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soil to which they are applied. Muck tends to make soil more 

 light, and where lightness is already a defect, sand saturated with 

 urine might be preferable to muck used in the same way, because 

 the former would produce more compactness. It can hardly be 

 supposed, however, that the absorbent power of sand can be equal 

 to that of muck in proportion to weight — sand being much heavier 

 in proportion to its bulk, and of course more expensive to move. 

 On a tenacious soil the muck would probably be better, on account 

 of its producing more lightness and friability. 



I am aware it is a common idea that muck is specially applicable 

 to loose, sandy or gravelly soils. But the most beneficial effects 

 that I have ever seen from the application of muck have been on 

 clayey soils — the vegetable matter, on being mixed with the soil, 

 breaking its tenacity, and keeping it sufficiently open and mellow 

 at all times. In England the use of clay is regarded as of so 

 much importance in bringing peat-bogs into profitable cultivation, 

 that great expense is frequently incurred in depositing clay on the 

 surface — the coating being sometimes three or four inches in thick- 

 ness. 



It is not improbable that even the poorest kind of muck, when 

 divested of noxious principles, which, as before mentioned, they 

 generally contain in their crude state, may contribute to the growth 

 of plants by affording carbonic acid. Yet we have known cases 

 where the benefit of applying that from mossy bogs unmixed with 

 any other substance, though well prepared by the action of the 

 atmosphere, was not equal to the cost of digging and hauling it a 

 few rods. The explanation is, that there was carbon enough, 

 or nearly enough, in the soil, and that the muck was destitute 

 of other fertilizing elements. Had there been a deficiency of 

 carborn, the benefit from the muck would probably have been 

 greater. But carbon is not generally a scarce element in soils. 



There seems to be reason in Dr. Dana's idea that the action of 

 akalies is necessary in many cases to develop the fertilizing ele- 

 ments of muck. This is more particularly applicable to the poorer 

 kinds of muck — such as are obtained from swamps where resinous 

 trees grow, and from mossy bogs. This alkaline action is neces- 

 sary to destroy noxious acids (acetic, tannic, &c.,) and to bring 

 the muck into a condition in which it will decay faster, and by 

 uniting with oxygen more readily form carbonic acid. Dr. Dana 

 goes so far as to say that — " The power of producing alkaline 

 action, on the insoluble geine, is alone wanted to make peat as 

 good as cow-dung," and — " By the addition of alkali to peat, it 

 is put into the state which ammonia gives to the dung." He 

 argues that for all agricultural purposes, carbonate of ammonia 

 and white or soda ash, are equal, pound for pound, and that pot 

 and pearl ashes may be taken at one half more ; that if to 100 



