Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/243

 %% THE HISTORY &x*L. latioir of Marrow, Marg r Margil, o* Marl *. Thk they had ever* the credit of recommending to the Greeks, who had a commu- nication with both through the coionift* of. MarfeiJles refiding in the country of the one and trading to the natives pf the. other. And this was diftinguilhed into two forts^ the rough* and the rich, both equally discriminated in the handling, and both greatly ufeftil either for the corn-field or the grafe-land 5. And many other forts were clafled under both,, the white topha- ceous and. the red' or fmoke mark under the former, and the white, the pidgeon and die. fandy marie under the latter V The white tophaceous was reckoned infinitely fruitful upon com- fieldfc, if it was gathered from a fpringy foil, and was thought to burn the ground, if it was laid upon it in too great a quan- tity ?♦. Thr red was minglfed 4 with gravel-ftones, and was- thought to be feafoned with fait, but was not half fo heavy in the carriage as the others, and was fpread in. a. thin coat, upon* the ground 8. And both retained their fructifying influence for fifty years together upon corn-fields meadows or paftures *. (The white was the principal of the rich marles, and was fubdivided into feveral forts, the very biting the filvery and the. fat marie ;, the fecond being the favourite of the Britons, and the foft un* duous chalk of our Kentifh farmers atprefent^and lafting eighty years upon the ground ,0 ; and the third being particularly uied for grafs-lands, often producing a good crop of grafs upon corn- lands betwixt the end of the harveft and< the commencement* of the feed-time, and lafting thirty years ". The pidgeon marie was collected at firft in hard ftone-like glebes,, but by* the force, of the fun and the power of the froft was diffolved into very thin and (lender flukes*, and was equally ufeful as the other " The fandy marie was never ufed for any but the* fwampy ground,, if any other could be got, and was preferred to every other for that ' And as the dry marie was laid upon the- moift lands* the fat upon die dry, and either the filvery or the pidgeon upon lands of a proper temperature ; fo was every fpecies ploughed into the ground, was mingled with a little dung, and produced no crop till the firft year afterwards "V 3 This