M A - University of Limerick Institutional Repository

4^ ^ M A G A 2 1 N E S^si M AG A 2 l N E
^ marks of indications of made-beds
^ upon the surface : some authors in-
' deed fay, that marie is almost always
< form'd in bogs or morasses dried up
< and filled with etarth, and that one
^ may know where there are beds of
^ marie by the rushes which grow upon
< the fursace, or by the shells thrown
^ up in the mole-hills : but the common
< and most certain way of discovering
^ marie is by boring. Marie is not al-
< ways firm and folid but often foft and
' like a polp, but the beds are always
^ very thick. When the marle is dug
^ out os the pies, it is laid in little heaps
^ upon the field intended to be marled,
' and then Spread abeoad like other
< manure. It is of such a fattening fer-
' tiliaing quality, that the land it is
^ laid upon will not need any other
^ manure, nor to be marled again,
^ for 12,1 5, ao, and sometimes 3o
< years Vol, VI. p. 337. But this being
' a very hot manure, and all forts of it
^ not being of the same degree of heat,
' its quality should be examined and
^ proportioned to the nature os the soil
' upon which it is proposed to be laid.
^ Care should be taken not to lay on
^ too much, because it will Scorch and
^ burn the soil t but lbo' the greatest
^ exactness and caution be uSed, a
^ gond crop is not to be expected the
^ first year aster marling a field : but
' this transient sterility is amply re-
^ compenfed by the plenty and abun-
^ dance of the following years. It is
^ best to Spread the marl upon the
^ lands in autumn, or in the Spring, that
^ the rains which usualyfall at theSe
' Seafons oS the year, may dissolve it
^ and carry it into the ground, which
^ it never Sails to fertilize, however
^ barren it may have been beSore.'
Observations on the LEECH WoRM, by
a Gent, wbo kept one several Years for
the Purpose of a /feather Glofi.
A Phial o.S water, containing a leech,
aLh. I kept on the frame of my lower
fash chamber window, so that when
I looked in the morning, I could know
what would be the weather of the following
day.
If the weather eoniinues ferene and
beautiful, the leech lies motionless at
the bottom os the glass. and rolled together
in a spiral form.
If it rains, either before or afternoon.
it is found crept up to the top of its
lodging ; and there it remains till the
weather is fettled.
If' we are to have windt the paoor
prisoner gallops through his limped habitation
with amaaing Swiftness, and
Seldom rests till it begins to blow hard,
If a remarkable storm of thunder
and rain is to succeed,—for fome days
before, it lodges almost continually
without the water, and discovers great
uneasiness, in violent throws and convulsive
like motions.
In frost, as in clear summer weather,
it lies constantly at the bottom.—And
in fnow, as in rainy weather, it pitches
its dwelling upon the very mouth of
the phial.
What reasons may be assigned for
them, I must leave philosophers to determine
: Tho' one thing is evident
to every body, that it must be asfected
in the fame way with that
of the mercury and fpirits in the weather-glass
; and has doubtless a very
surprizing sensation. that the change
os weather, even days beforet makes
a visible alteration upon its manner of
living.
Perhaps it may not be amiss to nose.
lest any of the curious should try the
experiment, that the leech is kept
in a common eight ounce phial glass.
about three fourths silled with water.
and covered on the mouth with a hit
of linen rag. In the summer time
the water is changed once a week,
and in the winter once a fortnight.
This is a weather-glass which may be
purchased at a very trifling expend,
and which will last I don't know how
many yeast,
lours. ^C.