The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-10-17
M;ESkt 8atm+
ON THE USE OF MUCK.


attention of every farmer. The term
MUCK is, in the paper before US, conhn-
ed to that used as descriptive OF the
dirk composition taken from swamps
and lowlands, and which is usually con-
posed of muck peat; not gene; muck
being properly the surface in these nat
ural deposits, peat the more thoroughly
decomposed vegetable matter, and gene
the really valuable substance to the
farmer, contained in the two. GENE Is
thus defined by Worcester: "Negeta-
BILE earth or mold; the soluble brown
matter which may be extracted from
soils by the action of water" This Is
the substance we need for plant food,
and is contained in the peat and muck
in varying proportions, according to the
locality from which the sample is taken.
DR.. S. has owned the deposit of sew
eral acres for % years, and he consid-
ers he has an inexhaustible supply at
his command. The following hints
given in the paper will be found of gen.
eral interest:
at is contended by some that all
swamp muck contains percentage OF
acid, and must not be applied directly
to the field from the bed. determined
to test the truth of this, and in 1853
drew few loads of muck directly from
its bed, and spread it evenly over sod
ground of timothy and clover, the soil
being strong loan, at the rate of about
twenty loads to the acre, and drove
stakes to facilitate the observation of
the experiment; but the following
Spring and Summer no stakes were re-
quired to mark the spot, for the crop
was of darker color, stronger growth,
and apparently very much benefited
by the application. 1t is proper to re-
mark in this connection that l had pre-
viously tested several samples of the
muck with soda, and could find no acid
present. 1t has been, however, my
usual custom to prepare the muck be-
fore applying it to the cultivated field.
The land from which the muck is dug
requires to be drained, and generous,
broad ditch is lined off, and two men,
with a two-horse truck and dumping
boards, will draw and deposit upon the
muck pile, which is about forty rods
distant, an average Of sixteen to twen-
ty loads per day, the mud being thrown
from the ditch into the truck and the
ditch finished in good style as the muck
is drawn away. Counting the cost of
team and extra man at five dollars per
dav, the muck costs only twenty-five
cents per load, and you have the ditch
dug without any expense. But l have
found it best to combine other fertilizers
with the muck, and this has given rise
to two different methods of composing.
A number of leads of muck are
dumped on the ground, forming bed
in position at any time approachable
in Summer or Winter, usually at
short distance from the barn, and upon
this bed is drawn and dumped stable
manure, and upon these two, another
laver of muck, thus sandwiching the
muck and manure, until the pile is so
high that it is inconvenient driving upon
it, the muck and the manure having
been informing led to considerable ex-
tent by driving over it as each load is
deposited The proportion is usually
one load of stable manure to five loads
of muck. | have thus prepared an ag-
IL Oh g
by the hungry soil when applied with
all the gusto usually exhibited by the
weary traveller on the sandwich of the
railroad clearinghouse, after he has heard
the usual announcement, Utica,-ten
minutes for dinner
Ashes and muck, soda and muck,
potash and muck. after repeated expert
ments, have proved themselves very
valuable, but as unleached wood ashes
are difficult to be obtained, HAVE
sandwiched the muck with gas-lime,
which is very cheap and, in my loca-
ton, easily obtained. The pile of lime
and muck is prepared in similar man
ner, with this difference-we put only
one load of lime to ten of muck, taking
care that it be evenly distributed
through the mass. These piles of COM
post are allowed to remain about six
months, until late Winter and early
Spring, when they are drawn upon the
land intended to be fertilized, and when
they are Immediately available as plant
food
Every man who has garden has
felt the want of fertilizer, easily &C
cessible, which will not produce fthe
growth of weeds among the smaller
plants he is cultivating. l use for the
purpose of preparing my alkaline-geine
an old molasses hogshead, or some
times old sugar hogsheads will hold
water after being soaked. Into this |
put four bushels of muck or peat and
one bushel of unleached wood ashes, or
the equivalent of potash, and then fill
the hogshead with water; this is thor
oughly stirred once a day for three
days, when the liquid will be about the
color of the liquor in tanners watts, and
may he applied in the liquid form to
any kind of garden vegetables or small
lIullS, dI tllc lllue vi SuuSct, Will tuc
most satisfactory results. If muck is
accessible in your locality, and YOU will
try this only once, have no doubt it
will become with you an annual friend.
The hogshead may have the alkaline
GENE dipped out and be filled again
two or three times, or SO long as the
dissolving GENE shall impart a proper
color to the water.
1t is said that Peru, by selling one
half of her guano beds to the United
States and England, can pay off her
national debt. Do we, as the farmers
of the United States, wish to pay the
national debt of Peru with these beds
Of almost pure GENE distributed here
and there over almost the entire coun-
try? Why not utilize them and pay
our own national debt? This natural
fertilizer is at our very door; it is
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