520 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMEK. 



Nov. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 COMPOSTING MUCK FOR Ma.NUKE. 



potatoes. At the place where the heap is to be 

 : laid up, prepare a temporary lime-bed, of boards 

 ;ii' you please, or by smoothing off the ground, 

 Warner, jV*. 11., Sept. 22, 1859. 'and with water handy to the lied. ])i.ss<olve the 

 Mr. Holbrook :— Z)ear Sir,— Will you in- salt in just water enough to dry-slake the lime, 

 form me of the best means to be used in compost- or cause it to crumble to a fine dry powder, us- 

 ing muck so that it may be used as a fertilizer for ing about one bushel of cheap salt to five or six 

 crops? I bushels of fiesh lime. Slake the lime no faster 



I would like to know how much lime that is than it is wanted for a given layer of muek, and 

 slaked in salt water should be used to a load of apply it immediately, while warm by slaking, to 

 muck; also, how much plaster, or if you prefer the muck. Allow one bushel of fresh limeto 

 ggjjggP leach half-cord of muf^k, the lime, however, in- 



When is the best time to compost it, and how creasing very much in bulk by slaking. A larger 

 long is it best to let it remain in heap? ^ proportion of lime may be used, and, indeed, 



It has been recommended to mix it at the time may be necessary, if the muck is quite green and 

 the ground freezes, and let it remain until spring wet, but one bushel to the half-cord is the least 

 before turning it. ! quantity of lime that will properly expel the 



This muck which we have hauled out was' acids of the muck. Pile the muck in thin layers 

 formed in a valley, between two hills which are 'at a time, say five or six inches thick, and put 



covered with trees; and when you put in the, the right proportion of lime on each layer of 

 Bpade, it cuts like old cheese when it is mouldy.] muck. Make the pile about five feet high, and 

 There is not a particle of sand or gravel in it. [of a convenient width and length. Do the work 

 Any information in relation to the best modes of composting nicely and accurately, for the val- 

 of composting will be gratefully received. 



Yours, respectfully, 



Oliver N. Moulton. 



REPLY. 



Brattlehoro\ Sept. 28, 1859. 



lue of the heap will much depend upon its proper 

 [mixture. After the pile is completed, let it lie 

 [two to four weeks, and then shovel it over thor- 

 'oughly, after which it may lie through the win- 

 jter. Or you can make the compost next spring, 

 a few weeks before it is wanted for use, shovel- 

 ling it over once. The best time of all, however, 

 Mr. O. N. Moulton -.—Dear Sir, — I have! to make the heap, is in the hot weather of sum- 

 your letter of the 22d inst, making inquiries! mer, as that greatly insures a decided fernienta- 

 about various modes of composting muck to fit[ tion and decomposition. After being shovelled 

 it for use as a manure. 1 have several times, over, the heap can lie till the following spring, or 

 written articles upon these matters for the iVck; until wanted. But then you are not confined to 

 £'7;^?ancZ i^rtnner, but even now, occasionally re- [any particular s-asoii, and can make the com- 

 ceiving letters of inquiry, similar to yours, I con- [post at any time, only give the heap a few weeks' 

 elude to answer you through the i'arm(?r, that: age after mixing, and shovel it over well once, 

 other persons desirous of the information you re-jlf this compost is spread broadcast, apply thirty 



quest may have it in common with yourself. 



From your description, I judge that your muck 

 is purely a vegetable deposit, of great value as a 

 fertilizer, if properly prepared for the purpose. 

 Muck is not only valuable for its large amount 

 of vegetable matter, as food for plants, but also 

 for its great capacity as an absorbent of those 

 matters which are so liable to slip away, and be- 

 come, in a large measure, lost to the land and 

 crops, — the liquids, gases and salts of the ma- 

 nure. To realize the full benefits that may be 

 derived from the use of muck, it is important 

 that it should be dug from the swamp and piled 

 on dry ground some months before using it in 

 compost, and if it could thus lie for one or two 

 years, so much the better. While in the green 

 and wet state, the vegetable matter of which it is 

 composed is more or less locked up in acids del- 

 eterious to cultivated plants, and is therefore un- 

 available to them as food, and its qualities, as an 

 absorbent, are but in part developed. But give 

 it age, and the water and acids will in a large 

 degree pass out of it, so that it is lighter and ev- 

 ery way more convenient for handling, and bet- 

 ter for becoming the food of plants ; and being 

 thus dry and finely pulverized, it is, next to pul- 

 verized charcoal, the best absorbent of the liquids 

 and volatile matters of manure that we can em 

 ploy. 



You inquire particularly about composting 

 muck with lime and salt. This makes an excel- 

 lent compost for putting in the hills of corn and 



to forty loads per acre. 



Plaster is not valuable for composting with 

 muck ; but unleached ashes are valuable for that 

 purpose. If ashes can be procured for not more 

 than fifteen to eighteen cents per bushel, perhaps 

 a given outlay in them, for the purpose of com- 

 posting with muck, would be more profitable 

 than the same amount laid out in lime and salt. 

 If ashes are used, put up the compost heap in 

 thin layers at a time, as directed in composting 

 with lime, and use two bushels of good unleached 

 ashes to each half-cord of muck. A larger pro- 

 portion of ashes will be well if the muck is con- 

 siderably green. Two bushels of ashes to a half 

 cord of old, dry, well pulverized muck, is as good 

 as fcur bushels would he with the same bulk of 

 muc'i, raw and wet from the swamp. The same 

 conditions are to be observed in managing this 

 compost, as to the time of mixing, shovelling 

 over, &c., as those mentioned for the muck and 

 lime mixture. The muck and ashes mixture 

 makes an excellent fertilizer to put in the hills 

 of corn and potatoes. I have seen remarkable 

 crops of potatoes, both as regards quantity and 

 quality, and continuing very healthy throughout 

 the season, raised on old pastures broken up 

 from the sod, and manured with a shovelful of 

 this kind of compost in each hill. It is also a 

 good dressing for the ladies' flower-beds, for 

 trees and shrubs of all kinds, and for lawns and 

 grass lands generally. 



Muck may be composted with pot»>h, dissoU- 



