Growing Vegetables on Muck Lands 1247 



equipment 

 The investment in equipment for muck land vegetable produc- 

 tion varies greatly. Some growers with relatively small areas 

 are highly successful though their tools are few and simple, repre- 

 senting less than three or four hundred dollars for — say ten acres. 

 The buildings may be very simple, providing merely shelter for 

 tools and a room for preparing products for market. Small and 

 simple green houses are used by celery men for growing early 

 plants. Storage houses for onions are frequently built, but this 

 is really independent of crop production, as the gain incident to 

 holding the crop is expected to meet the interest charges and 

 other. costs and to offer a profit in addition. Some men build 

 more elaborate storage houses and expensive tool and work rooms, 

 and so increase their investment rather heavily, not always with 

 increased profit. 



DRAINAGE 



The care of drainage ditches on the muck land involves special 

 consideration. Two general methods are in practice. Most 

 growers maintain a narrow strip of sod, or rather a strip of sod 

 which they pretend to keep within narrow limits, on each side 

 of the bank. Thus the sides may be kept almost vertical. The 

 other method consists in keeping the banks of the ditches shaved 

 clean, thus allowing no harbor for weeds. Each requires about 

 the same amount of space. 



There is a growing tendency toward the use of tile drainage in- 

 stead of open ditches. The latter are objectionable on account 

 of the loss of space, often as much as 10 per cent. ; the labor of keep- 

 ing them shoveled out from year to year; their interference with 

 operations, and on account of the harboring of weeds. It has been 

 found that where tile is well laid, placing the line on a board bot- 

 tom, the plan is satisfactory, even through the fall is very slight. 



Muck soils do not form clods as do the heavier upland soils. 

 Even though the material is very light, plowing is not as easy as 

 might be supposed. The smallest spot of rust on a plowshare is 

 sufficient to start an accumulation of muck which prevents scour- 

 ing, and before long the implement is merely dragged through 

 the soil without turning a real furrow 7 . Considerable care must 



