AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 63 



power of the muck depends, sample 280 is evidently greatly 

 superior for use on the tie-up floor, or under swine. 



Again, the several mucks differ in the quantities of manurial in- 

 gredients which they contain. Sample 278 has over twice the 

 nitrogen found in samples 279 and 281, while samples 279 and 282 

 are especially rich in phosphoric acid. Compared with stable 

 manure the average for nitrogen is nearly the same, but the mucks 

 are inferior in the quantities of mineral compounds. It should not 

 be forgotten that the ingredients of the stable manure are much 

 more available than those of the mucks. Until the muck is com- 

 posted we may believe that it will furnish but little food to a 

 growing plant. If, however, by treatment with lime, or under the 

 influence the fermentation of the manure pile the nitrogen it con- 

 tains is largely rendered available, the muck bed may be made a 

 not insignificant source of plant food. The whole matter of its use 

 turns upon the cost of getting it to the barn, and from the barn to 

 the field, as compared with what is saved by its use as an absorbent, 

 plus the value of the small amount of plant food which it contains. 

 The latter factor would not average over $2 per ton in the case of 

 the Ave samples analyzed, reckoning the nitrogen, phosphoric acid 

 and potash at such prices as these ingredients would cost in coarse 

 bone, raw South Carolina rock and muriate of potash, and it is 

 doubtful if these ingredients are as valuable in the muck as in the 

 materials named. This, at least, is plainly' taught by these 

 analyses — that each muck bed must be judged upon its own merits. 

 There is muck and muck. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH FERTILIZERS. 

 Prof. Walter Balentine. 



Many of the problems connected with manuring have been 

 definitely settled for years. We teach in our agricultural schools 

 that phosphoric acid, potash, magnesia, etc., are essential to plant 

 life with the same assurance that the simple facts of geography are 

 taught in our common schools. We believe as implicitl}' that the 

 atmosphere is the chief source of carbon to the plant as we do that 

 the earth revolves on its axis. 



The chief problems in plant nutrition to-day are not what plants 

 need for their nourishment, but how to supply that nourishment in 

 the cheapest and most effective manner. 



