134 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
of ambition with all. It would not be so if the influence of the plant¬ 
er were an iota less in business and society. 
How does he employ this influence ? Let him ask himself the 
question. Could he make it greater—could he employ it in making 
a better population among our inferior classes, and what should be 
the aim of the moral man in his direction of the vast moral power 
which he certainly may wield over our society, and through it over 
our institutions ? There are other questions which it may serve him 
beneficially honestly to analyze, and justly to resolve upon. Why 
is his influence less now, than what, under a proper direction of his 
energies and thoughts, it might become I The evil and the error is 
with him. He has himself to blame—none other. The man who 
places a low estimate upon his own pursuits, cannot surely complain 
that others receive him at his own valuation. He has suffered the 
mechanic to regard his craft with more respect, and to direct more 
of heart and mind to the promotion of it, until he learns to love the 
toil which gives nim strength and power. You may see the me¬ 
chanic with his badges of plane or hammer upon his apron—you 
will never see the plough drawn upon the panel of a planter’s coach. 
He boasts of his negroes and his hands. Does he take up the hoe 
and plant himself—does he regard them, as such old and long tried 
friends might well be regarded, with respectful veneration ? We 
fear not. He will avoid the subject, and is sometimes apt to dispa¬ 
rage it. He his not availed himself of that beneficial and blessing 
Providence, which has given him a mind able to direct the sinews 
of labor—he has suffered it to lie waste and fallow, until, through 
neglect, it has grown as bald and barren as the soil which he has 
impoverished by the opposite extreme of too much use. Had he 
used the soil less, and the mind more, and used both of them diffe¬ 
rently, they had, both of them, been more valuable at this moment. 
It is trul\* melancholly to think that these are truths which we are 
writing. It is sad that the planter—he who owns three-fourth’s of 
the state’s wealth, and all of its political power—who pays more 
than one-half Qf its revenue—should be at the same time of so little 
real public importance. Why will he not consider these things. 
Why permit the subject to remain uninvestigated. Why not pro¬ 
vide a noble answer, in a new design of a proper and masculine ex¬ 
ertion ? 
We shall now seek to show that this degrading condition of things 
has arisen necessarily from the defective character of our Agricul¬ 
tural Education—if that can be styled education which fits our peo¬ 
ple for any thing but what they are to become, any pursuit but the 
one which most directly lies before them. 
What is the education of our young planter—or rather, what is 
the education of him who is to become a planter ? Is it ever adapt¬ 
ed to the end in view—is it ever calculated for his pursuit 1 ? Is it not 
radically defective, as it lacks all connexion with the pursuits of his 
future life, and as it is rather apt to lead his thoughts away from a 
consideration of it into far and foreign channels. 
MARL, 
Is a compound calcareous earth found in most parts of the world, 
and has been extensively used throughout this kingdom, where it is 
supposed to have been known to husbandmen at a very early period 
of our history. There are, indeed, leases on record, granted in the 
reigns of Edward I. and II., which compel the tenants to make use 
of it; but, though still employed, it has been a great degree super¬ 
seded by the more recent introduction of lime, of the properties of 
which it in some measure partakes. The term denoting it was form¬ 
erly used in a very vague sense, for it is a substance consisting of 
various materials, and it has consequently happened, that what has 
been supposed to apply to one species, did not hold good when af¬ 
firmed of another. Although principally deemed valuable on account 
of the calcareous matter which it usually contains, still its composi¬ 
tion differs so essentially, that its influence as manure is but imper¬ 
fectly understood; yet theoretic writings abound in general direc¬ 
tions for its use, which are frequently found not to answer in prac¬ 
tice, for their rules are drawn either from statements which have 
been made of the effect of its application on particular soils, or from 
analyses of its qualities, which, as these vary m innumerable instan¬ 
ces, frequently lead farmers astray. Its real value can, therefore, 
be only ascertained through the practical experience of those who 
have either actually tried its efficacy, or who have witnessed it in 
their own neighborhood. 
