The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1905-05-11
EXPERIMENT.
Muck Lands and How to Make
Them Pay.

Livery country IN the world contains
considerable areas of swamp land.
much of which is covered with a for
nation of muck or peat. The size of
these formations varies from a frac-
ton of an acre to tracts containing
several thousand acres. In manv
states OF the union, such as Indiana.
Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Mime
sofa, Iowa and Florida, these forma-
tlons are so large and numerous that
their aggregate areas amount to
from 1000 to 5000 square miles in
each state. So general is the distri-
button of these lands that nearly one
half OF the American Experiment Sta
tions have devoted attention to them
They are known under various local
names, such as swamp, muck, peat,
marsh, tamarack, hackmatack, mus
keg, alkali and bogus. The last two
names are applied to those that are
unproductive. The term alkali is not
properly applied to such lands, and
the unproductiveness is not due to
alkali in the usual sense of that term.
These soils have been formed from
water plants of various sorts, which
have been partially preserved by the
water covering them. Genuine peat
is formed by a moss which dies below
while continuing its growth above.
The most of these lands fall into
two general classes:-First, beds of
comparatively pure peat or muck sur
rounded by and resting on mari or
clay formations, sometimes with sand
or gravel layers. Second, areas of
black humus alternating with low
ridges of sandy soil and mixed to a
greater or less extent with sand
These lands are not we'll suited for
the production of corn, potatoes, on
ions and celery. The first thing TO
be done is to drain them The drain
age should be as deep as possible,
since these soils compact a good deal
when the water Is removed. The per-
manent water level ought to be re-
duced below 42 inches from the sur
face for the best results.
A ditch around the marsh and one o2-
en- ditch through it is often all that is
necessary.
After these lands are drained they
will generally produce two or more
very good corn crops, but after a
time the corn becomes chaffy, and on
some of the lands not even stalks will
grow. Coarse manure can be used to
increase the yields, but the character
istic and valuable ingredient of the
manure, the nitrogen, is not needed,
and the manure can be used to much
better advantage on higher lands.
Field tests and chemical examina-
tions of these soils agree in pointing
out that the element always lacking
in these soils is potash. Where the
land will produce no sound corn, 200
lbs. per acre of nuriate of potash
should be used. Where a moderate
crop of corn can be raised, 100 lbs.
per acre will be enough On the
muck lands that contain considerable
sand it often pays TO use some phos-
phoric acid in addition to the above
amount of potash. This can be OBJ
tanned by using 100 lbs. of acid phos-
phate or OF steamed bone per acre
On the L. c. Nice farm, in Tippe-
canoe County, the use of $50 lbs. OF
muriate of potash to the acre on muck
having a water level at planting of
IA inches and at harvest of "a inches,
gave 423 bushels of corn per acre,
while the plats on which no potash
was used gave 16.2 bushels. On pot
ash plats 9O.2 per cent. of the corn
was sound, while on plats to which no
potash was applied, only 60 per cent.
was sound.
The muriate of potash should be
applied broadcast before blowing or
narrowing. Do not apply it in the
hill with fertilizer attachment, since
it is so concentrated and so soluble
that it may retard or prevent ger
mination, unless it should rain very
soon after the crop is planted.
While it is not customary to ap-
ply potash salts to such lands until
their productiveness is reduced, some
experiments conducted last year on
lands that were plowed for the first
time, proved that it was profitable to
use it on the first crop, the increased
value of the crop on the fertilized
plats over that on the unfertilized be-
ing nearly three times the cost OF the
fertilizer.
With onions the results have been
even more remarkable With this
crop, howver. it is advisable TO use
some quickly available nitrogen in
addition to the potash and phosphoric
acid. There is plenty of nitrogen in
the muck, but during the early stages
of the growth of the onion plant the
soil is so cold that nitri6cation does