34 MUCK CROPS 



The value of a ton of muck for the plant 

 food varies from $3 to $4.50 a ton dried, but 

 considering the benefit derived from the 

 humus, it may be worth $8 or $10 a ton dried. 



Horticulturists in England have been in- 

 terested for some time in an attempt of Pro- 

 fessor Bottomley to prepare a new fertilizer 

 from peat. Frederick Keeble in Nature has 

 quite comprehensively outlined the extent of 

 his work. 



Mr. Keeble claims, "the reasons for that 

 interest are manifest: farm-yard manure is 

 constantly increasing in price and decreasing 

 in amount, and artificial fertilizers cannot 

 impart to the soil those physical properties 

 without which plants do not thrive. 



"The market gardener accustomed to rais- 

 ing large crops on land treated with numer- 

 ous applications of manure 100 tons or 

 more to the acre is only too anxious to dis- 

 cover other and less costly means of enrich- 

 ing the. soil, and even the general public is 

 alive to the importance of increasing the fer- 

 tility of the land. 



"Briefly, the story is, that certain aerobic 

 bacteria possess the power of liberating from 

 peat large quantities of soluble humates. 

 These soluble humates are in themselves of 



