108 [Assembly 



able, principally on account of the constituents, soda, alkalies general- 

 ly. The alkali is the most important. 



" In reference to muck deposites, I am aware that there are thou- 

 sands of them in which you find no marl. The muck is an alluvial 

 deposite. On my Croton Point farm, I have put fifteen thousand 

 loads of the muck from the margin of the Croton river. There is no 

 shell, no marl in it — there are the remains of the bones of fishes. I 

 find this muck excellent as a manure — winter freezes it, (I draw it 

 out in winter,) — it freezes and in the spring it crumbles. I put it in- 

 to a tilled crop, plow, harrow, and hoe it into the soil. If you put on 

 this alluvial matter as a top-dressing on your land, you may justly ex- 

 pect a fever and ague, for it lias often proved its power to furnish the 

 intermittents when exposed to the influences of sun, air and mois- 

 ture. It is highly carbonaceous and must, for safety; be well mixed 

 up in your soil. My land so treated with this muck bears severe 

 drought. No ordinary soil or barn yard manure stands a dry time at 

 all like it." 



Dr. Field. — " I consider our marls highly valuable. Such materials 

 are abundant in our country, and of the highest importance to our far- 

 mers. The formation of muck or alluvial matter over shelly marls 

 are common ; the muck on my farm has proved its fertilizing powers. 

 I have prepared it in various ways : This year I have raised a thou- 

 sand cart loads of muck upon my fields ; my crops are fine. I have it 

 hauled out of the muck holes in August, when the weather is dry, 

 after the hurry of the harvest is over ; when there is an intermission 

 of labor on the farm, I haul it out with a scraper to a spot where the 

 water will drain off; when winter comes it freezes thoroughly, and in 

 the spring it will crumble. I then make a layer of it one foot thick, 

 on that 4 inches thick stable manure, then 1 inch of slaked lime, then 

 a layer of muck as before &c., until the heap is 7 feet high. My 

 pears, beans, onions &c., grown on land manured with this compost, 

 are luxuriant. I also place the muck on the floor of my stable, sprin- 

 kle a little ground plaster over it, then place the bedding over that, 

 when being trampled and having the urine &c., in it, I take it away 

 and begin a new layer of muck, &c. In this way the smell of the 

 ammonia is absorbed. I treat the barnyard in the same way. Dutch- 

 ess county has an abundance of muck, it is of a dark cplor, and lies 

 several feet unusually in thickness over marl full of shells. By 



