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Book II About different applications of earths (painting, medical) and their occurrences

Book II About different applications of earths (painting, medical) and their occurrences Page of 251 Book II About different applications of earths (painting, medical) and their occurrences Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
24
DE NATURA FOSSILIUM
are the best of all since they yield the finest produce. Porous earths require the least work and afford the greatest yield. Intermediate earths occupy the second place since they require a moderate amount of work while the dense ones which are most abundant in nature are third. How­ever, any fertile soil will produce abundantly.
Wheat, winter wheat, beans, kidney beans, small chick-peas, flax and hemp grow best in rich earths. Wheat, barley, peas, lentils and sesame do best in rich, porous earths. If these are not available the farmer cultivates intermediate earths that, with moderate care, can be worked profitably. The porous intermediate ones are the best while the dense intermediate are inferior. The intermediate produce the same grains as the rich but not in the same quantity. Only turnips do best in loose, plowed, inter­mediate soils and mustard in similar loose, poor soil. Barley is not planted in intermediate soils, as Columella states, but in the very richest which cannot be injured by intensive cultivation or in poor soils in which nothing else is planted. Intermediate soils, sprinkled with marl or manure, can acquire the fertility of rich soils. No other grain except barley is planted in poor soil and of all the leguminous plants only lupine thrives in a poor, compact soil.
Poor soils are improved by manure and marl (marga, lime). A discussion of manures is outside the scope of this work. Marl is nothing other than a very rich, compact earth. It does not matter if it is hard^ intermediate, or soft. When dried it changes into sand, tofus, or a harder rock and when moistened, into some sort of juice that is known by the same name, marga. In regions where the soil is intermediate to poor they use marl as a fertilizer, sprinkling the crushed rock over the plowed fields. Where the soil is fertile as in Campania, Italy, Bohemia, and Thuringia, Germany, marl is never used even though it is abundant in these localities. The word marga is derived from medulla, marrow of bones, for sometimes the water which flows from marl is as white as marrow and hence has been given this name by the Germans and the Gauls who speak the same language. The white solution is called Steinomarga by our German miners. Marl is sometimes found along fractures and joints of rocks but more commonly enclosed within the rock itself. It is usually hard. When drunk it will stop profuse bleeding from wounds and, in general, has the same medicinal properties as Samian earth. The variety of marl found in mines and quarries is not used by farmers since it occurs in small quantities.
Pliny has given an excellent description of this mineral. He emphasizes its aid in increasing the productivity of soils. It is a sort of soft fat of earth and, like the glandular organs in the body, there thickens itself with a nucleus of richness. There are many varieties, the best being found in characteristic veins. It occurs as an earth, usually hard, somewhat sandy, in part tufaceous, in part as hard as solid stone. All of these varieties vary in color being either white, brown, dark red, iridescent, green, gray, yellow, etc. As a rule the tufaceous, arenaceous, and stony varieties feel rough
Book II About different applications of earths (painting, medical) and their occurrences Page of 251 Book II About different applications of earths (painting, medical) and their occurrences
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