MANURES. 187 



This term lias in other places a more general signification, but 

 with vis it is limited to define this deposit. 



There is no portion of the country which contains so large 

 an amount of this fertilizer as this section. There is hardly a 

 farm in Essex county which is not rich in this material, and yet 

 until within the last few years it has been but little used. Muck 

 varies essentially in its constituents and in its value. The best 

 is the deep, dark colored deposit, free from large roots, found 

 in low lands, which, when dug up and exposed to the air and 

 the action of the frost, becomes crumbled and fine, having very 

 much the appearance of ashes. A large percentage of this is 

 vegetable mould, which has remained substantially in the same 

 state for centuries. It also contains a considerable amount of 

 mineral substances, but from the great quantity of moisture to 

 which it has been continually subjected, the mould has not 

 decomposed. From the same cause, tannin and acetic acid have 

 been formed in it, which renders the muck sour and unfit in 

 its original state for the support of vegetation. But when 

 exposed to the air and frost, and its sourness corrected by 

 mixture with stimulating substances, it becomes one of the most 

 valuable fertilizers. 



Peat muck is also an excellent fertilizer, but, from the slow 

 decomposition of the roots which compose it, it is of less value 

 than that before described. 



Pond muck is the deposit in the bottom of ponds, composed 

 mostly of substances washed from the adjacent lands, and 

 contains less vegetable mould than either of the other kinds. 



Muck may be composted with any other manure. All kinds 

 of barnyard manure, particularly horse manure, corrects its 

 sourness, adds to it the necessary salts, and renders it suitable 

 to be applied to the soil. It is particularly valuable in the barn- 

 yard, as it is a powerful absorbent of the liquids, which more 

 than any other portion of the manure, operate beneficially upon 

 the muck. Wood-ashes, leached or unleached, dead animals, 

 horns, hoofs, hide-cuttings, &c., are also of great value to com- 

 post with it. Lime is also valuable in compost with muck and 

 either of the above manures, as it is a good neutralizer of acids, 

 but is not sufficient alone with muck. From the large quantity 

 of mould which muck contains, its effects are very lasting ; 

 indeed more so than those of most any other fertilizer, both in 



