62 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
NEW GRASSES. 
Italian Rye Grass. —This newly introduced grass, (Lolium tlalicum.) 
has withstood the winter with us, contrary to our expectations, having 
twice before failed. If it shall prove sufficiently hardy, we do not hesi¬ 
tate to pronounce it a valuable acquisition to our husbandry. It arrives 
at maturity sooner after sowing than any other perennial grass, and 
its produce nearly doubles that of common rye grass. It has ripened 
two crops of seed in Scotland. 
Siberian Lime Grass, (Elymm Siberians,) yields a great bulk of pro- 
duce, and is well liked by cattle—of recent culture. 
dlsike clover, {Trifolium hybridum,) which grows wild in the north 
of Europe, and is intermediate between the common red and white spe¬ 
cies, is attracting the attention of European agriculturists. “ Its pro¬ 
perties of growing higher, having its leaves more luxuriant, and strik¬ 
ing its roots deeper, and remaining longer in the ground than the com¬ 
mon clover,” says the Edinburgh Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, 
“ render it not only suitable for hay, but for laying down land to perma¬ 
nent pasture.” It is cultivated in Sweden, Denmark, Flanders, and 
some of the German States. A Swedish nobleman, who has cultivated 
it twenty years, commends it by saying, that *• if sown in well managed 
land, of not too strong a nature, it yields a crop of hay of from 360 to 
540 imperial stones per imperial acre, (from 5,040 to 10,560 lbs. say 
from 2J to 5| tons the common acre.) The seed is sown in the spring. 
From a course of experiments made under the direction of the Duke 
of Buccleugh, in Scotland, it is found that among the grasses best adapted 
for the shade of drip of trees, some of the poas, or spear grasses, the 
orchard grass, tall fescue and woolly meadow grass, are preferred, and 
that the sweet-scented vernal grass and timothy come next in order. 
CORHESPOKPKMCE. 
PROOFS OF THE UTILITY OF MARL. 
Mights Town, 2V. J. Jlpril 15, 1836. 
Dear Sir —In my last communication I stated, that at some future 
time I would give you an account of the benefits resulting from the use 
of the Squancum marl. I cannot attempt a chemical analysis, but 
merely describe the tests of old mother earth, the great practical solvent 
of all compounds. 
1. Mr. William T. Sutphin, distant eight miles from these marl pits, 
about six years ago purchased a farm, consisting of 200 acres-—gave 
$4,000; this spring he says he has refused $15,000. 
2. Mr. Job Emmons, seven miles from the marl pits, about six years 
ago, wishing to go to the distant west, where land was cheap and bet¬ 
ter, he put up his farm at auction (130 acres;) the highest bid was $1,* 
350; he offered it for $1,600, but no one would give it. Being disap¬ 
pointed in selling, he commenced marling; last year he cut more than 
one hundred tons of good hay, and now refuses $7,000 for the farm, 
having all the benefits of the mighty west without going there. 
3. Judge Simpson, nine or ten years ago, purchased 175 or 200 acres 
—gave five dollars and sixty cents per acre at the time the land was 
scarcely worth the tax; he can any day have sixty-five dollars per acre. 
4. Judge Wm. Sown, seven miles from the pits, a few years ago, 
purchased 175 acres for $4,000; this spring he has refused $10,000. 
5. Mr. Smock purchased about 300 acres for $3,100, in 1832, on which 
his son resides, distant about two and a half miles from his own farm, 
on which he has most valuable marl, some ten or twelve miles from the 
Squancum marl pits, and supposed very little inferior. The occupant 
sold a great quantity of grass standing, last summer, for seventeen dol¬ 
lars per acre. Mr. Smock’s homestead farm he purchased in dear times, 
(24 years ago)—'275 acres for $7,500; worth, independent of the marl 
pits, over $15,000, nor can any farm east of him, at this time, be pur¬ 
chased for $75 or $100 per acre. 
6. Mr. Samuel Spencer, three and a half miles from the Squancum 
marl pits, nine or ten years ago, purchased a large farm, and gave four¬ 
teen shillings ($1.75) the acre, lately sold of the same one hundred 
acres for thirty-one dollars per acre. 
These are a few facts that have come to my knowledge. All that re¬ 
gion of country is improving in the same ra>io. Who wishes a better 
chemical analysis than this? or who wishes to emigrate to the western 
wilderness for better land ? The minds of men are ever subject to change. 
Is it not better for us to “ be content with such things as we have?” 
As soon as I can procure a spare copy of Rogers’ Report, I will send 
you one, on the geological survey of New-Jersey. 
The information I gave about the peach buds, was probably, too un¬ 
favorable. All the young trees in this region of country are generally 
killed in the bud. The old trees becoming acclimated in the winter be¬ 
fore last, have endured the late winter better. About one-half the buds 
on the old trees are good. Many large orchards in the county of Mon¬ 
mouth, to the eastward of us, I am informed, are perfectly good, and 
bloom buds uninjured; however, one easterly storm from the ocean, 
■when these orchards are in full bloom, will destroy, in a night, like the 
angel of Egypt, all their hopes. Respectfully, your ob’t servant, 
CHARLES G. McCHESNEY. 
