62 SOILS 



after they are drained; they become very dry and 

 chalky, having scarcely more power to draw up the 

 free water beneath by capillary action than a pile of 

 chips. Not until several years after drainage, when 

 the fibrous matter has been broken down and made 

 into fine soil, are some peat and muck soils able to 

 grow profitable crops. 



When well drained and sufficiently fined to per- 

 mit the free movement of water upward, these soils 

 are especially suitable for cabbage, cauliflower, 

 celery and peppermint. On the finest of mucks the 



frasses and a variety of vegetables are successful, 

 n southwestern Massachusetts, and in New Jersey, 

 Wisconsin, Michigan and some other sections, peat 

 and muck bogs are ditched, the surface covered 

 with 3 to 6 inches of sand, and then planted with 

 cranberries. 



In handling muck and peat soils one must 

 remember that they are largely humus and always 

 contain a large per cent, of nitrogen, the chief fer- 

 tilising element produced by the decay of vegeta- 

 tion. In fact, muck often contains as much ni- 

 trogen as barn manure, although but little of this 

 is in available form, being in the form of 

 organic nitrogen. These soils usually need 

 fertilising with the mineral plant foods potash, 

 phosphoric acid, and lime. Wood ashes are espe- 

 cially beneficial to muck soils. As a rule they do 

 not respond to manuring as satisfactorily as soils 

 that contain more mineral matter. 



LOESS SOILS 



The name "loess" is applied chiefly to large 

 areas of soils that have been carried to their 

 present resting places by water or wind, and which 



