Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-08-12
agricultural.
Peat and Muck as Fertilizers.


The season when the swamps are usually
driest leads us to call attention to the muck
mines. There has been very great change
in the use of peat and muck during the last
twenty years, but it is still not half appre
cIated. Multitudes who have these mines
upon their farms never work them. There
is great difference in the character Of the
peat and muck found in our swamps, but it
Is rare to find one that does not afford fer
tilizer that will pay largely for carting and
composing. A few bogs have been found
containing soluble salts of iron (copperas or
green vitriol,) in such quantities as to be
injurious to vegetation, but even the peat
dug from these boys is readily corrected, and
made valuable by composing with lime.
Men who have once begun to tap the muck
mines quite generally go in deeper every
year, until the wants of their farms are fully
supplied. The writer has derived so much
benefit from the use of muck in his farming
that he has no doubt it Is, to most farmers,
the cheapest and best amendment of their
soils. He would apply it in large quantities
to all sandy and gravelly loans, and. when
composted with other manures, to all soils
under the plow- So rare is it to find poor or
poisonous peat, that the presumption is, in
every case, that peat or muck swamp is
mine of wealth to the farm. We should not
want to work land in any Of the older States,
that had not this source of improvement
upon it very near it. If the swamp has
never been worked, it is easy to test it in a
single season. Throw out a quantity of
muck, and if after the first winter, weeds
grow freely In it, it is good article. Rank
weeds indicate luxuriant corn and potatoes
Or, take the weathered muck, and mix it
with sand, and plant few flower seeds In it.
Or, better still, spread a few bushels of it
upon the grass, and note the results. W hen
you have found a good bed, work it largely,
as if YOU had faith in it.. If 500 cords arc
thrown out the present season, there will be
use for the whole of it. 1t is of great adj
vantage to have it dug, and drawn out upon
hard land, aside from its improvement by ex-
posture to the weather. 1t loses more than
One-half of its weight in the water which
drains from it, and this saves one-half the
expense of carriage. Then it is always aces
sible, and few loads can be put into the
yards or stables, as wanted 1t is anchor
ated by exposure to the air, the rains, and
the frost. The more frequently it is over
hauled, the more rapidly it improves, If it
is to lie upon the banks of the ditch or Dit
whence it is thrown out, boards should be
put beneath it, to make the drainage thor
Ough. Unless the peat is of very good quail
ty, and in quite hmited>quantities, it is usu-
ally better not to dig more than six feet from
the surface. There are several ways of using
good that when weathered they can be APP
piled directly to the land, as top-dressing
for grass or be plowed in for hOed crops
But these are exceptions to the general rule.
As absOrbents are wanted, peat is often the
most convenient article that can be used,
and, applied in sufficient quanteties, it pre-
vents all loss of ammonia in the stables, sites,
yards. sub-drains, and privies. 1t is a com
plete dedorzer, and could be profitably used
for this purpose alone. Some have a gutter
constructed at the rear of the stalls, and put
about bushel of muck in the gutter daily
t. each animal. This is thrown out every
day, and mixed with the solid feces, and
more muck is added TO the heap of compost
Others keep bed of the peat say 10 inches
thick, cons family under the animals, bedding
well with straw, and renewing the absorbent
every ten days. The animal heat hastens
decomposition. and we know of no way in
which peat can be so rapidly transformed
into a good fertilizer. Others have movable
floors to the stables, and the muck is thrown
into the pit beneath, which all the
liquid manure If the stables are in constant
use, the muck should be renewed every six
month. or oftener, if thoroughly saturated
1t is also much used making a compost
with stable mapures- A layer of peat one
foot thick is placed upon the ground The
heap for convenience in working should be
not less than eight feet broad, four or five
high, and of any desirable length. Upon the
layer of peat put three inches of manure
then one foot Of peat and so on in alternate
layers, until the heap is finished. 1t should
lie in heap for two or three months, and be
forked over twice. We heve found com
post made in this way quite as effective as
stable manure. Various other articles are
used for composing with peat. such as night
soil. Peruvian guano, ashes, lime, dead ami
mails, factory wastes, ETC. Every farmer
should own Professor Johnson's little work
on Peat and Its Uses, where these matters
are very fully discussed.