The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1880-02-11
The Mistaken Use of Muck.
teyant. in Land and Home.

The Mistaken Use of Muck.
E. Lewis Sturtevant, in Land and Home.
10 Few men are gifted with that
comprehensiyepess that they can see
the whole life of.'the farm from sea-
son TO season, spread out as on
chart, and the whole effect OF each
course Of procedure Hence tallacies
are common, and receive so much
countenance from people more famll-
lar with theorya than practice, that
they become established upon pedes-
tails dificultto everturn, Such is the
idea Of cooking food tor stock;
another is the belief that cutting
food for cattle influences the digesti-
,bility; still greater lies in the ques.
ton OF deep or shallow blowing, be-
cause based on the reasoning that
deep or shallow blowing covers the
object, and not the effect which 1t IS
desired to produce; another expen-
sive fallacy is that muck and dirt are
manure, and that cord OF this stuff
mixed with a. cord of manure will
produce two cords Of manure. But
even more dangerous tallacies are
those connected with the use OF arti-
fetal fertilizers. y ..-+,
/ have been talking with man to-
day who made manure, and had GER
tainly increased the bulk in his barn
cellar to be- hauled out on the fields.
asked him whether he would not
prefer the same material in half the
bulk. He replied that he would
"Why, then, do you haul in your
muck and stuff, and dilute the genu-
inc dung into double bulk?" He
wanted manure. $50 do we, all OF
us. But did you ever see more
vigorous growth Of weeds on your
muck heap than elsewhere ?" No, he
hadn't. did you ever put your
muck on field by itself, and watch
it's effect ?.n He haanot. Odd you
ever suspect that the virtue ascribed
to the mixed muck and manure was
produced from the manure present,
and not from the muck ?" Well, he
had never thought of it. "Now,"
said /, 'just. think a little. Your
muck is either good, or harmless, or
else injurious. If good, it ought to
show some results used by itself; if
inert, it's use by itself would demon
strate that; if bad, you would soon
find it out.aa In either case, what do
you gain by hauling it into your barn
cellar, when it adds no more to the
manure than it would to the field, and
has to be hauled out again ?"
There is no greater mistake than
this, that we can make manure by
hauling in bulk which is not manure.
does not rot into manure, and under.
goes no chemical changes which
makes its insoiuble constituents SOL
uble. Understand me, /. do not OBJ
iect to muck, or sawdust, or litter, as
an absorbent. But I decidedly OBJ
iect to the use OF stuff which gives
no evidence of value. l protest, in
the interest OF profitable farming, OF
an educated agriculture, against farm
ers working SO blindly as not to rec
ognize whether or no costly opera
ton is gain. Muck has physical
action in the soil, but, it this action is
needed, haul the muck directly to the
field when required, and save one
shoveling and one hauling. Muck
may be useful in a dry compost. If
dry compost is desired, and muck is
not too costly to obtain, then use
muck. Muck may have fertilizing
value. "A shrewd and successful old
farmer at a farmers club, where am
ateur farmers were present, and the
subject was how to make farm
profitable, arose, and closing his eyes
tight enough TO bring out the con-
cealed wrinkles of his face, and pres
sing his stomach with both hands, ne
drawled out the neatest, shortest, and
most effective speech of the session
"You can't make a farm pay where
there are too many legs under the
kitchen table" / think Of this when
ever see amateur farmers hauling
huge piles of muck with paid labor;
and wonder how long it will be be-
fore the accumulated expense OF run.
ming the farm will open their eyes to
the tallacy of assuming that you can
make manure by simply increasing
the bulk of the dung heap.