344 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



INFLUENCE OF FROST AND WEATHER. 



If this muck is thrown up into long piles or windrows in the fall and 

 left to the action of frost and weather during the winter, it will break 

 down into a soft, crumbly mass, like the powery muck found on the sur- 

 face of the swamp, will have lost its acid property and much of its water. 

 Six months' weathering in sharp winter weather will change its character 

 almost entirely and fit it for use on the land without fear of forming use- 

 less lumpy masses. The evaporation of its water will save about half the 

 cost of moving it to the field. 



COMPOSITION OF MUCK. ' 



Besides a variable amount of water, muck contains an organic or com- 

 bustible material, a quantity of ash, and an uncertain amount of soil 

 carried into the swamp by wind and water. The ash consists of carbon- 

 ates of lime, magnesia, and potash, sulphate and phosphate of lime, and 

 oxide of iron ; or the usual ash materials found in vegetable matter. 



The organic matter of muck consists for a large part of a mixture of 

 organic acids, and is distinguished from the relatively large amount of 

 combined nitrogen it contains, from one to two and one half per cent. A 

 part exists as ammonia in combination, which may be set free by heating 

 the muck with caustic potash or lime, but the greater part is inert or 

 inactive. It is a great problem in agriculture how to make this inactive 

 nitrogen of muck and of the humus in the soil active and available for 

 the use of plants. In part this is effected by the action of alkaline sub- 

 stances to promote decomposition, such as wood ashes, caustic lime, etc., 

 and by promoting the process of nitrification to bring the inert nitrogen 

 into the soluble and active form of nitrates. 



USES OF MUCK. 



The uses of muck on the farm may be comprised under two heads. 



1. To be applied to other lands as manure. 



2. The reclaiming of a swamp and converting it into a field for raising 

 usual farm crops or special crops like celery and cranberries. 



I. MUCK AS MANURE. 



The powdery muck found on the surface of muck beds, or the cheesy 

 muck made powdery by the action of frost and weathering, and free from 

 acid property, may be applied to any soil deficient in organic matter, and 

 be worked into the soil with benefit. The material may be made more 

 active and beneficial by mixing with each ton of the dry muck two bushels 

 of wood ashes or slaked lime. The muck is especially valuable for mak- 

 ing compost with fresh stable manure, using equal parts of muck and 

 manure. Even offensive material, such as night-soil, the manure from 

 the hog-pen, and putrid animal remains may be deprived of all offensive 

 properties by mixing with muck. But in no case should the cheesy muck 

 be used either for direct application to the land or for composting. Let 

 frost and weathering break down and sweeten this muck before using. 



