Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1882-02-13
agricultural department.
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MUCK.

III snail rise again Ah'e 10 oiio
end and purpose of all life; for moth
ING that has lived, and has possess
ed an organized life, can be utterly
destroyed, so that it cannot again
supply organized life with the means
of existence. And so muck, as we
have here represented it, is a most
valuable treasure to the farm; just
as the coal beds which possess almost
precisely similar history furnish
most valuable treasure to the indus
trious men who turn the stored up
forces, hidden in the coal, to the pur-
poses of mechanics and the industrial
arts.
The question then comes to us how
shall we utilize all this inchoate and
potential fertility to the best pur-
poses. 1t is a principle of vegetable
physiology that plants feed upon the
decayed matter of former plants.
Manure is precisely this and nothing
less or more. A cow consumes hay
and straw and roots and corn meal.
She digests part of it, makes flesh
and fat and milk and butter and re-
produces herself in her progeny. The
remainder is elected as refuse and is
simply undigested fodder. This is
4 the manure which the farmer finds
4 indispensable. The swamp muck
mainly consists of such vegetable
matter as might have sustained a
large number of animals. Not hav-
inc been turned to this use all it's ele-
ments remain, except that portion of
them which may have been dissolved
and carried away. But as swamps
have been covered for ages with stag
nant water little of the substance of
them has been lost in this way. The
chemist finds in swamp muck three
or four times as much nitrogen as eX-
lists in manure, and half as much
phosphoric acid. In potash it is
about one-fourth as rich as yard ma
nure Now estimating the value of
muck by the same rule as we estimate
the value of manure and fertilizers,
it is found to be worth from So to 81
per ton after it has been freed from
its absorbed water. That is, if a
farmer digs three or four tons of the
muck and leaves it in heap to drain
and dry for two or three months, he
has the worth of So or 81 for his la
& Dor. This makes the raw muck in
the swamp as it is dug, worth one
dollar per load. If the muck is -four
feet deep there will be nearly 5000
loads to the acre. Here is then a
store of wealth if the farmer will only
utilize it. But how? First the muck
should be dug and piled on the bank
and drained. Then by some means
it must be decomposed. This may be
done by spreading it in the barn yard
or manure cellar where it may be
mixed with the manure and with il
ferment, and rapidly decay and be.
come undistinguishable from the ma
nure. It will then be, in fact
manure containing all the elements
of the best the farmer can produce.
1t may also be decomposed by thu
use of lime and made into compost
by which its nitrogen may be made
available. This is done by heapins
it in layers in broad shallow pile
On every foot in depth as it lie
roughly, enough fresh air-slaked, Or,
lime, in fine powder, should be spreac
over it to completely whiten it. A
it is deficient in potash the addition
of wood ashes would be of great valu
and advantage as supplying this de
ficiency. The heap is thus built u
with muck and lime and ashes alter
nately. When four feet high, tn
heap may be levelled off on the to
and left for three months. It wi
then be ready for use and there is n
better place to put it than upon
Summer follow in July, or on gras
lands after moving. In either @
these places it will do the most good
especially upon sandy lands. whic
it will make compact and more moist
and upon which it will very quickl
decay. The farmer who will dig
few hundred loads this winter an
use it in this way may rest assure
that he has fund of wealth on han
more secure than any bank deposit.