in this country, 
particularly along the seaboard and in 
the South-western States, most abundantly 
prove. 
This substance cannot always be distin¬ 
guished by the eyo alone, but its tests are 
very simple and can readily be applied.— 
The presence of calcareous matter in any 
soil is shown by its effervescence upon the 
application of an acid. Common vinegar 
will produce this effect. But to ascertain 
the amount of carbonate of lime in any 
specimen of marl or earth, we take a set of 
delicate scales, and after drying, without 
hardening, one hundred grains of the earth 
to be tried, put it in a vessel with water 
sufficient to crumble it to the consistence of 
naturally moist earth. Upon this a few 
drops of nitric acid are thrown, and the 
mixture worked over with a wooden spatula 
— effervescence immediately takes place, 
and the carbonic acid gas escapes. This 
last is replaced by the nitric acid, which 
then forms nitrato of lime. This nitrate 
has the property of remaining suspended in 
water, and may by successive washings be 
removed from the earthy matter, which, in 
the process, should be allowed to settle at 
the bottom of the vessel. The residuum is 
nothing more than clay and silica, the weight 
of which, as compared with the quantity 
submitted to the test, will determine the 
proportion of calcareous matter present in 
the marl—the carbonic acid gas and lime 
composing it having been removed by the 
process. 
Upon calcareous soils, marl would, of 
course, be of little benefit unless the clayey 
kinds wero used as a corrective and amel¬ 
iorator of the lighter sands. In this case, 
so large a quantity would need to bo added 
that the expense would generally prevent 
the application. Upon all soils which would 
be improved by the application of lime, 
there is no question but marl may be used 
with immediate and important benefits. It 
is found in many places in this State, and 
its cheapness—as it is to be procured at the 
mero cost of digging and carting—should 
incite to its use, that we may test, by actual 
experiment, whether it will produce the ef¬ 
fects here which it has in other localities. 
As to the amount to be applied, sandy 
lands need much less than clayey, and it is 
upon the latter that it produces the most 
decided effect. From twenty to sixty wag¬ 
on loads per acre, are generally employed. 
It is best applied when it can be drawn out 
in the fall or winter and left in heaps until 
spring, as then it can be spread more easily 
and evenly over the surface. We hope to 
be able to give farther information on the 
subject hereafter. 
; PROGNOSTICS OF THE WEATHER FOR 1852. 
Messrs. Editors :—I am not a believer in 
the doctrines of Father Miller, or in the 
spirit rappings of the present day, though, 
it seems that the more mystery and absurd¬ 
ity there is attached to a thing the more fol¬ 
lowers it gains. And if the following prog¬ 
nostications should prove of service to any¬ 
one, he may credit them to an old gentleman 
of this town, who has been a close observer 
of tho weather for the last 50 years. The 
rule upon which they are founded is, that 
the twelve days commencing with Christmas 
rule the twelve months of the year following. 
Thursday, Dec. 25—Wind north; cold and 
cloudy with a little snow. Accordingly, 
January will be cold and rather steady 
weather, but no very great depth of snow. 
Friday, Dec. 2G.—Wind north in tho 
morning, then north-west; and south after¬ 
noon and evening. Cold and clear. Febru¬ 
ary will be “cool and salubrious,” not much 
sleighing,—cold, steady weather—porln^e a 
thaw the latter part of the month. 
Saturday, Dec. 27 . —Wind south, and af¬ 
ternoon and evening, boisteroui. Accord¬ 
ingly, March will be cool the fore part, high 
winds and storms, snow and rain and perfect 
gales, the latter part. 
Sunday, Dec. 28.—Wind south—warm 
rain the fore part of the day, and pleasant 
in the afternoon. April has a chance for 
warm weather and fine showers, the fore part, 
and very pleasant weather the latter part of 
the month. Hay will have a chance to fall 
from its present price. 
