No. 2. 



Muck Gathering. 



47 



often, perhaps, hear of his being in the bar- 

 room, talking of hard times. Although he 

 has been on a piece of land twenty years, ask 

 him for grafted apples, and he will tell you 

 he could not raise them, for he never had any 

 luck. His indolence and carelessness subject 

 him to many accidents. He loses cider for 

 want of a hoop. His plough breaks in his 

 hurry to get in his seed in season, because it 

 was not housed ; and in harvest, when he is 

 at work on a distant part of his farm, the hogs 

 break into his garden, for want of a small re- 

 pair in his fence. He always feels in a hur- 

 ry, yet in his busiest day he will stop and talk 

 till he has wearied your patience. He is sel- 

 dom neat in his person, and generally late at 

 public worship. His children are late at 

 school, and their books are torn and dirty. 

 He has no enterprise, and is sure to have no 

 money, or if he must have it, makes great 

 sacrifices to raise it ; and as he is slack in his 

 payments, and buys altogether on credit, he 

 purchases every thing at a dear rate. You 

 will see the smoke come out of his chimney 

 long after day-light in winter. His horse- 

 stable is not daily cleansed, nor his horse cur- 

 ried. Boards, shingles, and clapboards, are 

 to be seen oft' his buildings, month after month, 

 without being replaced, and his windows are 

 full of rags. He feeds his hogs and horses 

 with whole grain. If the lambs die, or the 

 wool comes oft' his sheep, he does not tiiink it 

 is for want of care or food. He is generally 

 a great borrower, and seldom returns the thing 

 borrowed. He is a poor husband, a poor fa- 

 ther, a poor neighbour, a poor citizen, and a 

 poor Christian. — Bait. Far. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Muck Gatheriug. 



Every farmer should now, and for a month 

 to come, be busily employed in raising nmck 

 from mud- holes, wherever that can be ob- 

 tained. A friend, with whom 1 spent a plea- 

 sant day the last week, shov.'ed me a grand 

 mine of this description situated below his 

 cattle-yard, from whence it receives all its 

 superflux, and into which he tumbles any 

 animal that might chance to die during the 

 winter; and there I saw the bones of an old 

 horse, white as ivory, after the flesh had been 

 decomposed, in a receptacle containing, per- 

 haps, 200 loads of capital fat muck, intended 

 as spring dressing for next year's clovers. 

 The,plan he pursued is this: as soon as the 

 stock leaves the winter yard, he turns the 

 water which runs from thence, in anotlier di- 

 rection to a second muck-hole, and by the 

 autumn, the superabundant water is evapo- 

 rated, so as to leave the contents in a proper 

 state to be dug out by the shovel; and at this 

 time he has two men employed in the opera- 



tion of mining "old gold" from a bank of do- 

 posit, that at all times is ready to pay up both 

 principal and interest, at a pren)ium of cent 

 per cent. The mud is only thiown on the 

 bank of the hole for the present, where it lies 

 until it is sufficiently dry to be thrown toge- 

 ther into a snug heap, mixing at tiie sjune 

 time a liberal allowance of lime; and ftom 

 thence it will be carried on to the clover in 

 the spring, and spread like ashes, being quite 

 equal to them as a top-dressing. As scon as 

 the hole is emptied, the current from the yard 

 is again directed into it, and the work of re- 

 plenishment goes on; the clear water flowing 

 oft" by a flood-gate placed near the to() of the 

 bank, after leaving its sediment behind, to- 

 gether with what fortuitous articles may have 

 chanced to drop into it during the winter, 

 whether in the shape of horse, cow, slicep, 

 hog, cat or dog. My friend calculates that 

 he makes more profit from this muck-hole 

 than from any ten or fifteen acres on his tarm, 

 taking the value of the manure and the sav- 

 ing of cartage into the estimate. 



And now also is the time for all those who 

 are so situated, to cut and carry the green 

 reeds from the banks of rivers and ponu.^ into 

 the fold yard, after ploughing up the bottom 

 a foot or more in depth in the centre, so to lie 

 to absorb the moisture of the dung during 

 winter; when it should be removed witli the 

 manure in the spring, and after lying to fer- 

 ment, it should then be turned up and care- 

 fully mixed with lime; and thus 500 londs 

 could be added to the resources of the farm 

 with comparatively little labour and n.ucli 

 profit. I know at the present moment a bed 

 of reeds six or seven feet in height, with other 

 aquatic plants, lilies, &c., which would give 

 any quantity of first-rate green vegetables, 

 sufficient to lay the foundation of the barn- 

 yard to the depth of many feet in thicknf ss, 

 and upon which the stock might be winti red 

 to an extent of profit, compared to which pro- 

 bably, the rent of the farm would be but as a 

 modicum; — but the owner seems quite una- 

 ware of the treasure which is within his reach, 

 the value of which would be enhanced, from 

 the circumstance of its containing no seeds 

 of weeds that would vegetate on an upland 

 soil. Thus, in many ways has the intelligent 

 cultivator an opportunity to add to his re- 

 sources, and prevent the necessity of a recur- 

 rence to the burning of pine knots to .-ave 

 candles. Z- 



August 8, 1841. 



It should be a fixed principle, never to 

 suffer the soil to deteriorate ; for, as it co.-ta 

 as much to cultivate a soil producing only 

 half a crop as a full one, it is perfectly clear 

 that it is the interest of the cultivator to keep 

 las land always in good heart. — Beatty. 



