The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-09-04
Swamp Muck and How to Prepare It.

The virtue of well-decomposed
swamp muck is at least equal to that
of ordinary barn-yard manure. When
it is free from sand, and consists wholly
of vegetable matter. it is worth more
than the average mixed manure of the
barn-yard. A ton of barn-yard manure,
in the condition in which it is usually
applied to land, contains in round num-
bers 1900 pounds of water, $40 pounds
of organic matter, and 100 pounds of
mineral matter or ash. There is only
700 pounds of valuable matter in the
ton, the rest being useless water. 1t
is very wet swamp muck that contains
more water than the manure, and muck
that has been dug and drained for two
months will not contain so much; 80
that the comparative values of the
muck and manure depend upon the rel
alive value of the ash and organic mat
ter contained in them.
The organic matter of muck is sur
prisingly rich in nitrogen. Professor
johnson has found as much as 4.O6 per
cent. of potential ammonia in dry peat,
and the average amount found in thir-
ty-three samples was 2.O7 per cent. 1t
is unusually rich manure that contains
one per cent. of ammonia, and the
average is no more than half of one per
cent, or ten pounds to the ton. BY
potential ammonia Is meant ammonia
in an inert condition, or that which
will be evolved in the course of perfect
decomposition, and the reduction of
organic matter to its mineral or inor-
ganic elements. If the ammonia were
in free state, it would be evaporated
in very short time, so that the actual
value of q manure consists in its pos
session of potential ammonia, and not
so much in the free ammonia contained.
The abundance of ammonia contained
in good sample of peat may be easily
proved by mixing it with lime, when
the powerful Odor that will be apparent
will speak for itself. The writer has
had large quantities of muck dug
out from swamp, from which the
pungent odor of ammonia was
SO strong as to Inconvenience the
w0rkmen, and was much more power
full than that of a very foul horse
stable. This being the case, then, it
may be taken as q fact that, so far as
the inorganic elements are concerned,
muck is worth at least as much as the
best stable-manure, and as regards
ammonia, it is worth twice to four
times as much. No farmer, therefore,
who owns q deposit of swamp muck
can afford to neglect this generous pro-
vision of nature for his benefit. for,
estimated at the money value OF am
monia, q single load is worth to him.
for the ammonia, alone, at least
ten dollars. This may surprise the
farmer who has many acres on his
farm, each of which contains 1000
loads or more of muck above water
level, and who, therefore, may hardly
be able to realize that the actual value
of each acre to him is $4,000. But if
each ton of muck contains forty pounds
of ammonia, that is worth twenty-five
cents per pound IN the market. and if
he should buy guano, nitrate of soda,
or any other ammoniacal manure he
would pay that price for each pound of
ammonia in the fertilizer. The fact
cannot be changed, simply because, in
the one case he buys the ammonia, and
in the other he already owns it. It is
surprising, but it is true. and it is i'm
portant that farmers should know, that
mines of wealth are hidden beneath the
coarse weeds and unsightly bogs and
marsh which dis6gure their farms; and
how much value they can extract from
them by merely cutting sufficient
bitches through them tofree them from
water and make them fit for cultiva-
ticn. just now is q favorable season
for working in the swamps. The
ground is dryer than at other times,
other work is not pressing, and the
interval between the present time and
the winter is sufficient to drain the
muck and free it from the greater part
of its water.
A convenient method is to dig out a
broad drain three or four feet deep
from the highest to the lowest part'of
the swamp. The muck may be thrown
out upon the bank upon one side only,
either in continuous row or in heaps;
the latter Ia tho hettAr Way as IL Offf.ra