210 



SWAMP MUCK. 



the addition of lime or exposure to the atmosphere 

 and to frosts before it can be advantageously applied 

 as manure. There are different modes of preparing 

 it for use. The most common is to dig it out, expose 

 it to the frost through the winter, and then put it into 

 the barn-yard to be composted with the stable ma- 

 nure. The following statements are Irom e.^perienced 

 practical men, and each gives the results of the ob- 

 servation of its writer: 



A Middlesex farmer says: " I use swamp muck 

 most successfully composted with stable manure, on 

 different varieties of soils, but think it does best ou 

 high land of a loamy soil. I notice it is used very 

 extensively by farmers with satisfactory results when 

 composted with other manures thorouglily." A far- 

 mer of Worcester county says: "I use it extensively 

 on my hard, clay soils; it works well on dry lands to 

 keep them moist, and on clay soils to keep them 

 light." Another writer from Dukes county follows : 

 "It should be hauled out in the fall, and exposed to 

 the frost during winter, and mixed with stable ma- 

 nure in the proportion of two parts muck to one of 

 manure; it should also be used in the hog-pen, barn- 

 yard and barn-cellar. I have found it a good manure 

 on loamy, gravelly, and sandy land, especially for top- 

 dressing for grass, when composted as above." A 

 Norfolk county farmer, who has met with great suc- 

 cess, says: "The best way of using swamp muck is 

 to dig it and expose it to the sun, air, and rains one 

 year, and then, when in a dry state, place it in a barn 

 cellar where it will take the droppings of the cattli.' 

 above until it is thoroughly saturated; then mix it 

 well, and it is ready for use. It is good for all high 

 lands." He estimates it at about three dollars by 

 the cord of one hundred and two bushels. A Mid- 

 dlesex farmer of great experience states that " swamp 

 muck is of diflerent qualities, and varies as much as 

 wood when used for fuel. Peat mud, the older the 

 better, consists principally of vegetable matter. It 

 has most effect on high and dry ground. Wood 

 ashes are the best article to correct its acidity." 



Similar accounts come from every section of the 

 State. Fiom Hampshire county we have the follow- 

 ing : "The best method of using swamp muck, judg- 

 ing from experiments of my neighbors and my own, 

 is to cart it out in the autumn, expose it to the frost 

 and snows, then spread and plow it in in the spring 

 on sandy, dry soils, or, in other words, on soils of an 

 opposite nature to its own. I plowed in twenty-five 

 loads on one-quarter of an acre last spring, and 

 planted it to early potatoes, corn, pea.s, cucumbers, 

 squashes, and melons. It was a great preventive 

 against drouth. That ground has been sewn to rye, 

 and it looks first rate." And from Plymouth county: 

 "Swamp muck, as also upland soils, are valuable to 

 mix witlj various kinds of manure to retain and ab- 

 sorb the salts. For upwards of two years I have 

 adopted a different course with my swamp land from 

 any I know of. I entploy men with long-bitted hoes, 

 sward hooks, etc., to dig up the hummocks and 

 bushes, in bodies large and small, as is convenient, 

 and pile them in bunches for a few days to dry; after 

 which I select a central bunch, in which I form a 

 cavity or hole near the bottom or surface of the 

 ground. Then I set fire to some of the dryest and 

 most combustible, and as it burns I replenish it from 



the other bunches, smothering in the coal-pit form, 

 though more combustible, till it is burned down to a 

 perfect body of ashes and sand. I have not carried 

 the experiment into full effect as I designed to; but 

 so far as I have used the ashes, they have given me 

 entire satisfaction. Their nature is to improve ex- 

 hausted lands; and my belief is that they may be 

 spread upon the same land upon which the ashes 

 were made, and increase the growth of English grass. 

 Much has been said upon the subject of reclaiming 

 wet, swampy lands; but after all that has been done, 

 as I understand it, a coat of manure is required to 

 produce a good crop of English grass. Now, if our 

 worthless swamp lands possess the very article re- 

 quired to produce such grass by the simple process 

 as above named, I think it would be an improvement 

 in one point of agriculture." 



A farmer of Barnstable county says : "The best 

 compost manure is made in our barn and hog-yards, 

 of swamp muck, seasveed, and animal manure. 

 Swamp muck and seaweed are accessible to all who 

 will take the trouble to procure them. My bam 

 and hog-yards are so excavated and dug as to absorb 

 the hquids passed into them. Every spring and sum- 

 mer, after my barn-yard is emptied, I replenish it 

 from time to time with swamp muck, peat, seaweed, 

 and other materials from the farm, which, with the 

 animal manure produced by yarding my cattle, fur- 

 nish me in the autumn with 200 loads of good com- 

 post, which I either stack in the yard, or cart on to 

 the land I intend to plant in the spring. I again re- 

 plenish the yard, giving me, with the proceeds of my 

 hog-yard, from 100 to 150 loads more in the follow- 

 ing spring. In addition, I have for two years past 

 composted, in the field adjoining my peat bog, from 

 75 to lOU loads of peat (thrown from the pit in sum- 

 mer or autumn) with sea and rockweed, or ashes and 

 animal manure, which I esteem of equal value to 

 barn-yard manure. I estimate the value of a cord, 

 or four ox-cart loads of barn-yard manure composted 

 as above, at from $4 to $5. AVe esteem the value 

 of this for a corn crop and the improvement of land 

 higher than pure animal manure." 



I give one more extract from a farmer of Berkshire 

 county. He says: "I have used swamp muck for a 

 nnmber of years past with good results, by mixing it 

 with yard and stable manures in the proportion of 

 one-third to one-half muck, and consider it worth $1 

 per load to use for agricultural purposes on soils that 

 are a mixture of loam and gravel." 



The testimony is uniformly in favor of composting 

 muck with other manures. Its power of absorbing 

 valuable liquid and gaseous substances is very con- 

 si<k'rable; and this makes it an excellent substance to 

 mix with guano when the latter is to be used as a 

 top-dressing. The importance of a free use of dry 

 swamp muck as an absorbent of the liquid manures 

 of the barn and stable can hardly be over-estimated. 

 Tbe loss throughout the State from the neglei-t and 

 consequent waste of these rich manures, which, with 

 a little care, might all be saved, is almost incredible. 

 The attention of farmers wiis but lately called to this 

 subject; but the value of these substances is acknow- 

 ledged by some, and etlbrts are now made to save 

 them by means of the sse of muck and loam, either 

 properly composted in the bam cellar, or supplied 



