THE CULTIVATOR. 
123 
port, if any one having leisure, should have also the industry to look 
them up. The hill was not acted on—although Gov. Throop had 
strongly recommended the subject, in his message; to legislative atten¬ 
tion. Neither the report nor the bill may be worth republishing entire ; 
but I should be glad if you could get sight of them, so as to judge whe¬ 
ther a publication of parts might not draw out the views of some who 
have reflected on the importance, the condition, and the best way to 
improve the highways of your state, and others. In timbered land, the 
most valuable improvement, in proportion to its cost, that I could sug¬ 
gest, would be to cut out at least ten or twelve rods in breadth, fifteen 
would be better, along the line of every road. The effect of a rapid 
and a tardy evaporation is seen, whenever we leave open land for 
timbered land, or the reverse. - -*— 
THE GRUB WORM. 
Mr. Buel —Sir— 1 saw in the October number of the Cultivator, some 
remarks on the cut worm and the Hessian fly. If you think the follow¬ 
ing short narrative respecting the cut worm, worth publishing, it is at 
your service. As I kept no record, I relate from memory. 
When I was a young man I tried the following experiment: I took 
three large cut worms, and put them into a tin box, with some earth 
for them to bury themselves in. Once or twice I put in a few fresh 
leaves of pig-weed—they ate but little. I waited till I thought they had 
changed into the chrysolite state. On examining them, I found that 
two of them had died before they changed, the other was perfectly 
changed, and of a dark, reddish brown colour. In due time it passed 
to the second change, and came forth a darkish grey moth, I then be¬ 
gan to look for some of the same kind. I soon found great numbers 
of them in the windows in the evening, and have since found many of 
them concealed between boards, in stone heaps, &a I thought it a 
bad rule that would not work both ways. Accordingly I put two 
moths, which I caught in the window, into a paper box, with a few 
pieces of loose paper for them to lay their eggs upon. In a few days 
the papers were covered with eggs. After destroying the moths, I put 
the box away till the following spring. Some time in March I opened 
the box, and found the eggs all hatched—the worms had crawled about 
and for want of nourishment were all dead. I examined them through 
a microscope, and found them cut worms indeed, in miniature. Thus 
the natural history of the cut worm was settled, in my own mind. 
The eggs are deposited about mid-summer, and a little after; these 
eggs soon hatch, and the young worms feed during the warm weather 
of autumn. In the spring they come forthwith voracious appetites, 
and feed till they get their growth, and then in the course of a few 
weeks pass through both changes into a moth. I have observed two 
Varieties of the cut worm; alike in shape and nearly in size, when full 
grown, but different in colour and habit. Those I experimented with 
were the common black kind, which always eat off the plants above 
the surface of the ground. The other kind are lighter coloured, al¬ 
most transparent, with a red head, and eat off the young corn and 
other plants below the surface of the ground. This last kind generally 
abound in old sward. A WATERVLIET FARMER. 
Watervliet, October 4, 1836. 
EXT I? ACTS. 
MARL.— {Continued from page 115.) 
EARTH-MARL. 
The former, though in substance, as we have already seen, some¬ 
times principally formed of sand, is yet, in most cases, Chiefly com¬ 
posed of clay, and of the carbonate of lime, intimately combined, but 
mixed in very different proportions, by which its properties are neces¬ 
sarily varied. It acts as manure physically, or substantially, through 
the effect of the clay, in rendering soils tenacious; and chemically, by 
the operation of lime, in the manner which has been explained in 
treating of that fossil. These two substances are so completely amal¬ 
gamated, that it is not impossible, either by the eye, or even by a mi¬ 
croscope, to distinguish the constituent particles of the one or of the 
other; the fact can, therefore, be only ascertained by chemical analy¬ 
sis, and the means which nature has employed in their combination is 
yet unknown; for although it might be supposed that mixtures of clay 
and lime would produce the same effect as marl, yet they will not fall 
to powder in the same manner when exposed to air; and it contains 
some fertilizing qualities with the powers of which we are unacquaint¬ 
ed. Thus, in the improvement of Chat Moss, in Lancashire, if a 
piece of marl was suffered to lie a few months upon the ground, it was 
found, on raising it up, that a considerable quantity of the moss ad¬ 
hered to it; and if the intermediate substance was examined, it ap¬ 
peared to be a mixture of marl and peat, formed into a mucilaginous 
mass of a dark colour, and as soft as soap. 
