134 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



upon bogs, contains any chemical properties that are advan- 

 tageous to a manure-heap. I am sure that mechanically it is 

 of little advantage, for a ton of meadow hay in a manure- 

 heap Avill vanish as rapidly as snow before the sun in spring- 

 time. I have spent hundreds of dollars for meadow hay for 

 the compost-heap, and I do not mean to spend another 

 dollar. 



Muck, as a valuable article of food for plants, has been dis- 

 cussed over and over again. Let me say here, gentlemen, 

 that I believe in muck just as far as a sensible man ought to 

 believe in it and no further. I do not believe that, consid- 

 ered abstractly, by itself, it is a fertilizing m iterial. I think 

 it belongs to those materials Avhich nature has provided for 

 the benefit of the compost-heap ; that it can be worked into a 

 mass of barn-yard manure, in such a way as to increase the 

 fertilizing power of that mass of pure animal excrement, just 

 as straw can, and just as other materials can (always except- 

 ing meadow hay). So I would accept muck for that purpose, 

 properly prepared and used as an absorbent. But, gentle- 

 men, understand me ; it is not applicable to every kind of 

 soil. You might just as well tell me that a strong nitroge- 

 nous manure is as well fitted for corn as it is for cabbages or 

 mangold-wurzels, or you might as Avell tell me that night- 

 soil is just as good to raise Swedish turnips as superi)hos- 

 phate, in any form in which you see fit to apply it. Muck is 

 applicable, therefore, in the compost-heap, to soils that are 

 sandy and light, have an abundance of silica, have soluble 

 salts already provided, which the latent acids in muck may 

 possibly dissolve. Is that unfair? The chemist says, "No, 

 it is not unfair ; " he says that is the right way to get at it. 

 Now, I say, take sandy soil, and, if you have got a sufiicient 

 supply of barn-yard manure which you Avish to extend by 

 the use of any composting material, 3'ou can use muck, and 

 the acids remaining in the muck, after it has been exposed 

 to the air and sun and frosts, so that it is thoroughly 

 " sweetened," as the ftirmersays, will have a beneficial chemi- 

 cal effect upon your soil, by aiding to dissolve the soluble 

 salts which go to nourish the plant. Just as far as that I will 

 go on the muck question, and I think it is as far as the most 

 cultivated chemist is usually willing to go. I do not believe 



