1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



133 



the soil, as to the usefulness of muck, whether 

 loamy, sandy or clayey. 



C. M. n. said he had bent his long back a 

 good deal shoveling muck. Didn't think it 

 paid ; believed the turf from the roadside, or 

 even the dirt under it, worth more than muck. 



G. F. N. thought muck had other value than 

 as an absorbent, and believed it "will pay" to 

 cart it two miles, if not more than half way 

 irp hill ! 



A. B. M. would not use wet, low-land muck 

 at all. Had tried spreading it on grass land 

 Avithout any benefit. Said it was naturally 

 sour, and tends to produce sorrel. Was in 

 favor of decayed leaves and other vegetable 

 matter from high lands. 



S. H. thought the chief value of muck is 

 as an absorbent. 



C. M. II. would rather have straw, and did not 

 think muck worth looking at, only as an ab- 

 sorbent. 



F. D. said swamp muck is over 90 per cent, 

 water, and considered it worthless except as 

 an abi-orbent. The dirt taken from a well l)ot- 

 tom, spread around his yard, produced a rank 

 growth of grass ! 



A. B. M., C. M. H., S. H. and others made 

 similar statements in regard to the elFect of the 

 hard-pan taken f.om four to five feet below 

 the surface and spread upon cultivated fields. 



Mr. Editor, what do you say ? If the entire 

 value of muck consists in its absorbing pro- 

 perty — it may be of importance to some of 

 your readers to know it, as they can get saw- 

 dust, India wheat hulls, refuse straw, &c., that 

 will absorb as much liquid, more conveniently 

 and wiih less labor. Will it pay to dry and 

 house common soil for an absorbent ? 



Vermont, Jan., 18G7. Lectum, 



Remarks. — There is a great difference in 

 muck. Some of it is worthless, but not inju- 

 rious to the soil. Other beds are particularly 

 injurious, as when it is thrown out no plant 

 wiU spring into life upon it, perhaps for two or 

 three years, until it has been ameliorated by 

 atmospheric .action. Good muck that is thrown 

 out in the fall or winter will be generally cov- 

 ered with plants of some kind the succeeding 

 summer. 



As an absorbent, muck is certainly valuable. 

 It is our opinion, based upon an extensive use 

 of muck, that two cords of muck and one 

 cord of manure, thoroughly mingled, are as 

 good as three loads of the same kind of clear 

 manure, on any light loams or sandy soils. 

 So think many of the members of the Concord 

 Farmers' Club, if not every one of them. 

 Dana's Muck Manual teWsus that if two pounds 

 of soda ash, or thi-ee pounds of potash are 



added to 100 pounds of fresh dug peat, all the 

 good effects of real cow-dmig will be produced. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE SUPPLY OF FBUIT. 



In seasons like the past, when the apple and 

 pear crop were so much below the average 

 yield, fruit raisers naturally ask the C[uestion, 

 What shall we do to secure our usual supply of 

 fruit for family use, or for the market? The 

 first thought is the danger of depending upon 

 one or two kinds. In such case we are liable 

 to an over supply in one season and a deficien- 

 cy in another. If the land ownei', for example, 

 plants only an apple orchard, he may have all 

 that he wants and an overplus besides when 

 the year proves favorable ; but he will be 

 annoyed by a deficiency in unfavorable years. 

 The true way to avoid this is to provide as 

 many legs to one's stool as possible ; or, in 

 other words, to secure as great a variety 

 of kinds as may be practicable. We do not 

 mean by this a very large number of varieties 

 of each kind, but a large number of 

 kinds. Thus in one year apples may be 

 abundant, but peaches and grapes may be en- 

 tirely deficient ; during another season the re- 

 verse may take place ; hence it is desirable to 

 plant all the kinds that are easily cultivated. 

 Taking the circle of fruits, and beginning with 

 strawberries and the earliest cherries, followed 

 by currants, raspberries, the earliest pears and 

 apples, and plums, blackberries, and subse- 

 quently by the general supply of apples, 

 peaches, pears, plums and grapes, temiinating 

 with the late keeping pears, packed grapes 

 and winter apples, — we shall find on an average 

 a certain percentage or rate of failure in dif- 

 ferent kinds that may be relied upon. In 

 some localities there will not be one failure in 

 ten among these different fruits ; Avhile in 

 others the deficiency may be as one to five, or 

 one to three, as the case may be. All we 

 have to do, therefore, is to enlarge our number 

 so as to insure the certainty of a supply from 

 one or more. The year past, for example, has 

 furnished us with a profusion of strawberries ; 

 a good supply of currants, when the hellebore 

 treatment was promptly given to the cui-rant 

 worm ; raspberries ; a fair supply of blackber- 

 ries ; most varieties of the hardy grape, &c. 

 In my opinion, there should be an increased 

 reliance on the grape, for although it may fail 

 in some seasons, the cause of that failure is un- 

 like that which destroys the crop on most of 

 our fruit trees. The latter is often the result of 

 severe winters, and very frequently it is caused 

 by abundant rains about the time of blooming. 

 But the grape is never winter-killed in the 

 fruit buds, nor by the rains of spring, because 

 the fruit is formed on the new shoots, which 

 grow at a later time in the year. We should, 

 therefore, plant them more extensively for 

 fiimily use. New sorts of excellent quality 

 have been added to our list within a fcAv years, 



