AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
275 
THE VALUE OF SWAMP MUCK. 
There are comparatively few farms that 
do not contain invaluable beds of peat, muck, 
or deposits of decaying vegetable matter of 
some kind. Those even upon the summit 
or sides of hills, almost invariably furnish 
occasional low spots, into which the wash¬ 
ings of higher ground have settled from 
year to year. These masses of black earth 
are made up of organic materials, such as 
decayed or decaying leaves, roots, and fibres 
of grass, &c. 
It is now admitted by all experienced and 
intelligent cultivators, that such substances 
furnish a direct pabulum or food to the roots 
of all growing plants, and it is of the highest 
importance to every farmer who would 
thrive in his business, to hunt up and use all 
such materials. This dry weather furnishes 
the most favorable opportunity for digging 
out muck from the low swamps, which, from 
being filled with standing water, are inac¬ 
cessible during most of the year. 
This work should be attended to now , and 
not put off until sowing winter crops occupy 
the whole farm force, or till the fall rains 
stop this work for the year. Where it is at 
all practicable, we advise every farmer to 
dig out and heap up to dry, at least five loads 
of swamp muck, or black vegetable mold, for 
each load of manure he expects to produce 
for twelve months to come. If dry, it is an 
excellent material to put freely into the sta¬ 
bles at all times, to absorb liquid manures, 
as well as the gaseous products of all solid 
animal excrements. One load of horse or 
cow droppings thus mixed, and composted 
with three loads of good black muck, is quite 
as valuable as two, or even three loads of 
the same manure not thus treated. Mr. C. 
L. Flint, the able Secretary of the Massa¬ 
chusetts Board of Agriculture, introduced 
into a recent report to the Board, some valu¬ 
able information on this subject. He says: 
“ The term muck is generally applied by 
New England farmers to the mass of vege¬ 
table matter usually found in peat-swamps ; 
by English farmers to rotting straw, &c., 
and by Scotch farmers to barn-yard ma¬ 
nure.” Mr. F. uses the word in its common 
signification in this country, referring to the 
remains of trees and plants, some of which 
must have lived ages ago more or less per¬ 
fectly decomposed, and sometimes extend¬ 
ing to a depth of many feet. This substance 
is made up of different constituents in differ¬ 
ent localities, and its quality is therefore 
very variable. Hence we find a great vari¬ 
ety of opinions as to the value of swamp 
muck as a mauure. The various estimates 
of the value of swamp muck range from 33 
cents to $3 per cord, and give an average of 
$1 27 ; and as there is no reason to suppose 
that the estimated value is not the real value 
in each locality, it follows that no general 
real value can be definitely fixed. This de¬ 
pends on its quality. 
Swamp muck is often cold and sour, and 
requires the addition of lime and exposure 
to the atmosphere and to frosts before it can 
be advantageously applied as manure. There 
are different modes of preparing it for use. 
The most common is to dig it out, expose it 
to the frost through the winter, and then put 
it into the barn-yard to be composted with 
the stable manure. The following state¬ 
ments are from experienced, practical men 
in Massachusetts, and each gives the results 
of the observation of its writer : 
A Middlesex farmer says : “ I use swamp 
muck most successfully, composted with 
stable manure, on different varieties of soils, 
but think it does best on high land of a 
loamy soil. I notice it is used very exten¬ 
sively by farmers, with satisfactory results, 
when composted with other manures tho¬ 
roughly.” 
A farmer of Worcester county says : “ I 
use it extensively on my hard, clay soils ; it 
works well on dry lands to keep them moist, 
and on clay soils to keep them light.” Ano¬ 
ther writer from Dukes county follows : “ It 
should be hauled out in the fall, and exposed 
to the frost during winter, and mixed with 
stable manure in the proportion of two parts 
muck to one of manure; it should also be 
used in the hog-pen, barn-yard and barn- 
cellar. I have found it a good manure on 
loamy, gravelly and sandy land, especially 
for top-dressing for grass, when composted 
as above.” A Norfolk county farmer, who 
had met with great success, says : “ The 
best way of using swamp muck is to dig it 
and expose it to the sun, air and rains one 
year, and then, when in a dry state, place it 
in a barn-cellar, where it will take the drop¬ 
pings of the cattle above, until it is tho¬ 
roughly saturated; then mix it well, and it 
is ready for use. It is good for all dry 
lands. He estimates it at about three dol¬ 
lars by the cord of one hundred and two 
bushels.” A Middlesex farmer of great ex¬ 
perience states that “ swamp muck is of dif¬ 
ferent qualities, and varies as much as wood 
when used for fuel. Peat mud, the older the 
better, consists principally of vegetable mat¬ 
ter. It has most effect on high and dry 
ground. Wood ashes are the best article to 
correct its acidity.” 
