276 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



MUCK AS AK ABSORBENT. 



As the handling of muck is somewhat expensive, the principal value to 

 farmers may be in using it as litter to absorb the liquid manure that would 

 otherwise be wasted. A few inches of muck spread over a barnyard in the fall, 

 where stock are kept, will be worth almost as much intlie spring as the manure 

 from the stables. Where stock is kept either in stables or yards, there should 

 be sufficient litter to absorb the liquid manure. Dana says the urine voided 

 from a cow in one year, compared with Peruvian guano at $50 per ton, is 

 worth 620. 



STRAW 



is generally considered the best litter; but in many places is too valuable for 

 feed or market to use for this purpose. Dry muck, earth, leaves, or sawdust 

 are nearly if not quite as good. We prefer to use dry muck with a little straw 

 for the animals to lie on, for both cattle and pigs. Cattle should not be allowed 

 to stand in roads or lanes where the manure dropped will be lost. If the water 

 is some distance from the barn, they should be watered, driven back and put 

 in the yard. 



HOW WE HANDLE MUCK. 



We handle muck as follows : Our marsh or muck bed is a mile from the 

 barnyard, and is dry in the summer and fiill, but generally wet through the 

 winter and spring. We keep a man, two horses and carts, with a boy to drive, 

 drawing out this muck and piling it up by the side of the marsh on high 

 ground, at all times through the season, when we can spare them. In the 

 winter, when the ground is frozen and the men and teams are not busy, we 

 draw it home. The following is our plan of handling or making a compost 

 heap: 



A COMPOST HEAP. 



Our main barnyard is about 100 feet square. In this are kept during the 

 winter from 50 to 100 store pigs, and the cattle are turned into it about two 

 hours every day, just after noon. In the fall we covered the yard with six or 

 eight inches of muck, and on one side covering nearly half the yard we are 

 making the compost heap. The stables and pig pens are cleaned out every 

 other day and the manure put on this heap; at the same time we are drawing 

 on muck, also all the leached ashes, manure, etc., that we can pick up and buy 

 in the nearest villages and neighborhood. We manage to have the muck all 

 frozen, and when we put on ashes are careful to cover them with muck so that 

 there will be no escape of ammonia. We take particular pains to get all the 

 refuse of the farm onto this heap. In the spring the muck that was spread on 

 the rest of the yard is carted up onto the top of the heap, and fresh muck put 

 in its place. The heap will then be four or five feet high and packed solid by 

 the working and tramping of the cattle and pigs. 



After the spring crops are in, Avhenever a man can be spared, or if it too wet 

 to work on the crops for a day, half-day, or even an hour, all hands work at 

 turning over this heap. It is a standing job for all idle times. The object of 

 turning it over is to break it up, mix it thoroughly and start fermentation. After 

 the pile is turned, if it gets too dry or ferments so rapidly that gas escapes, we 

 will run a pipe from our windmill water tank and moisten it sufficiently to keep 

 it in the proper condition. This compost will be ready to apply either in the 

 fall, winter, or spring. 



