•212 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JAN. n. 184 





Forlho N. E. Farmer. 



MUCK, &.C. 

 Mil Editor — .At tlio earnest solicitation of your 

 correspondent, "J. H. D.," I will tfivo you some of 

 my experience with the use of muck. It is now 

 four years since 1 coinineiiced llio use of it, and 

 from \.\\p crops llmt 1 have obtained wliorc it was 



kinds, namely, the leafy matters taken from some 

 wet hole; and also peat earth, sicamp muck, peat 

 and the like — but we exclude the last, that is, the 

 henvii earthy matters which are sometimes desig- 

 nated by that name. 



The word, as we use it, embraces substances 

 that are very nnoqual in value as manures. 'I he 

 inequality may arise from the diffeient properties 



..II .1 c . 1 ~ inftlip [reus which orininaHv covered the swamp 

 nropcrlv anp ed. think it must be of <rroil value. 1°' "le trees wn lu on iubi y i- 



propcrijaiH ' . , , . ".. and its surronndius uplands ; from the dilTerenl de- 



jrrers of decay wliicli the vcnrelable matters have 



The first season I planted a pioco of potatoes 

 containing 82 rods, manured with 19 loads of com 

 post formed of muck, taken from a swamp the suui 

 mer previous, 

 with manure from my sheep pens, probably 



underaone, and from iIlc peculiar properties of the 



ud n„xed in the month of April ! waters which ooze up fr«m below and impart of 



tj their propert-es to the muck or peat._ iNo one 



finds the peat or 



flbout 



four loads of manure to fuo uf muck. Fcrmeula- should inler thai because A. 

 tionsoon commenced, and the heap was once turn- muck from his wet meadow, swamp or m k hole 

 Produce from the 82 rods. 340 bushels. The , very valuable, that therefore B. will find the mat- 



cd. 



next season the same ground was sown to ruta ba- 

 gas, dressed with eleven loads of compost, similar 

 to that used the previous year : produce, 50.5 bush- 

 els. I also planted one piece with potatoes, using 

 nmck in a raw stiitc, williout any apparent benefit. 

 The last season I planted one acre to corn, manured 

 with .'50 loads, manufactured by my hogs from muck, 

 brakes, &c.; produce 75 bushels. 



I liave also used considerable on grass groand, 

 which I spread in the full, apparently with good 

 effect. Fro;n what experience I liave had wiiii 

 muck, I have come to the conclusion that it is more 

 beneficial to mix it with manure, or some other 

 substance that will cause fermentation. 



In another part of the paper containing J. H. D.'s 

 re'iuej't, I notice an account of the destruction of 

 the turnip crop in England. Having the last sea- 

 son lost my rutii baga crop by the same means, I 

 have tried to investigate the cause of the maggot, 

 and have come to the conclusion that they were 

 produceil liy the manure. The land on which they 

 were sown, had been in grass for several years 

 l)revious to 1640, when it was broken up and plant- 

 ed with potatoes, using very hlile manure. About 

 the middle of Juno last, it was sown to ruta baga, 

 having been dressed with a heavy coat of compost, 

 formed of manure taken from the hog-pen, and 

 barii. While the 



ters which compose his low lands equally good. 

 The fair presumption is, that if these matters are 

 found, when skilfully used, of service on one farm, 

 tint it is worth one's while to ascertain by fair ex- 

 periment, whether similar matters on ar.othcr farm 

 are not well worth using there also. 



When farmers give details of their experirnenle, 

 they would render them more valuable by describ- 

 ing as accurately as they can, the appearance of 

 the muck, its color, its tendency to pulverize or be- 

 come fine under the actiim of the sun or of frost, 

 its degree of decay, its freedom from fibrous roots, 

 or its fulness of such roots ; by telling also the 

 kind of wood whicli is found imbedded in the muck ; 

 the kind of earth whicli surrounds the muck hole or 

 swamp, the nature of the bed on which the muck 

 rests, and whether the waters running from the 

 meadow deposite any mineral substance. When 

 these things are described, the descriptlim helps 

 other farmers to means of judging whether they 

 have on their premises an article like the one de- 

 scribed. 



The success of Mr Smith, as related in the com- 

 munication above, is certainly uncommon, and is a 

 valuable testimony to the worth of his muck. Near- 

 ly ()30 bushels of potatoes and 1000 of ru'a bagas 

 per acre, are extraordinary crops. 

 1 Not less valuable is the remark t)mt in a raw 

 Luk.... t.-v-.i 11. .uC. u.c Sarii. .. iii.e ir.e '"-"i^ Lia(g (by which we infer its state when first taken 



«,a8 fermenting ,t was infested with swarms of | ^.^^^^^ ii/bed-unfrozen-undried)-not less valua- 



small flies, which r have no doubt were depositing 



their eggs, which produced the maggot. I think 



the evil might have been avoided had the compost 



From the Journal of the English Agricultural Societ' 



TURNirS. 