Although it is very generally thought that extreme accuracy in philo¬ 
sophical experiments is useless in the practice of agriculture, yet it is 
particularly necessary to ascertain the precise difference between these 
modes of action; for, of course, either one or the other prevails, ac¬ 
cording to the greater or the less quantity of clay of which the marl is 
composed. Thus, to produce the first named, or physical effect, a 
much larger amount must be laid upon the land than when the second 
is the object; for the clay can only be advantageously employed in that 
view upon soils that are too light; and consequently the marl must be 
laid in proportionate abundance, or it will not improve the condition 
of the ground ; whilst a clayey soil would, on the contrary, lose some 
of its good qualities by the addition of marl, after the effects Of the 
lime were exhausted-. The intimate combination of these two substan¬ 
ces in the composition of marl affords it, however, this advantage— 
that it divides, and falls to powder, with greater ease than can be ef¬ 
fected by any artificial mixture, and therefore unites more readily with 
the soil. 
On the other hand, if the calcareous matter in the marl be combin¬ 
ed with sand instead of clay, or that there are, as in many instances, 
veins of calcareous sand intermixed, then it suits a clayey soil. The 
proportion'in which these substances are combined is, however, so dif¬ 
ferent, that they often vary in the same vein, and it is generally found 
that the bottom part is more calcareous than the top. From 15 to 40 
per cent is not unfrequently the portion of calcareous matter found in 
clay; that of a sandy nature generally contains a larger proportion.* 
The stone marl of hilly countries is frequently still more abundant 
in calcareous substances; but it also, in many other places, contains 
such large quantities of extraneous matter, that it may be properly 
considered as belonging to the earthy- species, and has, in some instan¬ 
ces been laid upon the land to the extent of 400 to 600 single horse cart¬ 
loads per acre, which heavy labor renders the use of lime more economi¬ 
cal, although carried from a greater distance, except in cases where the 
chief object is to loosen very stiff clays, on which it acts with conside¬ 
rable effect. 
The origin of earth-marl is a subject of curious inquiry. It is an ob¬ 
ject, however, of only secondary importance to farmers ; but we refer 
those who feel interested in it to an ingenious treatise, which may be 
found in the Appendix to Holland’s Survey of Cheshire. Those kinds 
of which we are now treating are often found at the base of chalk hills, 
or in the valleys formed between them, and have probably arisen from 
the chalk which has been washed down by the rains, together with 
the vegetable and animal matter of various descriptions which collect 
and combine together; for, on analyzing them, they are found to con¬ 
tain clay, sand, loam, and chalk, and in proportion to the quantity of 
other substances with which they are combined, they are either sapo¬ 
naceous and clammy, or crumble if largely mixed with calx. Earthy 
marls are, however, found in beds of such distinct substance, that a 
body of sandy marl has been known with a regular bed of limestone 
under it, and a stratum of clay-marl under that; in which case it is 
evident that the clay at the bottom, if it was not the native soil, must 
have formerly formed some part of the hill towards its base. The co¬ 
lour of marl is thus occasioned by the nature of the mixtures of which 
it is composed, for pure calx, or chalk, being white, necessarily im¬ 
parts a similar hue in proportion to the quantity of calcareous matter 
which it contains; while the red tinge so perceptible in much of the 
clay-marl is a strong evidence of the existence of iron. There is also 
a sort of clay which, from its soapiness, is often mistaken for marl, 
though differing essentially in its requisite properties. This earth ap¬ 
pears to be impregnated with sulphur, and other mineral substances 
injurious to vegetation, which renders it expedient that farmers who 
are not already well acquainted with its nature should either use it at 
first cautiously, or have carefully analyzed by some competent che¬ 
mist. 
SHELL-MARL. 
Shell-marl is usually of a blueish colour, soft to the touch, and some¬ 
what resembling potter’s earth; but when exposed to the air it crum¬ 
bles, and falls into a powder, nearly in the same manner as lime does 
in slaking. 
The nature of this marl is very different from those of earth or stone ; 
for it contains both stimulant and fertilizing properties which do not 
belong to the former, and from its effects upon the soil it has been 
classed among animal manures, though it more properly resembles a 
compost formed of earth and lime, with animal and vegetable substan¬ 
ces, from which reason it is justly considered preferable to the others. 
* Argillaceous marl usually contains from 68 to 80 per cent of clay, and from 
32 to 20 per cent of calcareous matter : but it has been found composed of 70 
per cent of calcareous, and 8 to 10 of sand, with clear signs of some iron. 
Silicious marl very often contains above 75 per cent of sand, consequently 
chalk and sand are the predominent ingredients. Kirwan on Manures, p. 13. 
The analysis made by Von Thaer, of a quantity dug out of pits at Olden- 
burgh, in Germany, showed it to contain in 100 parts 
Of fine sand....36 
Clay of a soapy kind. 44 
Mould .. 5 
Carbonate of lime... 14 
Gypsum . 1 
-~Principes Kaisonnes d’ Agriculture, 2tle ed. tom. xt. p. 423. 
