228 



NEW E N Ci L A N n FARMER, 



JAN. -^5". 1836. 



(Fc*lhe New EriJliiMcl Farmer.) 

 MCCK, OR MUD FOR MANURE. 

 Ml" Editor: — I wish to malvc, throiij>h your pa- 

 per, a t'l-.w eiiqiiiriits res|wctiii<; the best iiioile of 

 using ttiiick as a maiiBre. Is tnuck profitably 

 aj'plinfl iis a top dressing to meadows? and if 

 good, what kind of soil is most profited by it? — 

 If app ii'd to plouglKlaiid, what kinds of crop are 

 most benefitted by it ? !s it of advantage to it to 

 lie one season exposed to the action of tlie sun, 

 air, atid frost? Will iit pay the expense of ma- 

 king' into compost in .the eoninion way of making 

 coiiip l^ts ? W i I it piiy the extra expense of cart- 

 ing into a barn-yani, | rovided the expense is twice 

 aa much as to get it on to the field ? Is it a good 

 manure for wheat? What is the cotnparative 

 value of nuick, when compared with stable man- 

 ure ? 



Last winter I dug from a muck l)ed something 

 over four hundreil loads ; son)e of which I put 

 on plough land, and some I used as a top-<lressing 

 on meadow land. I put on at the rate of about 

 100 s!ed loads to the acre, about two thirds of a 

 cart load making a sled load. That which I put 

 on my meadows, ^p; eared in the spring to do 

 much, very much good. No meadow in the 

 neighborhood bid so fair: a drought followed 

 — and when 1 cut my grass I could see little or 

 DO efiect froru it, excepting a little which I put 

 on some quite moist land, which I thought was 

 some better. It was, however, a common retnark 

 among the farmers in this region, during the last 

 season, that iuauur;', as a lop-dressing, did no 

 good, owing to the dry weather. I had a piece 

 of about two and a half acres, on which ] put 

 perhaps 250 loads, which J planted to corn, which 

 was a very good crop — better liy far than I ever 

 had known that piece to produce; which, by the 

 way, I had planted several times before. I left a 

 strip through, near the middle of abotltone fourth 

 of an acre, on which I put about one half the 

 quantity of stable dung. There was a visible 

 {lifference in the corn, the muck having the pre- 

 ference. When it was put in the corn hills it 

 seemed to have a deleterious effect ; I should 

 think worse than nothing: this might be owing 

 to the dry season. I put it into potato hills, side 

 by side with barn dung, ant' to say the least of it, 

 it did quite as iimcli good to nil ap[)earaiice. 



I am doing considerable aC digging muck this 

 season, and, perhaps, I may give you at some fu- 

 ture time more specifically the result of my ex- 

 periments. In the mean time, if some of your 

 many readers will answer the above questions, 

 and thereby draw the attention to improving farms 

 by this kind of manure, you will, perhaps, confer 

 a. favor on others beside myself. 



I am acquainted with some farmers in the 

 southern part of this county, who have used, and 

 aeen it used, who say that it is worth as much as 

 barn dung. 1 have learned from a foreigner that 

 it is much used in Europe, and successfully too, 

 as a manure. The bod from whieh I take my 

 muck is so soft that I cannot get on to it, except 

 in the winter when it is frozen. It was undoubt- 

 edly once a pond hole of from six to ten feet deep, 

 containing two or three acres. A neighbor of 

 mine has dug from the bed of a small river in a 

 dry time, muck similar in appearance to what I 

 used, but could discover no good effects; is it 

 not possible, that although the substance was the 

 aame in appearance, yet his being taken from the 



bed of a river, it might have been drenched, and 

 the virtue as a maimre washed out. 



I bo; e that some of your readers, who have 

 made use of this kind of manure. Will give to the 

 j.ub ic, through the medium of your paper, the 

 result of their ex|teriments. 



I am, res[)ectfully yours, &c. 



R. BlSSF,I.L. 



Torrinsford, Conn., Jan. 8, 1836. 



By the Editor. — '''he substance which our cor- 

 respondent calls muck, appears to be the same 

 which is denominated swamp mud, river mud, or 

 pond mud, by Dr Deane, and other agricidturaf 

 writers. It is defined a black, or <lark colored sed- 

 iment, foui.d at the bottom of ponds, rivers, creeks, 

 ditches, and wet suid<en places. It is mostly 

 composed of a fine vegetable mould, mixed with 

 the suVistance of pei-ished vegetables, &c. and 

 therefore it contains much of the natural food of 

 plants. 



" 't is happy," says Dr Deane, " for tlie farmer 

 that Providence has prepared for him these maga- 

 zines of manure in all | arts of the country. — 

 None but the slu; id will let them lie unnoticed or 

 nnremoved. When a di-y autumn happens, the 

 prudent farmers will be very iudustriou.s in cart- 

 ing nuul up from evaporated nomls, and other 

 sunken places in their farms, and laying it upon 

 their light soils, especially high gravelly knol's; 

 or into their barn-yards, if the distance be not too 

 great. 



