366 The Land and Its Treatment 



humus, the direct addition of plant-food. When thus 

 ameliorated, it heeomes a sandy loam. 



Muckland gardening has come tb be almost a special 

 department of the business in recent years, but this en- 

 terprise grows special or particular crops r.nd can hardly 

 be called general market-gardening. Eeclaimed swamps 

 usually afford excellent land for vegetables, if the area 

 can be thoroughly well drained, so that it is " early," and 

 if the vegetable-matter or peat is well decomposed and 

 comminuted. Soils that are nearly all muck have littb 

 body, and suffer from drought; these are mostly the de- 

 posit of peat and moss bogs. The fine loams that have 

 accumulated in beds of shallow ponds or lakes are usually 

 ideal vegetable-garden lands, provided the area is not too 

 frosty. 



Mucklands differ in productiveness, as do other lands. 

 A good muck naturally grows a heavy stand of trees or 

 other herbage. The mucks that dry out in midsummer 

 are to be avoided unless a stream can be diverted through 

 them. It is necessary to drain mucks so that there is no 

 standing water, and the water-table should be two to three 

 feet deep; but the ditches or a brook should hold enough 

 water to prevent drought. It is the common opinion that 

 mucks are very rich, but this is usually true only as re- 

 spects organic matter and nitrogen; much of the heavy 

 yield is due to the physical condition and the constant 

 supply of moisture. Muckland gardeners use fertilizers 

 and manures freely. The potash addition usually should 

 be liberal and probably also the phosphoric acid. Poorly 

 handled and unfertilized muck areas are likely to fail 

 rapidly. Onions, celery, lettuce are the main crops, but 



