1860. 



NEW EXGLAND FAIIMER. 



233 



USES AND VALUE OF MUCK— II. 



Op wuat Muck is Composed, 

 AKD now Deposited. 



;|IIE substratum, in one 

 of the valleys to -which 

 \vc adverted in a foi"- 

 mer article, where the 

 muck is from four to 

 eight feet deeji', and of 

 the best quality, is to 

 this day a compact 

 mass of partially de- 

 cayed logs; as these 

 approach the surface, 

 the decay is more per- 

 fect, and where one is 

 found in a slanting position, its upper portion has 

 assumed the form of the other materials around it. 

 But, generally, the muck in these pent-up valleys 

 is entirely free from logs and roots. We con- 

 dude, therefore, that the accumulation has been 

 gradual, occupying periods very remote, and is 

 made up of annual deposits of grasses, shrubs, 

 lichens and mosses, with slight but constant con- 

 tributions of mineral matter from the hills to- 

 gether with immense quantities of the leaves of 

 the forests which for successive ages had been 

 shed upon their sides. When the superincum- 

 bent masses are removed, and atmospheric influ- 

 ences find their way to the submerged logs and 

 roots, they, in turn, will become more thoroughly 

 decomposed and fitted for action on the surface. 



In the natural peat or muck swamps the pro- 

 cess must have been a different one, as partially 

 decayed logs and roots are usually found, and 

 these are in addition to the materials enumerated 

 above as composing the muck of valleys. These 

 swamps were probably once destroyed by fires, 

 prostrated by hurricanes, or touched by the 

 "tooth of Time," after having come to maturity, 

 aiid gradually crumbled to the ground, retaining 

 vast quantities of moisture, and forming the first 

 root-beds for a rank growth of unnumbered 

 shrubs and grasses. 



OF TUE DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF MUCK. 



It will be seen from statements already made, 

 that muck of all qualities is mainly composed of 

 vegetable substances. These, however, are aff"ect- 

 ed by the particular location in which it is found, 

 by the kind of vegetables of which it is composed, 

 by floods, and in some degree by mineral influ- 

 ences. We have preferred to call it by the popular 

 name much, which means a mass of decaying veg- 

 etable matter, because that term is at once under- 

 stood by those who are principally engaged in its 

 use. It has received, however, by scientific in- 

 quirers, several other names, and among them that 

 which is most common is humus, the Latin word 



for earth or mould. Stockhardt says this term is 

 identical Avith decaying organic matter. In this 

 acceptation it has for many years been known and 

 valued in agriculture. Vegetable mould (humus) 

 is the term applied to the upper black or brown 

 layer of earth, which has been formed in forests 

 by the decay of the leaves which fall ofl" ; the dark, 

 fat, arable soil, containing much partially decom- 

 posed organic [vegetable] matter, is said to be 

 rich in humus, while the dry, light soil, in which 

 it is wanting, is said to be poor in humus. The 

 farmer knows that, contrary to what happens in 

 his woodlands, the humus diminishes in his fields, 

 and so much the more rapidly as the crops are 

 more abundant, and he knows that fields rich in hu- 

 mus are, as a general rule, more fertile than those 

 which are jjoor in humus. * * * * Accordingly, 

 by the general term humus we must understand a 

 mass of brown, decaying matter, partly soluble, 

 partly insoluble, pailly acid, partly neutral, which, 

 with the uninterrupted presence of air, water and 

 heat, may be stUl further decomposed, and there- 

 by carbonic acid and water evolved. Carbonic 

 acid and water are indispensable to the nourish- 

 ment of plants ; hence, in a soil rich in humus, 

 the plants will grow more vigorously, because 

 they find there, and can absorb by their rootlets,, 

 more of these two nutritive substances than they 

 could in a soil poor in humus. Humus exerts,, 

 moreover, a beneficial influence upon vegetation,, 

 because it loosens the soil by the development of 

 cai"bonic acid, because it possesses the power of 

 attracting water from the air, and of retaining it 

 for a long time, and because, by means of the 

 acids contained in it, it is able to abstract from 

 the air, and also from manure, the third means of 

 nutriment for plants, — ammonia. 



In the extensive low muck swamps, the quality 

 of the material is often widely different ; some 

 parts being traversed by ruiming streams which 

 wash away the rich soluble portions and leave but 

 the coarser fibres, and others composed of par- 

 ticular kinds of wood which impregnate the whole 

 mass with acids that are unfavorable to field 

 crops. A striking illustration of this may fre- 

 quently be seen when these swamps are in the 

 process of being drained, and long ridges of muck 

 are thrown up on the edges of the ditch and al- 

 lowed to remain undisturbed. If thrown up in the 

 autumn or winter, they will present particular 

 points the following summer, coTcred Mith a rank 

 growth of weeds or grasses, and indicating great 

 vitality in the muck below, while other portions 

 remain entirely bare, or at best are partially cov- 

 ered with stunted fungi or moss. The spots bar- 

 ren of vegetation are sometimes covered with a 

 whitish-yellow substance, light and flocculent, or 

 with sulphate of iron. Much of the latter descrip- 

 tion spread upon pasture, or mowing lands, has 



