GROWING VEGETABLES ON THE MUCK LANDS 



Paul Work 



Superintendent and Instructor, Department of Vegetable Gardening, Cornell 

 University, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Though in some sections muck lands have 

 been utilized for vegetable production for 

 several decades, it is only recently that their 

 usefulness has been generally recognized. In 

 most places the swamp on the farm has been 

 regarded as a dead loss. Of late years the 

 movements of vegetable products have ceased 

 to be exclusively from warmer to cooler 

 climates. The states which supply early 

 vegetables to the northern cities find that 

 they cannot produce certain crops for their own use in summer and 

 fall. Accordingly, they must look to other sections. 



For the crops which prefer a cool season, the muck lands have 

 proved to be peculiarly adapted, and a large share of the onions, 

 celery and head lettuce which are used in summer, fall, and early 

 winter are grown on these soils. Other crops are grown to a 

 lesser extent, but greater diversification is being practiced every 

 year. Among the additional crops are spinach — chiefly for can- 

 ning — beets, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes — chiefly for seed — 

 and to some extent cabbage. It is often said that the latter is not 

 solid when grown on muck, but some growers have attained ex- 

 cellent results. 



Muck land that is fully developed is usually held at high 

 valuations. In some sections areas have changed nanus at as 

 much as five or six hundred dollars an acre. Rents as high as 

 seventy dollars per acre per annum have been recorded. But 

 muck land can be purchased at much lower figures, and one who is 

 seeking a location should cast about for an investment where the 

 interest charge will not be so high. It is necessary to exercise 

 caution to avoid areas that are distant from railroad, or in which 

 the soil is for any one of several reasons unproductive, or where 

 the cost of reclamation would prove excessive. 



[124G] 