Similar acounts come from every section 
of the State. From Hampshire county, we 
have the following : “ The best method of 
using swamp muck, judging from experi¬ 
ments of my neighbors and my own, is to 
cart out in the autumn, expose it to the 
frosts and snows, then spread and plow it in 
the spring, on sandy, dry soils, or in other 
words, on soils of an opposite nature to its 
own. I plowed in twenty-five loads on one- 
quarter of an acre, last spring, and planted 
it to early potatoes, corn, peas, cucumbers, 
squashes and melons. It was a great pre¬ 
ventive against drouth. That ground has 
been sown to rye, and it looks first rate.” 
And from Plymouth county : “ Swamp 
muck, as also upland soils, are valuable to 
mix with various kinds of manure to retain 
and absorb the salts. For upwards of two 
years I have adopted a different course with 
my swamp land from any I know of- I em¬ 
ploy men with long-bitted hoes, sward 
hooks, &c.,to dig up the hummocks and 
bushes, in bodies large and small, as is con¬ 
venient, and pile them in bunches for a few 
days to dry, after which, I select a central 
bunch, in which I form a cavity or hole near 
the bottom or surface of the ground. Then I 
set fire to some of the dryest and most com¬ 
bustible, and as it burns, I replenish it from 
the other bunches, smothering in the coal¬ 
pit form, though more combustible, till it 
burned down to a perfect body of ashes and 
sand. I have not carried the experiment 
into full effect, as I designed to ; but so far 
as I have used the ashes, they have given 
me entire satisfaction. Their nature is to 
improve exhausted lands ; and my belief is, 
that they may be spread upon the same land 
upon which the ashes were made, and in¬ 
crease the growth of English grass. Much 
has been said upon the subject of reclaim¬ 
ing wet swampy lands ; but after all that has 
been done, as I understand it, a coat of ma¬ 
nure is required to produce a good crop of 
English grass. Now, if our worthless swamp 
lands possess the very article required to 
produce such grass by the simple process 
above named, I think it would be an im¬ 
provement in one point of agriculture.” 
A farmer of Barnstable county says : “ The 
best compost manure is made in our barn 
and hog-yards, of swamp muck, sea-weed 
and animal manure. Swamp muck and sea¬ 
weed are accessible to all who will take the 
trouble to procure them. My barn and hog- 
yards are so excavated and dug as to ab¬ 
sorb the liquids passed into them. Every 
spring and summer, after my barn-yard is 
emptied, I replenish it from time to time 
with swamp muck, peat, sea-weed, and 
other materials from the farm, which, with 
the animal manure produced by yarding my 
cattle, furnish me in the autumn with two 
hundred loads of good compost, which I 
either stack in the yard, or cart on to the 
land I intend to plant in the spring. I again 
replenish the yard, giving me, with the pro¬ 
ceeds of my hog-yard, from one hundred to 
one hundred and fifty loads more in the fol¬ 
lowing spring. In addition, I have for two 
years past composted, in the field adjoining 
my peat bog, from seventy-five to one hun¬ 
dred loads of peat (thrown from the pit in 
summer or autumn) with sea and rock-weed, 
or ashes and animal manure, which I esteem 
of equal value to barn-yard manure. I esti¬ 
mate the value of a cord, or four ox-cart 
loads of barn-yard manure, composted as 
above, at from $4 to $5. We esteem the 
value of this for a corn crop, and the im¬ 
provement of land higher than pure animal 
manure.” 
We give one more extract from a farmer 
of Berkshire county. He says ; “ I have 
used swamp muck for a number ol years 
past with good results, by mixing it with 
yard and stable manures in the proportion 
of one-third to one-half muck, and consider 
it worth $1 per load to use for agricultural 
purposes on soils that are a mixture of loam 
and gravel.” 
The testimony is uniformly in favor of 
composting muck with other manures. Its 
power of absorbing valuable liquid and gase¬ 
ous substances is very considerable, and 
this makes it an excellent substance to mix 
with guano when the latter is to be used as 
a top-dressing. The importance of a free 