"Mud that is newly taken up, may he laid on 

 grass land. But if it is to be |)loughed into the 

 soil, it should first lie exposed to the frost of one 

 winter. The frosts destroy its tenacity, and re- 

 duce it to a fine jiowder; after which it may be 

 spread like ashes. But if it be ploughed into the 

 soil before it has been mellowed, it will remain in 

 lumps for several yeai-s, and be of less advantage. 



" A layer of mud will be no bad ingredient in 

 a heap of compost. But it should be contiguous 

 to a stratum of lime, if that can be procured. — 

 But where this is wanting, new horse dung is the 

 best sidistitute to excite a strong fermentation. 



" The be«t method of managing all sorts of 

 mud, were it not for increasing the laljor, woidd 

 be to lay it in farm-yards, and let it be thoroughly 

 mixed with the dung and stale of animals. When 

 it is so managed, the compost is excellent, and fit 

 for almost any .soil, though best for light ones. 

 Perhaps the advantage of it is so great as to pay 

 for the increased expense of twice carting. For 

 it will absorb the stale of cattle and retain it bet 

 ter than straw and other light substances." 



How TO AVOID Deafness. — Few need be told, 

 that if they wish to hear well, and avoid deafness, 

 they must guard ag:iinst wet feet, thin shoes, cold 

 currents, and draughts of air, keeping on wet 

 clothes, sleeping in damp rooms and unaired beds, 

 going into the night air from heated apartments, 

 living in marshy and low situations, &c. Shun- 

 ning these things, those who would retain their 

 hearing unimpaired till old age, should attend to 

 their general health, breathe a pure air, take as 

 much out-door exercise as they can, live on plain, 

 but nutritious food, keep the mind calm and tran- 

 quil, and be esptM^ially carefid to prevent constipa 

 tioti of the bowels. — Curtis's Observations on 

 Henrins. 



(From I.nudnn's Magaziiif.) 



A DESCRIPTION OP A MODE OP CUl.TrVATING 



ONIONS. 



Sir: Your correspondent, John Mitch el, Jr. 



treats on the cn'tiu'o of the Onion. I write not 

 to dissuade \\\m from following the plans which 

 his own observation has suggested to him, but to 

 state my own experience on this subject, as it 

 differs widely from his. In March, 1830, 1 lived 

 as gardener "to J. B. Praed, Esq., of Tyringham, 

 Rucks, aiul, having oce sion to ii>ake an asparagus 

 bed, I resolved upon sowing onions, of the Dept- 

 fonl sort, in drill between the rows. The grouttd 

 was not prepared in the way usual for asparagus, 

 but turned over to the depth of one spade only, 

 (he soil being of a tenacious and cohesive quality, 

 i used a quantity of coal ashes and rotten dung, 

 and all being in readiness for theasparagus, I pro- 

 ceeded to plant it in rows eighteen inches asun- 

 der, and the onions in drills between these rows. 

 I finished each row as I proceeded, which caused 

 a great deal of trampling, and the ground was 

 remarkably bard after the whole was completed. 

 When the crops began to grow, 1 thought of hoe- 

 ing, thiimijig, etc. ; but, being a native of North- 

 ampton, where some of the best onions in the 

 kingdom are grown, I recollected seeing, at dif- 

 ferent times, onions growing in hard walk, and 

 these the best samples of a whole acre. I accord- 

 ingly resolved to let my crop take its chance. 

 Weeding and thinning were performed by the 

 hand, which greatly increased the solidity of the 

 soil. 



My crop wa.=i pulled up without attention being 

 paid to any particidar time or form ; the onions 

 composing it were sound and good, while the 

 crops of my neighbors were suffering from what 

 are termed mouldy-nosed onions. J had several 

 bushels from a small piece of groimd, and was 

 obliged to exchange with my neighbors for 

 I ickles. 1 pre.sented Mr Atkins, nurseryman of 

 Northampton, with twelve which weighed eleven 

 pounds. I planted twentyfour of them the suc- 

 ceeding spring, for seed, which weighed nearly 

 twentytwo pound-s, and were shown to several 

 friends before they were planted, who can testify 

 the fact. I cannot say what qunutity of seeds 

 they produced, as I left my situation at that time. 

 A great deal has been said about growing large 

 onions ; but, according to my hiunble opinion, 

 large onions are not the most desiral^e. From 

 my experience, (which, I confess is not a length- 

 ened one, as I am but a young gardener,) an onion 

 from one to two i: ches diameter is the most pro- 

 fitable, of the reailiest sale, and the best for gar- 

 deners and gentlemen. When a large onion goes 

 into a gentleman's kitphen, it is cut and a part 

 only used ; and the remainder loses its quality, 

 and ultitnately bears company with the peelings 

 to the dung heap. 



I advise John IMitchell, if he wishes for large 

 onions, to try as I have suggested above. His 

 soil will suit every purpose. He will find an ad- 

 vantage in time ; run no risk in displacing the 

 roots, which is apt to check vegetatioji ; and he 

 will not be so likely to get disease in tlie crops as 

 the trampling forms gutters in which he can, if 

 dry weather occur, put water, and supjily the roots 

 inore gradually with moisture; or, if a continu- 

 ance of rain should happen, these gutters will carry 

 off the superfluous water. Wm. Whidden. 



Chichehy Halt, Bucks. 



