74 



MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9OI. 



POUNDS OF ASH, ORGANIC MATTER, NITROGEN, PHOSPHORIC ACID„ 

 AND POTASH IN 100 POUNDS OF DRY MATTER OF SUBSTANCES SOME- 

 WHAT RESEMBLING MUCK IN APPEARANCE. 



u 















CD 















P 















g 











•a 













a> 









£ 







-*a 





c3 





>, 







cS 





O 





c 



o3 



Kind of Material. 





a 

 



a 

 

 bo 







p. 



a 









tS 





CO 





,0 







M 





O 



4a 



03 





en 







J 







-4 





■0 



c 



Z 



Oh 



Ph 



221 





22.7 



77.3 



.69- 



• 87 



.16 



.62- 



222 





.12- 



?41 









.32 



.16 



1.06 



3167 









.46 

 .34 



.59 



1.43- 



p,c»S 





18.1 



81.9 





244 









2.07 

 2.45 



.25 

 .24 



.19- 



395 









.28* 













WATER IN MUCKS. 



The large amount of water contained in this class of materials- 

 makes their handling laborious and expensive. When first 

 shoveled out of the bed, more than three-fourths of the weight 

 is due to the water. In the table it will be noted that the least 

 water in 100 pounds of muck as taken from the bed was 75.1 

 pounds and in several cases there were more than 85 pounds of 

 water in 100 pounds of the freshlv shoveled muck. 



It is never the case that mucks can be made perfectly dry- 

 in field or barn treatment. They are very retentive of moisture 

 and even when shoveled out of the pit and allowed to remain in- 

 a heap until the dry season of the year, they still usually contain 

 40 to 50 per cent or more of water. If these materials are to be 

 used as an absorbent in the stable, it is important that they be as- 

 thoroughly dried as practicable and kept protected from rains. 

 One hundred pounds of well dried peaty muck will absorb 4 to 6 

 times its weight of urine. 



ASH OR MINERAL MATTERS IN MUCKS. 



The quantity of ash in these impure peats examined by the 

 Station is variable but is usually large. In one instance only 5 

 per cent of the dry matter was ash, while in another sample 4& 



