PROCEEDmGS OF THE FARMER^ CLTJB. 485 



March 10, 1868. 



Mr. NATHAJf C. Elt in the chair; Mr. John W. Chambbrs, Secretary. 



MUCK AS A MANURE. 



Mr. James L. Wadsworth, Windham, Portage county, Ohio, wants 

 the advice of the Club as to whether it will pay for him to haul 

 muck three or four miles, and whether it is a cheaper and more 

 potent fertilizer than clover. 



Mr. Horace Greeley. — As this is a relative question we must 

 know, in order to answer him properly, the cost of hauling muck 

 that distance, and whether he must take it up. I have hauled a 

 great many hundred loads of muck, and it seems to me that three 

 miles is the extreme as to distance from which it will pay to haul 

 this substance. I recommend by all means that he fertilize his land 

 and make it as productive as possible; but the question is whether 

 he cannot do it cheaper by plowing under clover than by hauling 

 muck over three miles. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller. — My experience is decidedly in favor of ferti- 

 lizing by the use of muck. Some years ago, when I left the city, 

 I bought a poor piece of land. It was so poor that the weed called 

 five-finger never had but three fingers. I have put about five hun- 

 dred loads per acre of muck upon it, and now it is just as good 

 laud as I want. It will produce anything. For me the clover 

 system would not have worked. It takes four or five years to 

 bring up a piece of land with clover, but one will do it with muck. 

 Another advantage, I hire by the year, and get my labor cheaper 

 on that account. Then, in winter the standing order is to haul 

 muck. If the weather is too severe, I do not send out the team. 

 But, as a rule, my men are occupied all winter in hauling muck. 

 They spread it over the land as they haul. In the spring it is har- 

 rowed in thoroughly and mixed with some other manures. In this 

 way I get a fine, rich soil, that will do anything I want of it, and I 

 do not think my muck costs me over twenty-five cents a load. 



Mr. F. K. Phoenix, of Bloomington, HI. — This advantage of 

 muck over clover, that it can be applied in winter when hands 

 would be idle, or nearly so, is one of great importance. Would it 

 not be well for farmers to inquire into the cost of keeping their 

 teams in winter steadily engaged in this kind of hauling? 



Mr. Horace Greeley. — Mr. Fuller's acres must cost him five hun- 

 dred dollars an acre. Can we advise the common grain-growing 

 fai-mer to enrich his land at this cost? As to hauling it up hill, it 

 is the broken country that is well supplied with muck. As to the 



