OF WHAT VALUE IS IT? 33 



we have been seeking something to supply 

 the exhausted leaf mold or vegetable matter 

 which is the prime requisite for vigorous 

 plant growth. Strawy manure, long used to 

 accomplish this end, is at the present day 

 difficult to secure, hard to handle, and offen- 

 sive, hence we have tried everything we 

 could find with varying success until we 

 struck the black vegetable mold or humus. 

 This we have tested most thoroughly at both 

 stations with universal success, having raised 

 celery, onions, lettuce, and many other crops 

 with no other aid on the light sandy loam 

 in the central section of Long Island. We 

 have also been able by its use to keep our 

 lawns in superb condition throughout the 

 usual dry season of summer. Hence we have 

 no hesitancy in saying that the utilization of 

 this vegetable matter is a rational method of 

 treating soils." 



Experiments tried out in Wisconsin, 

 where a low grade muck combined with 4 

 pounds of muriate of potash and 8 pounds 

 of acid phosphate to the ton was used com- 

 pared with ordinary manure, gave results 

 during four years with a larger yield of corn 

 where the muck was used than where the 

 manure was used. 