Proper distance for the Plant? Swede tur. 



with dung are sown upon drills of llie width of * « 

 inches from centre to centre ; and wlule turnips ' 

 drills from 28 to 30 inches ; witli bone man 

 and for spring food, a width of 2(i inches is si 

 cient. The quantity of seed used is 2 lbs 

 white, and 3 lbs. of Swedish per acre. Kor 

 purpose of clearing and working the land efTer 

 ally between the rows, it is of srr-at importa |" 

 that room enough be given for the action of 

 small plow and sciiffler, and that the drills be ) 

 fectly straight. In a district whore such a brea 

 of turnips is cultivated, and which affords but ^^ 

 populous villages and towns to supply e.\tra la . 

 rers, it is necessary that as much of this kinij 



!,'« 

 (lie 



•III 



(I 



$< 



bio is his remark that in this state it produces no 

 benefit. The great difficulty has generally been 

 that farmers have applied muck before it has lost 

 the acidity (sourness) which belongs to it when it 

 is first dug. Perhaps however, the gentleman 

 means that lie used it unmixed with any manure, 

 and found it of little value. If so his experience 

 is valuable. All experience, or nearly all, makes 

 muck worth more for forming compost, than for usi; 

 in an unmixed state. 



Kroin some experience and more observation, 

 we have for some time believed that strong ma- 

 nures from the ham-yard or the hog-yard, oftener 

 produce luxuriant foliage, worms and rot, in the 

 ruta baj!a,than thry do large and fair roots. We 

 natters, mostly leaves found in some moist or wet i have- little doubt that .Mr Smith is correct in as- 



holc, and having no fibrous roots among it, and no I cribing the existence of the worms to the kind of 



tenacity. Others include in tlo' ti'rm, ;jen< in all inunure used. It is possible that by the earlier 



its different degrees of solidity and firmness — and 



others still apply it even to matters taken from 



low lands which are wet and heavy and which re- 

 main rather heavy after fieezing and drying. As 



a necessary conse(|uence from this, the term is of- 



ten made to convey to many readers, ideas which 



the writer of the word had no intention of cniivcy- 



iiig. Our use of it niakcs it include the first two 



been prepared earlier in the season, or of materials 

 less attractive to the fly. 



As you have called for h'lp, if yon think the 

 above will be of any service, it is at your disposal. 

 Respectfully, yours, 



EBENEZKR SMITH. 

 Middlfield, Dee. Q2d, 1841. 



Meaning ff the term MfCK.— We find this word 

 hearing different significations, not merely in differ- 

 ent sections of the country, but also in different 

 coiiiiticB and neighborhoods of our own Slate. 

 Some apply it exclusively to ilrcayed vegelabl 



mixing ol' his heap he may avoid the evil, but we 

 should only expect him to lessen it, not nmove it — 

 while III' has so much hog manure in the composi- 

 tion applied. 



Wc thuuk Mr Smith for this "help," and sliall 

 be jrraicful for more favors of like kind. — En. N. E. l". 



Do 'nt your harnesses want oiling ? 



work as possible be done by horsehoeing, leavi T 

 to manual operation only the thinning of thepla 

 anil removing weeds from the top of the drill 

 latter is light work, and is performed with gi 

 quicknes.s and dexterity by young women and b 

 who strike the hoe through the young plants 

 way which, to a stranger to the process, coi 

 the idea of utter doslruction, hut is found to le 

 a siillicieiit number, and those the strongest, alv 

 regular intervals. To give rocm for a full ci 

 whe'C land and other circumstances are favoral 

 swede turniiis should be allowed an interval o 

 inches between the jilants in t!io row; and wl 

 turnips from 10 to 12, although on poor lund, w P" 

 late sowing, inferior manure, and for spring fooa *■■ 

 will be prudent to leave them much closer. 

 large weight cannot be produced but from la 

 bulbs. A moment's consideration will siiow t 

 the last inch in the diameter of a large turiii]i, i 

 of itself be equal to several small ones; even 

 this, however, a medium is to be observed, for v 

 large turnips, if not consumed early, do not sti 

 long, and are inferior in nutritious quality. 



The arerase Crop in .Yorlhumberland, (the .V5« 

 (f England.) — It would not be safe to siato 

 average produce of the district al more than 25 1 

 tor swedes and 2d for white turnips, wlien clea 

 of top and root — although 40 tons have been gro 

 and 35 are not uncommon — but such largo weig 

 are only produced by an extra quantity of du 

 which endangers the succeeding crop of corn 

 lodging, and consequently the grass seeds ak 

 with it: of the latter, the kind which produces i 

 largest bulk is the tankard, but from its shape a 

 size it is so much above the ground that it is 

 jurrd by the earliest frost, and it is therefore ad 

 sable to sow it only on such land, and m su 

 quantity as is intended to be fed off by Ciiintn 

 at latest. Next to it is the globe turnip, "Inch, 

 the seed be raised from well selected plants, pi 

 serves a good shape and nutritious quality. Set 

 ral varieties of the Swedish kind and uU 

 brids arc cultivated, each probably p 

 properties which render them applicable t> 

 situations, but which it is unnecessary tier 

 of in detail. 



Mode of Tillage. — The first operation upon li 

 nip drills, so soon as the plants are of Kutficie 

 size to bear it, is to take the soil from tip side 

 the drill with the small smgle-hoise plow, 

 along one side and returning on the otiitr, vvhiii 

 cuts down also any weeds that may have sprui 

 up, and lays them in the hollow of the drill ; tl 

 plants are then thinned and the top of the dr 



of I 



rul, 



