ANALYSIS OF FLORIDA MUCK. 
the disasters of last winter, and put it off till the 
floods come upon you. Although repairing fences, 
cleaning out ditches, clearing up new land, repair- 
ing roads and bridges, and getting ready for plow- 
ing immediately after your crop is gathered, so as 
to be in readiness for the next, is very important ; 
yet, the levee is what you must all depend upon, 
and it therefore must be kept in repair. 
Cotton Bagging. — This is the month in which 
more cotton is bagged than all others. Therefore, 
it is proper that we call your attention to it. If 
you could see the condition in which much of the 
cotton comes to New York, as we see it every day, 
you would learn why you obtain so low a price. 
Much of the bagging is no more fit for the use it 
is put to, than so much brown paper. It is torn 
off, and the cotton wasted and tumbled about in the 
mud, until it looks more like a bale of black wool, 
than a clean, white, merchantable article. 
Sugar Hogsheads and Molasses Barrels, need im- 
proving. They often waste the contents and injure 
sale, almost as much as the miserable cotton bag- 
ging. While you are handling so many of them 
this month, take notice of the necessity of improve- 
ment. For, remember, that every loss from bad 
packing, eventually comes out of the producer. 
Planting Hedges. — This is an important work 
for the south, and a good month to do it in. The 
Cherokee rose is probably the best plant that can 
be used. It grows so readily from cuttings, that 
there is not the least difficulty in starting a hedge. 
Cut the vines ten or fifteen inches long; clean off 
the trash from the proposed line of fence; mark 
the row ; and then take an iron pin and drive it 
down six or eight inches into the ground, and insert 
the cutting ; and then, with an iron hammer, pound 
the ground around the cutting till it closes compact- 
ly around it. This method will insure the growth 
of a greater number of cuttings than any other 
mode of planting with ten times the labor. Another 
good hedge plant, is the Yucca gloriosa. It is 
known under the term Spanish bayonet, as well as 
other local names. Like all other hedge plants, it 
must be kept well trimmed. 
Planting Sugar Cane. — Do not let this month 
pass without making large preparations for plant- 
ing your next crop of cane. Have you got a first- 
rate fluke plow ? Because we have seen, upon 
some Louisiana plantations, a most clumsy article 
used — in fact, nothing but a triangular block — to 
open the furrows in which to plant the canes. 
Now, a good double-moldboard iron plow, will pay 
for itself in one season. Try the subsoil plow. 
If you are not willing to subsoil the whole ground, 
try it in the cane rows only, to begin with. You 
cannot have too deep a tilth to insure a good growth 
of cane; besides, it assists drainage. 
Building Fence. — As this is the month for build- 
ing a great deal of fence, it is worth your while to 
inquire for a substitute for your present expensive 
system. Look in our August number for an account 
of wire fence. 
Set Out Trees this month, either for fruit or 
shade ; and mind and have both roots and branches 
to them, if you have any desire to see them grow. 
It is worse than idle to set out trees after the New- 
Orleans fashion ; which is to denude the tree of all 
the roots and branches, as close as they can be 
363 
cut, and then the stumps are stuck in a small hole 
lull of water, and required to grow. To insure the 
growth of any tree, the hole should be dug broad 
and deep, and if the natural soil is not good, it must 
be hauled from a distance and filled in, so as to 
make a rich, mellow bed for the roots to commence 
operations upon. 
ANALYSIS OP FLORIDA MUCK. 
A sample of muck, obtained from Col. R. W. 
Williams, of Tallahasse, Florida, ou« of a pond hole 
from which the water had evaporated, gave, on 
analysis, the following results : — 
In dry, dark-colored, pieces readily crumbling 
under the finger, containing a small quantity of un- 
decomposed rootlets scattered throughout, 10,000 
parts of the above contained of 
Moisture, ..... 
Vegetable matter, .... 
Silica and fine white sand, . 
Alumina, 
Carbonate of lime, .... 
Magnesia, ...... 
Saline matters, soluble in water, as 
common salt and sulphate of lime, . 
Oxides of iron, 
675 
1,715 
6,640 
775 
93 
53 
49 
noiye. 
10,000 
From the foregoing constitution, it appears that 
this muck is a fine, white, siliceous sand, darkened 
by vegetable matter. Of the latter, there is a little 
above 17 per cent., and the other matters of value 
in the muck, amount to about two per cent, more ; 
so that, out of the whole, there is but 19 per cent, 
of useful elements. To heavy clay lands, it might 
be a useful addition, if carted on the field and then 
plowed in ; even in this case, its only useful addi- 
tion is the vegetable matter, which is in such a 
state of fine decomposition as not to afford any am- 
monia by any further decay. 
This muck should not be used as a compost ma- 
terial, as it is too bulky, considering its small value. 
To light sandy soils it appears little adapted. 
Thomas Antisell, M.D., 
Chemist to American Agricultural Association. 
New York, Oct. 31st, 1849. 
Col. Williams informs us, that he has used the 
above muck in his cattle pens and yards, with con- 
siderable advantage as an absorbent of the droppings 
from the animals, and also as a foundation for his 
compost heaps. It derives its value for this purpose, 
almost exclusively from its vegetable matter and alu- 
mina, of which it contains about 25 per cent. The 
carbonate of lime, although less than one per cent, 
is likewise valuable ; and the magnesia, in small 
proportions, contributes also to the food of plants. 
The saline matters are of decided benefits. The 
large proportion of fine sand materially detracts 
from the value of this material, as it is not an ab- 
sorbent, is of no value as an application for sandy 
lands, and, in consequence of its extreme fineness, 
is of no use in effecting a mechanical division in 
clayey soils. 
