SOIL AMENDMENTS 545 



465. Muck. — The effect of muck (par. 72) is to 

 change the structure of soils, making a heavy clay soil 

 lighter and more porous, and binding together the par- 

 ticles of a sandy soil. Both classes of soils, but particu- 

 larly the sandy type, have a greater water-holding 

 capacity after treatment with muck, owing to its great 

 absorptive power which amounts to 70 per cent or more 

 of its own weight. It is to its content of organic matter 

 that the physical effects of muck are due. 



Muck contains 1 to 2 per cent of organic nitrogen, 

 calculated to dry matter, which does not readily undergo 

 ammonification. The addition of farm manure (which 

 ferments readily) and of lime serves to hasten ammoni- 

 fication. Its use as an absorbent in the stable fits it well 

 for use on the land. 



Very large applications of muck are necessary when 

 it is used to improve the structure of the soil. From 

 ten to forty or fifty tons per acre are frequently applied. 



Muck has been used successfully as a carrier of Bacillus 

 radicicola; for this it is eminently adapted by its absorbent 

 qualities, which prevent it from drying out and thus caus- 

 ing injury to the bacteria. At the rate of thirty pounds 

 to the acre it has served as a highly effective medium for 

 inoculating soil for alfalfa.^ 



Muck is also used as a filler in certain commercial 

 fertilizers. 



1 Lyon, T. L., and Bizzell, J. A. Some Experiments in Top- 

 Dresfeing Timothy and Alfalfa. Cornell Umv. Agr. Exp. Sta., 

 Bui. 339. 1913. 



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