Vol. XXI, Secoxd Series. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y., JANUARY, 1860. 



No. 1. 



MATUKE AND VALUE OF PEAT AND MUCK. 



One of the most interesting and valuable contri- 

 butions to agricultural science which has appeared 

 for some time in this country, is Prof. S. W. John- 

 son's Report to the Connecticut State Agricultural 

 Society, on the Nature and Agricultural Uses of 

 Peat and Muck.* 



Thirty-three samples of peat were sent to Prof. 

 Johnson, by gentlemen in different parts of the 

 State. These were submitted to chemical analysis, 

 and a circular was issued, asking information in 

 regard to the nature of the deposits, manner of 

 application, and the effects produced by the differ- 

 ent peats. The results are embodied in the Report. 

 As might be expected, the composition, mechanical 

 structure, and fertilizing value, of the deposits vary 

 considerably. 



The amount of potential ammonia in the chem- 

 ically dry peat, varies from 0.5S to 4.06 per cent. 

 That is to say, one deposit contained seven times as 

 much ammonia as another. 



The average amount of ammonia, in the thirty- 

 three samples of chemically dry peat, was 2.07 per 

 cent. 



Common barn-yard manure seldom contains 

 more than half of one per cent. (0.5) of ammonia ; 

 and it is an unusually good manure that contains 

 one per cent. "We are safe in assuming that au'- 

 dried peat, of average quality, contains twice as 

 much potential ammonia as an average sample of 

 barn-yard manure. Prof. J. institutes a compari- 

 son between a good specimen of peat and a well- 

 rotted farm-yard dung of good quality. We have 

 not space for the table, but the peat contains about 

 four times as much ammonia (2.92), three times as 

 much sulphuric acid (0.33), a little more lime (2.43), 

 and more than twite as much magnesia (0.36), as 

 the manure. On the other hand, the manure con- 



* Reports on Peat, Muck, and Commercial Manures, made to 

 the Connecticut State Agricultural Society in 1857-8. By Samuel 

 W. Johnson, Chemist to the Society, and Professor of Analytical 

 and Agricultural Chemistry in Yale College. Hartford, Conn • 

 WiLUAiis & Wiley. 1859. 



tains nine times as much potash (0.49), twice as 

 much soda (0.08), fifteen times as much phosphoric 

 acid (0.45), twice as much chlorine (0.02), and 

 three times as much soluble silica (1.68), as the 

 peat, "^he principal characteristic of peat is its 

 large quantity of organic matter. One ton of air- 

 dried peat contains Jive times as jnuch organic 

 matter as a ton of well-rotted barn-yard manure. 



Prof. Johnson, in commenting on the analyses 

 of peat and manure, well observes : " "We see thus 

 that peat and yard manure are excellently adapted 

 to go together ; each supplies the deficiency of the 

 other. We see, also, that peat requires the addi- 

 tion of phosphates (in the shape of bone dust, or 

 phosphatic guano) and of potash (as unleached 

 wood ashes), in order to make it precisely equal in 

 composition to stable manure." A ton of manure 

 contains about 9 lbs. of phosphoric acid and 10 lbs. 

 of potash ; a ton of peat a little over half a pound 

 of phosphoric acid, and not quite one pound of 

 potash. A bushel of ashes and 30 lbs. of bone dust 

 would make the ton of peat equal in potash and 

 phosphates to a ton of manure. In other respects, 

 so far as composition is concerned, it is superior to 

 the manure. 



Aside from its value in furnishing food for plants, 

 peat has many properties which render it useful in 

 improving the texture and other physical characters 

 of soils. Among them Prof. Johnson mentions ^ 



1. Its remarTcalle poicer of assorting and retain- 

 ing water ^ loth as a liquid and as vapor: 



2. Its power of absorbing ammonia : 



3. Its action in modifying the decay of organic 

 (animal and vegetaile) lodies: 



4. Its effect in promoting the disintegration and 

 solution of mineral matters, {the stony matters of 

 the soil) : and 



5. Its influence on the temperature of the soil. 



1. Its alsorlent poicer f>r liqidd water is well 

 known to every farmer who has thrown it up in a 

 pile to season for use. It holds the water like a 

 sponge ; and after exposure for a whole summer, is 

 distinctly moist to the feel. 