Monday, Dec. 29.—Wind south. Pleasant 
and warm. May will accordingly be a fine 
month. “ The showers of April will bring 
forth tho flowers of May.” Warm, steady, 
pleasant weather. 
Tuesday, Dec. 30.—Wind south, and fine 
warm weather all day. June will be a fine, 
warm month—first rate for corn. 
Wednesday, Dec. 31.—Wind south-west in 
the morning, then north-west. Heavy rain 
and some snow in the afternoon. July may 
be expected to have wet and sorrowful days 
for those farmers who have quantities of hay 
and wheat down. If the weather should 
prove much better than the prognosticatoh 
anticipates, no person will be injured. Clo¬ 
ver hay when wet is “ done brown.” 
Thursday, Jan. 1.—Wind south and south¬ 
east. Mild—cloudy, no storm. The weather 
in August may be very warm and fine. 
Friday, Jan. 2.—Mild, fine day. Septem¬ 
ber of course will be fine for the wheat crop 
—the holding of the Fairs, &c., &c. 
Saturday, Jan. 3.—Wind south; cloudy. 
October—good; some rain may be expected, 
but upon the whole good weather. 
Sunday, Jan. 4.—Wind north in the morn¬ 
ing. Cloudy but not very cold,—cool, steady 
weather. 
Monday, Jan. 5.—Wind north, with fog. 
Rain and freezing. December will be cold, 
with cold rains and frosts. Some snow may 
be expected—but nothing remarkable for 
thj£ month. Respectfully yours, 
Rose, N. Y., Jan. 12,1852. E. N. T. 
Plans for the Year.— The leisure of tho 
present season will enable tho farmer to ma¬ 
ture plans for the operations of the coming 
summer. A map of the farm is very useful, 
and with one before you, or in your mind’s 
eye, you may now decide upon tho crops to 
which you will devoto each field, the kind 
and amount of manures to be used, tho mode 
of cultivation to be pursued, &c. Make 
memorandums of these plans, and though 
you may not pursue them implicitly, you 
will find them of material use during the year. 
A COUNTRY HOUSE.—ELEVATION. 
PLAN OF A COUNTRY HOUSE. 
Some weeks ago we briefly noticed and 
commended a new work on Rural Architec¬ 
ture by Gervase Wheeler, entitled “ Rural 
Homes, or Sketches of Houses suited to 
American Country Life.” Since then we 
have given the volume a more careful ex¬ 
amination, and selected several plans for 
transfer to the pages of the Rural. The 
accompanying design of a Country House 
will probably suit the taste of many of our 
readers though the cost of construction may 
bo an objection in some instances. Tho 
plan -a very good one for Suburban Resi¬ 
dence—and those to whose circumstances it 
is not adapted, may derive valuable hints 
from the author’s design and suggestions.— 
We condense the description, as follows : 
or principal floor, No. 1 being the entrance 
hall with its coat closet c. 
2, Is the library, with a fire-proof safe 
inserted in the wall, right hand of the fire¬ 
place. 
3, The drawing-room, with a projecting 
window or bay on its western side. 
4, The dining room, with sliding doors be¬ 
tween it and the drawing room. 
5, Tho boudoir or morning room, with a 
large store-closet, No. 9, and a work and 
book closet in tho other end of the room. 
6, Is the kitchen—on one side of which is 
a screen filled with ground glass to give 
light to the end of the staircase hall and to 
the small entry leading to the kitchen, the 
scullery No. 7, and the store-room No 8. 
