MANURIAL VALUE OE ASHES, MUCKS, ETC. 



75 



pounds out of ioo pounds of dry muck was ash. This ash is 

 chiefly sand and has very little fertilizing- value. On this 

 account, therefore, the greater the amount of ash generally the 

 poorer the muck. The quite complete analysis of the ash of 

 five samples of muck follows. The laboratory numbers of the 

 samples are the same as in the table on page 73. 



POUNDS OF MINERAL MATTER IN 100 POUNDS WATER FREE MUCK. 



X 







CO 



CO 



Ol 



<M 







o 



<D 



,0 



s 







a 







p 



- 



a 



U3 



CO 































CO 



CC 



X 



Sand, silica, etc 



Iron oxide and alumina 



Lime 



Magnesia, . 



Potash 



Soda 



Sulphuric acid .. 



Phosphoric acid 



Carbonic acid, coal, etc. 

 Total ash 



.37 

 .35 



6.55 

 31 

 .02 

 .30 

 .70 

 -17 



4.29 



17-17 



.17 

 1.15 



13.06 



2.20 

 .30 

 .25 

 .15 

 .17 

 .17 

 .10 



35.53 

 3.53 

 1.88 

 .15 

 .04 

 .14 

 .34 

 .26 

 .20 



42.07 



23.74 



2.54 



3.67 



12 



.27 



.03 



.82 



1.97 



1.45 



34.61 



In the samples marked 278 and 280, the mineral matter prob- 

 ably consists for the most part of true ash — i. e., matter that once 

 formed a part of the growing moss or other plants ; although the 

 large amount of lime in 278 may have come from the shells of 

 minute organisms often found in shallow water. The large 

 excess of mineral matter in the other samples must have pro- 

 ceeded from sand washed in from higher ground and is naturally 

 poor in plant food. 



ORGANIC MATTER AND NITROGEN IN MUCK. 



From the. above table and that on page 73 it is evident that 

 whatever value mucks have as fertilizers is not due to the 

 minute amounts of phosphoric acid and potash which they carry 

 but to the organic matter and its accompanying nitrogen. 