[We append to the communication of our correspondent, as pertinent 
to the subject, the following extracts from Prof. Rogers’ Report.] 
“ Marl, or green mineral,” says the Professor, “ loses nothing of its 
potency by a long exposure, even of years, to water and the atmos¬ 
phere , in other words, it is not dissolved, or decomposed, or changed, 
by the ordinary atmospheric agents which react so powerfully upon ma¬ 
ny other minerals, and consequently we are to regard it as nearly tact 
with it to effect its decomposition, by the vital power of their organs, 
and imbibe a portion of some of its constituents. 
“ Mr. Wolley manured a piece of land in proportion of two hundred 
loads of stable manure to the acre, applying upon an adjacent tract of 
the same soil his marl in the ratio of about twenty loads per acre The 
crops, which were timothy and clover, were much the heaviest upon 
the section which had received the marl; and there was this additional 
fact greatly in favor of the fossil manure over the putrescent one. that 
the soil enriched by it was entirely free of weeds, while the stable ma¬ 
nure rendered its own crop very foul. 
‘‘ This being an experiment, an extravagantly large dressing of ma¬ 
nure was employed, but not exceeding the usual average application; 
more than twenty loads of marl surpassed what was necessary for it. 
“Experience has already shown, that land once amply marled, re¬ 
tains its fertility with a little diminution, for at least twelve years, if 
care be had not to crop it too severely, while with all practicable pre¬ 
cautions the stable manure must be renewed at least three times in that 
interval to maintain in the soil a corresponding degree of vigor. 
“ The high and deservedly high name, which the Squancum marl now 
boasts, was an inducement to me to subject it to chemical examination, 
with special care and rigor. In external aspect it differs in no respect 
from many other marls of the state, and chemically studied, I do not 
find it to depart veiy materially from several others in the proportion 
of constituents, though it does most certainly possess an amount of 
potash in its composition not a little astonishing. Others, however, 
seem to have nearly as much. 
“ At the pits, which are very extensive, the marl is sold at the rate 
of 37J cents the load. 
“ It is transported by wagons to a distance, in some directions of twen¬ 
ty miles, and retailed, when hauled that far, at the rate of ten or even 
twelve cents a bushel—being very profitably spread upon the soil in the 
small proportion of twenty-five, or ever twenty bushels to the acre. 
The fact that so small an amount of this marl is found efficacious to the 
soil, which after two or three dressings is permanently improved, and 
to a high pitch by it, furnishes me one consideration for supposing 
that too generally the marl is spread with a prodigality surpassing all 
the necessities of land. 
“ A specimen of the marl from Throp's lowest layer, yielded me, af¬ 
ter reiterated trials, uniformly about the following, for its composition. 
Silica,... 43.40 
Protoxide of iron, ....................... 21.60 
Alumina, ............................... 6.40 
Lime, .................................. 10.40 
Potash, ................................ 14.48 
Water,................................. 4.40 
99.68 in 100 grains. 
“ Throughout all the district in which this deposite occurs, it is ex¬ 
tensively employed in agriculture. In the neighborhood of Arney’s 
Town, one of the points which I visited, it has been used as a manure 
for the last thirty years—but its general introduction is of more recent 
date. In the region in which the marl chiefly abounds, the soil is loa¬ 
my, having in some places a large intermixture of tenacious clay. East 
of this tract, which is a narrow band nearly parallel to the Delaware 
river, the country assumes an appearance very similar to that of the 
sandy lands of Eastern Virginia, covered with a thick growth of pine, 
and comparatively unproductive. On both these varieties of soil the 
green sand is continually used with the most striking benefit. For the 
clay soils, the more sandy marls are of ccurse preferred; and for the 
sandy soils, those which contain some clay along with the marl. The 
proportion in common use near Arney’s Town, is from ten to twenty 
loads per acre. In other places five loads, or even less, is found to be 
sufficient. The action of the marl appears to be very permanent, as 
will be evinced by the following statement. In a large quadrangular field, 
over which I walked, four successive applications of the marl had been 
made at intervals of four years—commencing about twenty years ago. 
The first dressing applied to the north side—the second to the south— 
the third to the east, and the fourth to the west-—while a small space 
in the center was left without any marl. All four sides were covered 
with a very heavy crop of clover, which was nearly, if not quite as 
luxuriant on the north as either of the other sides—while the space in 
the middle was almost bare. The action of the marl appears to be most 
powerfully felt by clover and grass—but it is very conspicuous also 
with small grain and corn. A very intelligent farmer told me that it 
| more than tripled his clover and grass crop, and doubled his small grain. 
