226 STATE BOAED OF AGRICULTUEE. 



Some have clciiined that the acid present was oxalic, and have tried to exjDlain 

 why sorrel, which contains a good deal of oxalic acid, grows so readily on sour 

 muck, " because it finds plenty of oxalic acid in the soil." Unfortunately for 

 this argument, oxalic acid is not present in sour muck : the acid is either sul- 

 phuric in the form of sul2:)hate of iron, or is one of the vegetable acids of muck, 

 e. g., the crenic or the apocrenic. Besides, we have no evidence that oxalic 

 acid, if present, would promote the growth of sorrel, or any other plant that 

 contains that acid. The acid is formed by the plant, and not derived as such 

 from the soil. 



When this cheesy muck is dried it shrinks in volume, forming a hard, coaly 

 mass, and may remain exposed to the weather for years without much change. 

 Here is a sample of this kind. Many farmers have complained that they have 

 applied muck to their lands without any benefit, and sometimes with actual 

 damage. It is probable that they have used this kind of muck. 



Third. When this cheesy muck has been exposed to the air so as to be thor- 

 oughly acted on by the frost, we find a dark broAvn or black powdery mass, 

 which is not to be distinguished from the vegetable matter or mould of soils. 

 It is this powdery muck which is of so much value to the farmer, and is the 

 only kind of muck Avhich is fit for immediate a2:»i3licatiou to the soil, or for any 

 use excej)t to form composts with fermentable manures or with alkaline sub- 

 stances. It must be borne in mind, however, that the cheesy muck, thrown on 

 the land under such circumstances that it will be thoroughly frozen before it 

 dries out, Avill thereby be changed to this powdery muck. 



INFLUENCE OF FEOST AND WEATHERING. 



You may ask, if this powdery muck is alone fit for immediate use what shall 

 we do with the cheesy muck which is so much more abundant, but which is unfit 

 for use in this form ? The cheesy muck is readily changed into the powdery 

 variety, its acid properties removed and thus fitted for immediate use, by the 

 action of frost and by exposure to the weather. Here is a specimen taken from 

 the same lump as the hard and coaly mass I have already shown you, but which 

 instead of being dried without Aveathering and freezing, was exposed to the 

 action of the frost for three weeks. Instead of a mass of stony hardness, 

 it is soft and powdery, and free from all acid properties. All that is nec- 

 essary to change the tenacious sour muck to a useful form is to expose it 

 thoroughly to the action of frost for one winter. But if you dig it up 

 in the spring and throw it on your fields Avithout freezing, very probably 

 it wdll form hard clods and only be an injury to your fields. It is remark- 

 able how little the frost penetrates into these muck beds. I have found 

 the frost extending down in a sandy soil four feet while a muck bed was 

 frozen only eight inches. Hence the action of the frost is confined to the sur- 

 face of the muck bed under natural conditions and only a thin coverino- of the 

 surface muck is fit for immediate use. It is obvious that Avhen we throw up the 

 muck into piles to freeze, we should not make our piles so large and compact 

 that the frost cannot penetrate the entire mass. 



Now let us look for some explanation of this singular influence of frost and 

 weathering on this muck. The muck when first taken from the bed contains a 

 very large percentage of water — from 60 to 85 — and when this water freezes, 

 the expansion of the Avater in passing into ice, splits the coherent muck into 

 millions of particles separated from each other, and Avhen it thaAvs out Ave find 

 the spUttinr/ wedge of frost has divided the mass as no device of man could CA'cr 



