64 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
NEW GRASSES. 
Italian Rye Grass. —-This newly introduced grass, ( Lolium Itdli- 
cum,') has withstood the winter with us, contrary to our expectations, 
having twice before failed. If it shall prove sufficiently hardy, we 
do not hesitate to pronounce it a valuable acquisition to our hus¬ 
bandry. 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, (Elymus Sibericus ,) yields a great bull? of 
produce, and is well liked by cattle—of recent culture. 
Alsike clover , ( Trifolium hybridum,) which grows wild in the north 
of Europe, and is intermediate between the common red and white 
species, is attracting the attention of European agriculturists. “Its 
properties of growing higher, having its leaves more luxuriant, and 
striking its roots deeper, and remaining longer in the ground than 
the common clover,” says the Edinburgh Quarterly Journal of Agri¬ 
culture, “render it not only suitable for hay, but for laying down 
land to permanent 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 5j 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 or 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. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
PROOFS OF THE UTILITY OF MARL. 
Highls Town, N. J. April 15,1836. 
Dear Sir —In my last communication I stated, that at some fu¬ 
ture time I would give you an account of the benefits resulting from' 
the use of the Squancum marl. I cannot attempt a chemical analy¬ 
sis, but merely describe the tests of old mother earth, the great prac¬ 
tical 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 better, 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 disappointed 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 go¬ 
ing 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. Bown, 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 dollars per acre. Mr. Smock’s homestead farm he pur¬ 
chased 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 purchased 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 
fourteen shillings ($1.75) the acre, lately sold of the same one hun¬ 
dred acres for thirty-one dollars per acre. 
These are a few facts that have come to my knowledge. All that 
region of country is improving in the same ratio. Who wishes a 
better chemical analysis than this 1 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 V’ 
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 
unfavorable. All the young trees in this region of country are gene¬ 
rally killed in the bud. The old trees becoming acclimated in the- 
winter before 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 Monmouth, 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 obedient 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 atmosphere; in other 
words, it i9 not dissolved, or decomposed, or changed, by the ordinary atmos¬ 
pheric agents which react so powerfully upon many other minerals, and con¬ 
sequently 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 consti¬ 
tuents. 
“ Mr. Woolley manured a piece of land in proportion ot two hundred loads 
of good 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 o f weeds, while the stable manure rendered its own crop very foul. 
“ This being an experiment, an extravagantly large dressing of manure 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, retains 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 precautions 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 r which the Squancum marl now boasts, 
was an inducement to me to subject it to ehemical 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 very materially from 
several others in the proportion of constituents, though it does most certainly pos¬ 
sess 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 twenty 
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 propor¬ 
tion of twenty-five,!or[even 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 pro¬ 
digality surpassing all the necessities of land. 
“ A specimen of the marl from Throp’s lowest layer, yielded me, after rei¬ 
terated 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 extensively 
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 loamy, having in some places a large intermix¬ 
ture of tenacious clay. East of this tract, w hich is a narrow band nearly paral¬ 
lel 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 camparatively unproductive. On both these varieties of soil the 
grepn sand is continually used with the most striking benefit. For the clay 
soils, the more sandy marls are of course preferred ; and for the sandy soils, 
those which contain some clay along with the marl. The proportion in com¬ 
mon 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 applica¬ 
tions of the marl had been made at intervals of four years—commencing about 
twenty years ago. The first dressing was applied to the north side—the se¬ 
cond to the south—the third to the east, and the fourth to the w'est—while a 
small space in the centre was left without any marl. All four sides were co¬ 
vered with a very heavy crop of clover, which was nearly, if not quite as luxu¬ 
riant 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 
