60 FIRST PRINCIPLES OF AGRICULTURE. 



the improvement of the quality of the constituents by the 

 methods suggested is frequently of considerable financial 

 advantage. 



Muck, or Peat. — On many farms there are low, wet 

 places where the conditions are favorable for the collec- 

 tion of partially decayed vegetable matter. The mate- 

 rial thus formed is called "muck/^ or "peat." The 

 thickness of the deposit and its character depend upon 

 the time during which it has been formed, and the 

 character of the climate. 



Muck is used mainly as a source of humus, and as 

 an absorbent for use in stables or yards. Eresh muck 

 contains on the average seventy-five per cent of water, 

 three-tenths per cent of nitrogen, and traces of potash, 

 phosphoric acid, and lime. Air-dry muck contains on 

 the average twenty-one per cent of water, one and one- 

 third per cent of nitrogen, one-tenth per cent each of 

 phosphoric acid and potash, and nine-tenths per cent of 

 lime. The value of the muck as a source of humus is 

 measured by its content of nitrogen, while its value as 

 an absorbent depends upon its content of organic matter. 

 The usefulness of muck for either of these purposes is 

 further modified by the labor necessary to secure it in a 

 dried condition. 



The usual method of procuring it is to throw it out 

 of the bed into heaps, and allow it to dry before it is 

 used either upon the fields or in the stables. Where a 

 muck bed exists upon a farm, it should first be studied 

 in reference to its possible drainage. If it can be drained, 

 it is liable to prove more useful where it lies than for 

 the other purposes mentioned; since soils rich in peaty 