This ignorance of the distinguishing properties of marl has neces¬ 
sarily led to many mistakes in its application, which have occasion¬ 
ed the variety of opinions that are entertained regarding its use. In 
most places where it was anciently employed, and where its fertiliz¬ 
ing influence was discovered to be eminently great, it was thought 
by many farmers that it could be made to supersede the use of dung; 
they, therefore, in many instances, sold their hay and straw, and al¬ 
though, notwithstanding this reduction of the quantity of putrescent 
manure, they still for a time obtained large crops, yet, eventually, 
the chemical effects of the marl exhausted the land. No second 
marling could operate upon it until it had been renovated by repeat¬ 
ed applications of dung; and thus has arisen the old saying, cited 
by Barnaby Googe, who wrote so long ago as the middle of the six¬ 
teenth century, that ‘ lime and marl are good for the father, hut bad 
for the son.’ In this manner, also, some valuable discoveries in ag¬ 
riculture have fallen into disuse through their mistaken application, 
when governed by local circumstances which were ill understood; 
wherever marl of a kind adapted to the soil has been applied, and 
that a judicious system of culture has been pursued, without either 
over-cropping, or neglecting the use of putrescent manure, the pro¬ 
verb is so far from being well founded, that the contrary may be 
safely affirmed. 
The common definition of marl given us by the best writers on 
fossils, is—that it is composed of clay, sand, and lime, very intimate¬ 
ly, but unequally mixed, slightly coherent, not ductile, but stiff, or vis¬ 
cid, when moist; most easily diffusible in, and disunited by, water, 
or even by exposure to the air, and by it reduced to a soft, loose, in- 
cohesive mass—for the most part composed of nothing more than 
calcareous earth—in which its chief value consists—combined with 
a little mineral oil, clay, and sometimes with ochre, or iron. It is 
also generally considered as a characteristic of marl, that it effer¬ 
vesces with acids, though to that various exceptions have been dis¬ 
covered ; from which it has been supposed that, when deprived of 
that test, it contains no calcareous matter, yet it is found to produce 
ameliorating effects upon the soil. Notwithstanding this summary 
description, its appearance is, however, as varied as its properties, 
being of colour nearly pure white, to the darkest shades of brown 
and red, interveined with blue and yellow. It also exists in diffe¬ 
rent kinds of land, is seldom found as a stratum of much length, but 
generally in detached masses at various depths, sometimes in wide 
and dense perpendicular layers, at others in streaks, running in lines 
parallal with the horizon, or again intersecting each other at right 
angles, usually resting on sand or gravel, and is classed, according 
to its qualities, into the following distinct species. 
1. Clayey marl, which improves sandy land, and seems to act as 
clay in changing the nature of the soil. In land consisting of a mix- 
! ture of sand and loam, or of sand and gravel, then, the application 
of this marl has been found peculiarly advantageous, and on all poor 
and thin sandy soils there is this further advantage in its use—that, 
from the large proportion of clay which it usually contains, it adds 
to their bulk and firmness, and thus has a tendency to bring them 
to that medium state which is the most favorable to the purposes of 
vegetation. It is more soft and unctuous than clay; indeed, upon 
slightly cutting it, it becomes so flexible, that it may be kneaded 
like dough, or paste, though, when the moisture evaporates, it falls 
into pieces : it therefore blends easily with the soil, and partaking 
more largely of calcareous matter, its effects, though slow, are in all 
the latter cases more fertilizing. 
2. Sandy marl, which is far more frequent in Ireland than in any 
part of England, and is commonly found in pits of limestone-gravel, 
whence it is in that country usually called limestone sand. It is sel¬ 
dom clammy or unctuous, like the clay marl, nor does it adhere to 
the tongue, but crumbles between the fingers, and feels gritty ; when 
exposed to the air and moisture it slowly chips and moulders; and it 
partakes of some extraneous mixtures. Its colour is sometimes like 
that of lead, or brown, approaching to black, and at others blue. As 
implied by its name, it contains an excess of sand over that of clay; 
for, upon analyzing it, the proportion of the former has, in most ca¬ 
ses, been found to be from 60 to 80 per cent; and it does not effer¬ 
vesce with acids so quickly as the argillaceous marls. It possesses 
but a small degree of tenacity, and it has proved an excellent ma¬ 
nure for clayey sods, mellowing their stiffness, and rendering them 
easier to work. 
3. Slaty or stony marl, to which class, also, properly belongs that 
which is called rotten limestone, is chiefly applied to heavy land. Its 
operation is slow, but very lasting; land, forty years after it has 
