MUCKLAND-GARDENING 



MUCKLAND-GARDENING 2073 



soil,, very adaptable to onions, lettuce, celery and cer- 

 tain other crops, and special methods have been 

 developed on them, so much so that muckland-garden- 

 ing has become almost a special department of horti- 

 cultural operations. 



Location. 



One should be careful in selecting muck, as poor 

 muck will not yield paying crops. A patch of muck 

 that can be drained so that the water-table will be 2% 

 feet from the surface, is most desirable. It should be 

 so located that a running stream of water will flow 

 through or near the muck, which will keep it moist 

 during a dry spell. Never buy any new muckland for 

 gardening purposes if it is not covered with a good crop 

 of timber or weeds. Muck covered with a thrifty 

 growth of elm, black ash, and soft maple, will give 

 good crops when brought under cultivation. Cedar 

 and spruce muck are not so good for all kinds of muck- 

 land crops. If a muck tract has been cleared from tim- 

 ber and is not cultivated, it should grow a very thrifty 

 crop of swamp weeds; if it does not show a good growth 

 of weeds it should be avoided. 



Endeavor to locate near a railroad or on a good 

 improved highway. Good mucklands yield large and 

 bulky crops and the cost of long hauls to market or 

 the railroad will be very high. In a few years the 

 extra expense of drawing the crops to market will 

 exceed the first cost of the muck itself. It is also advan- 

 tageous to locate where one can ship on several good 

 railroads. It will give a wider range of markets and a 

 lower freight rate. 



It is well to have the muck-garden near a large body 

 of water. Muckland so located has a much longer 

 growing season. The water warms the air during the 

 cold nights in the fall, and many times saves the entire 

 crop from a frost. It also cools the very hot air during 

 the midsummer. 



Clearing and preparing for cropping. 



If the muckland is covered with a heavy growth of 

 timber, it should be cut down and the stumps removed. 

 There are many ways of clearing and removing the 

 stumps, either dynamite or stump - pullers working 

 very well. The holes should be filled up before plow- 

 ing, and all the roots that the plow comes in contact 

 with removed. A good disc-plow does better work on 

 newly cleared land, as the small 

 roots will not clog a disc as they do 

 a moldboard plow. Corn is a good 

 crop to which to plant new muck- 

 land, as it will grow well and helps 

 greatly to subdue the land. The 

 following year the land may be 

 planted to garden crops providing 

 it has been well cultivated while the 

 corn was growing, and carefully pre- 

 pared and fitted to receive the 

 muck crops. 



Drainage. 



All mucklands must have good 

 drainage or they will not yield 

 paying crops. The water-table 

 should be 2^ feet from the surface 

 to give best results. In order that 

 the water may be lowered to the 

 same level throughout the tract, it 

 will be necessary to construct main 

 and lateral ditches. The latter 

 should be placed from 5 to 10 rods 

 apart, according to the condition of 

 the muck. If the muck is coarse 

 2402 Hair-cap an< ^ fibrous, the lateral ditches may 



moss. Poiytri- be placed farther apart; if it has 



chum commune. reached a more advanced stage of 



decay so that it is fine and pulverized, the lateral 

 ditches must be placed closer together. If the natural 

 fall in the main ditch is not sufficient to give ample 

 drainage and the water-shed from the uplands is not 

 too great, artificial drainage can be installed and will 

 prove very profitable. The water should be led to the 

 lowest point in the main ditch and a pumping-station 

 installed, with which the water is elevated. When arti- 

 ficial drainage is used, the land should be surrounded 

 by a good dyke and should have a ditch all around 

 the muck on the inside of the dyke leading to the 

 pumping-station. There are many muck-gardens oper- 

 ated by this system of drainage that are producing 

 good crops. They are not affected by a .drought as 

 are the higher located muck-gardens. The expense for 

 power is not very high, if one has a good outfit for 

 pumping. 



Fertilizers. 



All mucklands in the northern states are very rich in 

 organic matter, fairly well supplied with phosphoric 

 acid and low in potash, and very high in nitrogen. 

 Samples of muck taken from various sections show by 

 analysis that they contain materials as follows: 



Organic matter from 82.5 to 88.7 per cent. 



Nitrogen from 1.8 to 2.42 per cent. 



Phosphoric acid from .27 to 1.9 percent. 



Potash from .15 to .26 per cent. 



Calcium-oxide from 4.2 to 6.3 per cent. 



However, the plant-food found in muck is not 

 available to garden crops in large enough quantities 

 to warrant the growing of such crops without the 

 use of commercial fertilizer or stable-manures. When 

 muckland is brought under cultivation, it renders 

 some of the plant-food available to the crops, but it 

 would mean failure to any grower if he did not use 

 fertilizer of some kind each year. A brand of fertilizer 

 containing about 2 per cent nitrogen, 8 per cent avail- 

 able phosphoric acid and 10 per cent potash, is a good 

 mixture with which to start the crop. If the growth 

 is not fast enough after the crop is well started, apply 

 nitrate of soda. By watching the growth of the crop, 

 one will soon learn what to apply. 



Many growers apply about 1,000 pounds of 2:8:10 

 fertilizer to the acre in the spring just before the crop 

 is planted and work it well into the soil and then apply 

 from 400 to 1,000 pounds during the growing season. 

 Some growers prefer to apply all the phosphoric acid 

 and potash in the spring and then feed the crop on 

 nitrogen alone during the growing season, using nitrate 

 of soda, dried blood and tankage. Not more than 400 

 pounds of nitrate of soda to the acre is used at one time, 

 unless the ground is very cold and wet in early spring. 

 Such crops as onions, lettuce, carrots and beets do not 

 need such large amounts. Spinach will respond greatly 

 to a liberal application of nitrate of soda. One grower 

 has raised sixteen tons of spinach to the acre and 

 harvested the crop by June 8 by applying 800 pounds of 

 2:8:10 to the acre before sowing the seed and 600 

 pounds of nitrate of soda to the acre when the crop was 

 well started. Twenty-five carloads of celery were also 

 grown on 8 acres by using 3,000 pounds of commercial 

 fertilizer, 4:7: 10 brand, before planting, and side-dress- 

 ing with fish tankage every two weeks, making three 

 applications during the season after the crop had 

 started and using 1,200 pounds of tankage to the acre 

 in the three applications. However, this celery was 

 grown under irrigation. It is not advisable for anyone 

 to use that amount of fertilizer unless he thoroughly 

 understands the health condition of the celery crop, as 

 he may spoil the entire crop by so doing. Such crops 

 as onion and celery should produce a good yield by 

 applying from 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of '2:8:10 to the 

 acre during the season. Lettuce, carrots, beets and 

 potatoes should do well on 600 to 1,000 pounds to the 

 acre. Spinach will do well on 500 pounds of 2:8:10' 



