No. XIX. Manures continued Marl-Marl-pits dangerous to foxhunters-to be levelled and planted-Clay-kilns. Marls, different qualities display, MARL is a manure with which most of the farmers of this county are well acquainted; its goodness depends on the quantity of calcareous earth or carbonate of lime in it, which has been known to equal one-half. Good marl is the most substantial and lasting of all manures, and as it adds so considerably to the staple of the soil, in many cases it is preferable to lime; on light, weak, land it is of extreme use, and its effects will continue for several years. Summer is the proper time for applying marl, because, being in that season dry, it is comparatively light, and easily reduced to powder. After an even spreading it should lie on the surface during a winter, except when applied to wheat fallows, in which case it should be ploughed in lightly, and well harrowed; for, like lime, its power depends on its intimate mixture with the soil. The quantity of marl to be laid on an acre, depends on its quality and the nature of the soil to which it is to be applied. Of white or shell marl, the number of loads (averaging 700 cwt. each) is about 60, while of the clay or blue marl, 600 loads are required to the acre: the latter kind on sandy and other light soils is obviously the best; on such lands there is little danger of giving too great a dose of clay marl; but where there is a very stiff soil, or a very shallow one, over marling has often proved of worse consequences than under marling. 1 need hardly observe that clay marling cannot be thought of, unless the carriage of it be short, otherwise the expense would be enormous. In balancing between liming and marling the relative cost must always be calculated, and lime or marl used according to the circumstances of expense. By the way, marl pits disfigure a large portion of the farms of this county; it would be well worth the attention of your landlords, as well as of yourselves, to have those pits levelled as fast as they become worked out, for the purpose of husbandry or of planting. If sallow trees were planted in the hollows, the appearance of the country would be favourably altered, and you would not be justly reproached with unnecessary waste of land; besides, these chasms are very dangerous to cattle in their neighbourhood, and as to fox hunters, unacquainted with their situations, I really tremble for them when I think of the great danger to which they are exposed. Imagine for a moment a short-sighted man, suppose one of your own landlords, who happened to leave his spectacles at home, galloping on a runaway horse towards a concealed marl pit, deep and yawning, such a one as swallowed up a gentleman of the name of M. CURTIUS (a long time ago) with his horse, sword, and saddlebags! Think, I say of one of your own landlords racing (like Johnny Gilpin in spite of himself) towards one of your deepest marl holes, in which, if it be full of water, he may be drowned-if dry, battered to death-can you think of such an occurrence without shuddering? If, after this hint on my part of the horrors which may occur from not levelling these man and horse traps, they continue open, I shall not pity you if the best lives in your own leases should be among the lost ones. Ashes are a good manure for a crop of potatoes or turnips. In many places the practice of burning the surface for manure prevails in spite of an Act of Parliament to prohibit it; however there are many cases in which it may be done with great advantage, as on bogs and heathy hills, in which there is a profusion of perennial weeds. The objection is, that it destroys the surface of the soil; but where there is too much inert vegetable matter, the destruction of it by fire is beneficial and the alkali remaining in the ashes is more useful to the crops than the vegetable substances from which those ashes are produced. Boggy and heathy land, not worth 2s. an acre, by once burning the surface, and afterwards liming or manuring with dung, under husbandry-like treatment, has often been rendered highly valuable and productive. It is against the abuse of this practice, and especially against overcropping afterwards that you are to guard. Burning improves heavy adhesive soils, by rendering them friable. Its injury to any soil will be remedied by applying a sufficiency of slaked lime, sea sand, or marl. All stiff soils, as well as moors, are improved by burning, which renders them less stiff and tenacious of moisture, and when properly done may convert a matter that was stiff, damp and cold, into one, powdery, dry, and warm. Where the surface of a bog is to be burned, the common plan of collecting sods into heaps within a few feet of each other is the best; for thus no car work is wanted. I have read of an English steward, in the county of Galway, who totally regardless of the simple process followed by the poor people round him, whose heaps were close to each other for the advantage of spreading the ashes, made huge piles of sods about four to an acre; now, besides the double labour of first drawing the sods to those heaps, and afterwards wheeling in barrows, or carting out the ashes, the ground did not receive the same benefit; for the greatest produce is always on the spot, where the heaps have been burned. This Englishman was an uncalculating blockhead, very undeserving of fifty guineas a year, besides as much bacon and beer as his stomach could hold. None of you would be so stupid; indeed I have frequently observed that many of the English farmers are dull and obstinate in the extreme, and more wedded to their own farming practices, however faulty, than my countrymen are, who will more fre quently catch and follow a useful hint. The English steward, though he saw a simpler and readier plan tha his own, would not follow it; this, I conceive, was en tirely owing to bacon and beer: the bacon first made him exceedingly dull and heavy, and too much beer afterwards caused his obstinacy-nothing like potatoes after all! There is, however, a very useful plan for producing ashes from clay, even of the worst description, which is as follows:-Let an oblong enclosure, of the dimensions of a small house be made (say 15 feet by 10) with green sods raised to the height of 3 or 4 feet; two narrow channels are next to be cut inside, from end to end, passing out through the sod walls, and intersected by two or more (according to the length of the enclosure) channels of the same kind; those are to be loosely covered with flags or flat stones*. On the points where these flues cross each other, dry sods, or other combustible matter, are to be used; the flues, except on the weather side, are to be closed on the outside opening, and not opened except as the wind shifts about. After a short time these heaps, if properly fed, with dry sods or heath, will be strong enough in heat to burn stiff and even wet clay, in small quantities at a time, and repeated frequently. As the inside fills up with burned clay, the outer walls must be raised and always kept at least 15 inches higher than the burning heap, in order to prevent the wind from acting on the fire at top; and as the walls become consumed, the breaches must be made up, or rather new walls must be built. Thus the kiln may be enlarged to any size; and after getting into proper heat, it will burn the largest lumps of stiff under soil, and can only be extinguished by the carelessness of the workmen attending it. Lime may very economically be burned with it. Half the world was going mad about burning barren clay sometime ago; but I fancy that the value of it has been overrated. The most beneficial clay ashes are obtained from sods, roots of plants, bushes, and * The stones are found to be unnecessary, but the apertures in the walls, to admit the draft of air, are essential. other vegetable substances; the value of mere brick dust, of powdered crockery, may, therefore, be over valued. This will act mechanically, like gravel or rabbit sand, on stiff land, by loosening it, and preventing it from uniting again so closely: it will thus enable the roots of plants to extend their fibres in search of food; but as a fertilizer, when no vegetable matter is in it, I doubt if the burned undersoil, without vegetable matter (which is the kind recommended for burning in kilns on clay lands,) has any enriching properties, but it is certainly stimulating. No. XX. Manures continued-Irrigation greatly neglected in the How bountiful is Nature's King, From whom such various blessings spring! Manures he gives to every land, In form of Limestone, Marl, or Sand; SEA-WEED is occasionally drifted on many parts of this coast in such abundance as to constitute a principal source of your manure. It produces excellent potatoes if sown early enough, and indeed vegetables of all kinds, particularly cabbages of fine flavour. Sea-weed, however, is not lasting in its effects, which is easily accounted for, from the large quantity of water, or the elements of water, which it contains. It decays withmit producing heat, when exposed to the air, and |