1869. 



XEW ENGLAND FARJklER. 



513 



USE OF MUCK. 



MIXING IT AVITH OTHER MATERIALS — SUCCESS IN 

 ITS USE. 



I read all that is published in the Farmer about 

 muck with much interest. The reason is, I have 

 a two-acre ptat meadow, from two to twelve I'eet 

 .deep, with a tillage upland, somewhat sand}' or 

 approaching a sand. I have made a compost by 

 mixing muck with ashes, lime, and sometimes fish 

 guanor I use but one of these materials in the 

 same heap. Would it ba advisable to put ashes or 

 lime into the muck with the fish guano ? When 

 cither of these materials are added to the muck, 

 how long should the heap ren>ain before it is 

 used ? Can the agricultural editor of the Farmer, 

 or any of its correspondents, speak from experi- 

 ence on this point } About a year ago, you pub- 

 lished an article from a correspondent, saying that 

 he thought of getting the water out of his swamp 

 by pumping, and asking your advice. I meant to 

 have kept that paper, but it got torn up and 1 have 

 forgotten the man's name and place of residence. 

 (See Monthly Farmer, 1868, p. 420.) I want to 

 know whether he tried it, and if so, how he suc- 

 ceeded. I had come to the determination myself, 

 to try pumping. My idea was to use horse power 

 in doing it. 1 have not yet tried it. 



Montague, Mass., 1869. Elijah Gunn, 



Re.aiakks. — We have used large quantities 

 of muck through a period of more than twenty 

 years and have found it excellent on all kinds 

 of land. It is a manure in itself, varying in 

 quality considerably, but the best will be 

 cheaper than most of the special fertilisers 

 that are in use. It will be cheaper, because 

 it will cost so much less, and may be used in 

 thousands of instances without stint. It is a 

 permanent manure. Applied liberally to a 

 sandy loam, its effects are plainly visible for 

 twenty years. On a heavy, granite soil we 

 have found the roots of plants penetrating it 

 in every direction, and the crops above it 

 growing and perfecting themselves with won- 

 derful vigor. There is little danger of your 

 fixing too high a value upon good muck. 



Unless the manure is to be used immediately, 

 it is best to keep back lime or ashes and spread 

 them upon the soil by themselves. It would 

 save some time, perhaps, to put all the mate- 

 rials together and apply them in that form. 

 But if the heap is to remain sometime, and 

 the lime or ashes are mingled with the animal 

 and vegetable matter, there would be danger 

 that the fermentative process might be carried 

 too far, and injure the whole. 



When the heap is made up of muck and 

 fish guano, it is important that it should re- 

 main two or three weeks, and be overhauled 

 enough to get the whole mass completely min- 

 gled. If the heap were kept covered with 

 fine muck, we cannot see that any harm would 



come to it if it were to lay for months, but be 

 all the better for it. None of our manures 

 are used in a state of sufficient fineness ; at 

 least none that are employed as a top-dress- 

 ing, or placed near the surface. Even when 

 ploughed under in a green state, they are not 

 as evenly distributed as they ought to be 

 through the soil. The crops, therefore, are 

 uneven and unsightlj/- on the field, and proba- 

 bly are lighter, as some patches are over- 

 grown, while others are starved and lean. 



Snccess in pumping the water out of a 

 swamp will depend upon what the supplies 

 are, and the area which you wish to relieve of 

 water. It is usually a wearying and tedious 

 work for humun muscles to accompli.-h. When 

 the work is once begun it must be continued, 

 night and day, sick or well, because the water 

 will press in all the more rapidly for what has 

 been taken out. A horse-power, continued 

 night and day, might be effective. The ad- 

 dress of the writer of the article on pumping 

 water from a muck hole, to which you allude, 

 is Mark Farrar, Shrewsbury, Mass. 



A friend of ours commenced on a farm some 

 twenty-five years ago, and cut six tons, only, 

 of English hay upon it, and about three times 

 as much meadow hay. He now cuts about 

 one hundred tons of English hay, and four 

 times as much grain as he did at first. With- 

 in a hundred rods of his barn was a dirty 

 swamp, covered with alders, and too cold, wet 

 and dark, for frogs and other reptiles to in- 

 habit. Not an acre of tiiis swamp had ever 

 been used within the memory of man, and yet 

 it was only by dint of perseverance that he 

 could purchase a single acre, and for that he 

 paid three hundred dollars ! But that acre 

 has been his great co-worker and helper, and 

 has assisted him more than any one thing be- 

 sides, in wintering fifty head of cattle annu- 

 ally. "Go, thou, and do likewise." 



Wild Oats in Oregon. — While the na- 

 tive oat of the Pacific coast furnishes splendid 

 pasturage and makes excellent hay, we learn 

 from an article in the Willamette Farmer by 

 T. L. Davidson, that it proves to be a pest in 

 grain fields. The grains upon the stalk of this 

 plant do not ripen uniformly, — a portion rip- 

 ening and falling off, while others are green 

 and immature. Each grain has a long, sharp 

 beard, arranged so that when it is wet by the 