10, Is the waiter’s pantry, communicating 
We are going to build at a moderate cost 
—say five thousand dollars, and ^o wish to 
make that sum serve to complete our homo 
in every particular, excepting inside furni¬ 
ture of the house. The sum at disposal will 
permit a building of comfortable dimensions; 
its form on the ground may bo thus arran¬ 
ged : The main portion—which would con¬ 
tain a library, seventeen feet by fifteen; a 
drawing room, sixteen by twenty-five; a hall, 
nine feet wide and seventeen long ;—would 
make a block thirty-six feet south by twen¬ 
ty-seven feet east and west. This block 
would bo carried higher than the wing, con¬ 
taining a dining-room, fifteen by twenty; a 
small boudoir, or morning room, ten by 
fourteen; a stair-case, store-rooms, pantries, 
etc., and a commodious kitchen, which would 
all bo contained in a block thirty-six by 
thirty-four. These dimensions, which in¬ 
clude thickness for walls, chimneys, etc., en¬ 
close an area of about two thousand feet, 
and tho division of the space is adjusted so 
as to afford the most economical form for 
erection. 
The plan hero given represents tho ar¬ 
rangement of the rooms upon the ground, 
with the dining-room, and furnished with a 
sliding opening into the kitchen for the serv¬ 
ing and removal of dishes. Within this 
pantry is a large china and plate closet con¬ 
veniently placed and adequately lighted. 
The staircase is in the inner hall, leading 
from the main entrance towards the domes¬ 
tic offices, and is privately and conveniently 
placed. Tho back, or sen-ants’ stairway 
leads from the scullery. 
Round three sides of the house stretches 
a veranda twelve feet wide, breaking round 
the bay-window on the western side and 
stopping against the dining-room, so as to 
extend to ono of its French windows. 
Tho chamber floor is thus distributed:— 
the staircase lands first upon the lower lev¬ 
el over the dining room door, kitchens, etc., 
which are not as high as the rooms in the 
main body of the house; it then ascends a 
few steps and opens into an octagonal vesti¬ 
bule lighted by an opening filled with stained 
glass in the attic floor, immediately over 
which is a skylight in the roof. 
No. 1 is a large chamber, sixteen by twen¬ 
ty-five, over the drawing-room, so large as 
to allow of division if necessary, the parti¬ 
tion extending to ono of the mullions of the 
window on the western side, and enclosing 
a convenient dressing room. In this room 
is a very large closet at its northern end. 
No. 2 is a chamber, same size as library 
below, provided with two closets, one of 
large size, and connected with it as a dres¬ 
sing room or child’s room, No. 3. 
flan ii. — chamber floor. 
No. 4 is a large chamber over dining-room, 
with a dressing-room or child’s sleeping- 
room No. 5. This room is provided with a 
very large closet in its southern end, and 
under the closet next to it which opens into 
room No. 1, is a space formed by tho differ¬ 
ent levels of tho floors of the two rooms, 
which might very advantageously be occu¬ 
pied by deep drawers for linen, etc. 
No. 6 is a servants’ sloeping-room over 
the kitchen, with a deep closet therein. 
No. 7 is what might advantageously be 
used as the nursery, containing a fire-place, 
and an inner room, No. 8, which might serve 
as a sleeping room tor the nurse, or as a 
dressing-room if No. 7 be used as a cham¬ 
ber. Near to No. 8, in the vestibule lead¬ 
ing from the back staircase, is a large linen 
closet for the use of the housemaid. 
No. 9 is a pleasant room containing bath¬ 
ing apparatus, which being so near the kitch¬ 
en range, could easily be supplied with hot 
water at very little expense. A water-clos¬ 
et is conveniently close, and yet separately- 
entered, as being more commodious for uso. 
The entry by the back staircase might be 
lighted from the roof, though, as the win¬ 
dow on the staircase opens immediately up¬ 
on tho centre of tho passage, tho amount 
of light would probably be found sufficient. 
In the roof over the main part of the 
house, an additional sleeping-room, or even 
two or three might be contrived for ser¬ 
vants, and in the open garret over the wing 
a drying-room could readily be obtained. 
By looking at the plans, tho whole ar¬ 
rangement of tho interior of this houso will 
be readily understood. The elevation is 
that of the eastern front, and the design is 
delineated geometrically instead of in per¬ 
spective, in order to give a more useful rep¬ 
resentation of the character of its archi¬ 
tecture. 
<9 
