Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1832-11-26

the soil are, that the earth "a question is "A mere
clay, that has niblbed the forms OF shells, which,
n lie course o. ages, and by the action OF water
some Other operating cause, have entirely dlsap-
peare,i, and itb them all traces Of the carbonate
o. anne. have seen similar impressions of the
Shells On a sandstone rock on the top of noun
tain the sandstone not presenting the least vcstigc
OF lime. Impressions OF leaves, and other veseta-
Die substances are to be seen the slate which
Is loun, in our coal pits, and impressions Of fish
and insects often 10 be met with in the cabinets
OF mineraosists, while the leaves and fish, bone
and ali, have entirely disappeared. 1t is well cs
tabi>hea ati, a5certa!ncd by the practice Of many
experienced ana indcious farmers, that the APP
plicat!on OF lime TO land has an un5 ubted tendency
10 improve il and conjecture II is TO the carbo-
nae OF lime contained in the shells, that MIR Rui-
IN and other ccatIemen, who have been usinS
what we term niafl in this part bi the country,
nat wA.eh more properly speaking is Il collection
Of shells nueuded IA sand clay, or crng, us II rs
sometimes termed in En- damn, } mus attribute the
improvement Of their farms. II, then, the lnerc-
dien, OF malls on which hcir illness for asricul-
tural purposes depends, Is the carbonate Of lime,
aud bv the addition of an acid, 20 lime hr dis
covered iat TINS Garth whleh has various lmpres-
SOM Of Shells in IT, II would seem that II cannot
D
lime woa!d Il being a elay, i would have the ct
iect VITA any other clay, without impressions. 10
aiier and Improve the texture Of silicous sols,
winch have too lulc adhesion know OF 90 gen
t,caIan having used pure clay with TINS view, II
iacre be- auV IN tins pat OF The country, hc wonIl
confer favor by communicating the result OF has
eA pertinent 10 the public
A wont To- Nh Ruhin--I consider his Esssy on
Calcareous Manutes most valuable work, and
ono that ought to be IN the possession Of every far
mer--Frofn II have derived much information
and satsilction and beg 10 tender him my thanks
There is one subject, however, which wish Ne
had treated with precision, and have cleared
away some OF the mist which surrounds IL al
lu,le to inarling in England. IN no;e q, appendix
page 2o1 Of bis Essay, he says, the following
quotations v ii show tha, the tern, mari Is frequent
II arpiled ia Britain TO GAYS containlngno known
ar certain proportion OF cacarcous earth-that
" hen calcalenus earth is known 80 be contained
Il is seldom relied on as the most valuable part Of
the n,uuure" Now, although admit great obscure
| ly prevails ID most oil the English authors, who
! lrcat Oh the subject of mari, yet on the whole, II
seems clear 70 my mind they value such mari and
claw ms cff,ryesce with aicds more highly than
such rs 10 not 1.-THE application of clay, which
contain, x0 ki,pc TO sllcioas soil, will produce
/
should Ike to be certainly informed of the fuct for,
! / an, al his moment using every cxe,non TO apply
I shell mari as extensively as / can TO my land, and
reject the use Of the clay with numerous impress
! sio,s or shells. which Henrieo" speaks Of and
nn,.. cInv tee from Impressions. both OF which
tovo il; araot ulurl3ncc anil sllAil continue to use
tb,. shell mani. until AN convinced that the othel
/ substances wnnll produce a greater Improvement
hoae Ms Hulin viii allow me 10 call his attention
! 70 one or two quotations.. Al page 2l5, appendix,
he SAYS. il is TO be inferred, however, that The
CLAW was thoush most er.iceahe,as Mr.. ReawelI
SAYS Clay IS much TO lie preferred to mari on
those sandy soils some Of which arc loose, poor
an even black DIN the very next sentence,
! which Me r. docs not quo'e, this MI. kodwcii
goes OF. 10 observe: By clay IS to be understood
n grey clayey loan, some Of ii brick earth, and Al
has with rlnesnra small tDefeeScenee - LAsrc-
by showing thu, the clay contains lime, ard IS IN
eject, IA genuine mari Tor, Tompson IN his che
m s,rv rlefnfs mari to be " mixture of carbonate
ofline and clay" AZ page 3ol, Younss Far
MRS Calendar. l2th EDITION, london, 1922, It Is
| observed Mari IS nfvafious sorts, and hes IN
various strata: in some places Il IS soft, fai, soa-
| Nv substance; in Others il IS har, as chalk, which
are called stone marl3 some,inics you hnd II
! white, sometimes creY also, blue, yellow and
dark brown. ia some counties you have shei
mari which IS composed Of nothing but decayed
shells bai ne general circumstances IN when an
true nars ogfec, and which denote them to tie
real is the eervesccnce with acids J" and fnrher
on, the same page Young observes = " hen
mari is net IL be mad, clay IN many places IS to BE-
found alta moderate den,h This manure has
! few osthc qualities by which mari IS TO be known
hut vet it works wonderful Improvements on many
l., II h tpnr t.rf ftrTt
! nv many very good farmers to indifferent sortS OF
mari BIT the grea, point concerning clay IS not 50
! much the comparison with as the use oft; where
+ M mari is 70 be had About sixty or seventy loads
an acre. TT the same expense Of mari, VIII WORK
an ,nn,oyeiucnt great enough TO show how much
mistaken those men are who think nothing but the
fnest n,arlS worthy of attention" In Anderson's
ESSAYS relating to agriculture, Sd edition, Dublin.
l-To. vol LIST page 800, he observes " The read
or NAV ascertain the proportion Of ealcnreous mat
! Ter continued in the mari by the same process al
ready described for trying limestone; and thus
compare the intrinsic value OF the lime and mari
!, any case For. this Is always in proportion 70
the calsurcous matter contained IN either ar
Their on. the same author remarks, page %
Shell mari is al WAYS found in low places, that
either are or have been covered WIN water IL 49,
! therefore, a pure caloareous matter, "'hou' any
o,b,r mn , t,re than the mud and other sediments
that may have sunk to the bottom Of the water, IN
tho ponds where it has been formed AS the pro
norton of the sediment that may have mixed win
lie shells may be very different in different sl'ua-
,;o,s tis kind Of mari like all others may be more
or less pure and Of consequence ofgreaof or small
., v,lne to the farmer" Here we arc told that the
shell o,.r, itself, which Mr. Ruihn uses IS OF
g,ea,er or smaller value IL proportion 10 the caroo-
na,c Of lime it contains In Sinclair ON Hnsbandry,
"a cd,f;on Edinburgh, page 2o3, he says: " Dr.
Coventry rena ks, that the value Of mos "'''s IS
nsa,lv in proportion to the quantity of lime or cal
narcons earth in their composition. '-Far'her on,
/ g C,loy MARKS however are often very weak ana