20 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



of a former age ground or crushed by various natural causes, and cemented by clay or ren 

 dered compact by the pressure of the overlying stratum of earth, or from other causes. South 

 Carolina and New Jersey have immense beds of underlying marl, which are especially 

 valuable as a fertilizing element, and to which much of the fertility of their soil is doubtless 

 due. Marl containing a large per cent, of gypsum, and in which crystals of gypsum are 

 easily descernible to the naked eye, is found in great quantity and readily accessible on the 

 shores of Lake Jessup, Florida. The large amount of gypsum it contains renders it of great 

 value to the agricultural interests of that section. Like loamy soils, marly soils may contain 

 also a greater or less proportion of sand or clay, and should be treated according as they 

 approach nearest the characteristics of either a sandy or clayey soil. These soils are very 

 tenacious of manures, and are what may be termed durable or lasting soils. 



Silt and Alluvial Soils. Silt being synonymous with sediment, denotes those soils 

 which are formed by water transporting fine sediment or mud into lakes and estuaries, and 

 depositing it in their beds. Alluvial soils are such as have been formed by the deposit of 

 rivers or streams, hence a silt soil, according to Prof. Brewer, may be a river-deposit and 

 consequently alluvial, or it may be a salt marsh by the sea, or such a marsh reclaimed, and in 

 no way pertaining to a river deposit, in which case it cannot strictly be called alluvial, and 

 properly is not. These soils vary greatly in their characteristics from a mixed clay to pure 

 sand, but generally combine the elements of such soils as are denoted loamy or sandy loams. 

 &quot;When of this character, they are exceedingly fertile, and if favored with an annual overflow 

 from a stream above them, thus depositing upon their surface the fertilizing elements of 

 other soils, they yield remarkably large crops constantly without other fertilizing agents. 

 They are suited to the various agricultural purposes, and are easily tilled. Such soils yield 

 large crops of the best of grasses, and when particularly exposed to injury by freshets, this 

 crop is less liable to be damaged by such exposure than any other ; therefore it will be safer 

 for farmers having such particularly exposed lands, to appropriate them to the permanent 

 production of grass. The rich bottom lands in the valley of the Mississippi furnish a good 

 illustration of alluvial formations, as also the valley of the Nile. 



The drainage of Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades in Southern Florida, thus reclaim 

 ing 12,000,000 acres of the best sugar land in the world, will prove a grand scientific agri cultural 

 achievement, and one that will result in great benefit, not to Florida alone, but to the United 

 States; since Florida, according to an accurate estimate, is by this means capacitated to pro 

 duce more sugar than the United States consumes. 



Muck. The principal constituent of muck is of vegetable origin, being formed from 

 decayed vegetation in swampy lands, hence as a soil it is too wet to admit of cultivation, as 

 such, but is principally used as an absorbent for manures, and in composts, in which case it 

 must be well dried before it is suited to absorb the liquid portions of manure. When thus 

 saturated it makes an excellent fertilizer. Muck varies much in value, according to its origin. 

 &quot;When originating from a mass of decayed forest leaves and other plants, it must of necessity 

 contain considerable fertilizing matter; if from mosses and coarse sedges, it will contain far 

 less of the valuable elements; and when composed largely of sand, nearly worthless; or it may 

 be impregnated with protoxide of iron, which is a deadly poison to vegetation, hence, its 

 value depends entirely upon its origin. Its chief value when used alone consists in the quan 

 tity of vegetable matter it contains, and which is well adapted to soils of an opposite nature 

 to muck, or dry soils that require vegetable manures. When thus used it should be well 

 drained to dispose of the surplus water it contains. 



The Origin and Age Of Muck Deposits. Wherever stagnant water has existed 

 for a long time a certain class of coarse marsh plants, grasses, and mosses, are usually found, 

 such conditions favoring their rapid and luxuriant growth. These plants year by year mature 



