286 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



others strongly rigid, with jaws and teeth, to gnaw and scrape out 

 their food, carry burdens, perforate the earth, nay, the hardest wood, 

 and even stones themselves, for houses and nests for their young. 



MUCILAGE. A soft glutinous substance, made by dissolving 

 different kinds of gum ; or the roots, leaves, or other parts of plants 

 that abound with it. Mucilaginous drinks and mixtures are very 

 useful in disorders of the bowels, and in catarrhs, where our object is 

 to cover any acrid matter, so as to prevent its irritating the parts over 

 which it passes. A solution of gum arabic, an infusion of linseed, or 

 water gruel, are all to be considered as mucilaginous drinks. 



MUCK. This is the common name for peat, marsh mud, and 

 decaying vegetable matter generally. The value of it in restoring 

 fertility to declining soils that have long been used for tillage, is a mat- 

 ter of common sense, and has been well tested by the experience of 

 our best farmers. The swamps and bogs, and all low lands that have 

 been uncultivated, consist, in no small measure, of what has been 

 washed upon them from the adjacent hills and uplands, as well as of 

 the decayed substances that have there been accumulating for an 

 unknown succession of years. These substances are the essence of 

 all vegetable composition ; and, whenever collected, duly prepared 

 and properly applied to fields to be used for tillage, it is apparent that 

 the provident husbandman may expect a good crop. The value, how- 

 ever, of muck, as a fertilizer, will greatly depend on the fact of the 

 swamp or bog having been able to retain without waste the vegetable 

 elements that may have there been collected. For, if there has been 

 a stream of water running through it, the soluble portions of the mud 

 must have been partially separated from the vegetable remains, and 

 washed away ; whereas, the muck taken from those swamps or bog- 

 holes, having no mode of discharging their water, except by evapora- 

 tion, retain most of the soluble portions of their animal and other 

 organic remains, and consequently is richer in nitrogen and fertilizing 

 salts. 



In dry seasons, the prudent farmer will be industrious in removing 

 or carting muck from evaporated swamps or other sunken places 

 on or near his farm, and composting it with the dung or urine of ani- 

 mals, night soil, soap suds, or other putrescent matter ; or, what is 

 better, to lay it in his barnyard, pigsty, or sheepfold, and let it become 

 thoroughly mixed with the dung and urine of his stock. When thus 

 managed, the compost is excellent, and suitable for almost any variety 

 of soil, though best for those that are sandy and light. The majority 

 of farmers in this way might annually double the amount of their 

 crops, as well as add much to the value of their farms. All farm 

 are not alike favorably situated for being thus enriched, but there are 

 a few only, and it is believed not any, but what might be vastly ben- 

 efited in this way, if the proprietors were duly observant of the mean* 

 for doing it. 



