« 
PRICK SIX CENTS, 
W.SO PER V KA R. 
(Entered according to Act of ConKTess, in the year 1877, by the Rural Publishing Company, In the olllco of the Librarian of Congress at Wnshlnirton ) 
food of plants. Chemical analyses show that all 
plants and all their products are composed of 
the same few simple bodies or elements in vari¬ 
ous states of combinations, and all materials 
produced by the decay of vegetation when mix¬ 
ed with the soil, and therein disintegrated, con¬ 
tribute largoly towards the composition of other 
plants. On a large proportion of the farms in 
this country, there are doposits of decaying 
niOHses, vegetables, leaves, stems and roots, to 
ho found along the margins of streams, where 
they overflow their banks, in hollows in the 
fields, swamps and ponds, many of whiob, in ad¬ 
dition to these manorial riches, contain the 
washings for generations of much of the fertile 
elements of higher ground. 
In too many casos these sources of fertility 
are foolishly neglected or regarded as pestifer¬ 
ous nuisances, whereas by proper management, 
they might be profitably utilized in adding to 
the productiveness of the soil, and thus prove 
tho most valuable portions of the farm. In¬ 
deed, when bucIi deposits do not 'exist on a 
farm, it would well repay tho owner to purchase 
a muck privilege in the neighborhood, and some 
of the most intelligent and successful farmers 
have paid as high as from £30 to 6100 an acre 
for swamp land, merely for the purpose of 
availing themselves of Its manorial treasures. 
The value of such deposits as a fertilizer, de¬ 
pends. In some measure, upon whether a stream 
runs through or from them, as in all snob casos, 
some of the soluble portions of tho mud are 
separated from the vegetable remains and washed 
away, wheroaB tho muck taken from swamps and 
bog-holes having no mode of discharging their 
water except by evaporation, re¬ 
tains nearly all the soluble por¬ 
tions of tho organic remains, and 
consequently is richer in nitrogen 
and fertilizing salts. A far more 
important consideration, how¬ 
ever, is the treatment of the 
muck after it has boon excavated, 
and it is chiefly owing to mis¬ 
takes in this connection, that 
many farmers consider muck use¬ 
less as a fertilizer and the labor 
bestowed on its employment, con¬ 
sequently, worse than profitless. 
A few suggestions on this sub¬ 
ject therefore, the result of con¬ 
siderable practical experience 
with this valuable fertilizer, may 
bo of service to some of our 
readers, 
Tho host time for digging muck 
is in dry weather, Hay July or 
- August, although in some cases 
this can bo more profitably done, 
when tho ground is frozen hard 
- and labor is cheaper or more con¬ 
venient, in whiter. Mud recently 
dug should never bo plowed un¬ 
der, until it has been fermented 
by the action of salts, or mel¬ 
lowed by frosts, otherwise it will 
remain in lumps in the earth of¬ 
ten for years, without producing 
any beneficial results. When 
taken out it is sometimes a good 
plan to leave it for six months or 
even a year, if convenient, ex¬ 
posed to the pulverizing notion 
of the air, in small heaps, on the 
margin of tho place from which 
it has been taken. By leaving it 
in this way, and occasionally 
working it over, it will become in 
course of time, without further 
treatment, fit for application to 
any kind Of soil, but especially to 
those that are sandy and light. 
When dry, muck makes an ex¬ 
cellent bedding for stock in tho 
stable or pig-pen, where it proves 
S; f a powerful absorbent of urine 
and ammonia. When dng in the 
- summer and intended for this 
purpose, the dryer portions 
» £?£? should be taken to the barn-yard 
and placed under shelter, and in 
jgTiC-rr-ji piling it up, it would bo well 
to mix it thoroughly with a small 
quantity of lime to preparo it for 
quick decomposition. Another 
O&gaBEga advantage of such treatment is 
t that a larger quantity of it can 
afterwards bo added to the man- 
lire in tho compost heap. If then 
composted in proportion of live 
loads of muck to one of manure, 
the absorption of urine, and 
popular demffnd is awaiting it that few others 
of its class have ever known. 
Our portrait is from a specimen scarcely one 
foot iu bight. Tt is far from shapely—but it is 
not our desire in these plant portraits to select 
specimens that, in a majority of instances, will 
disappoint those who, influenced by them, are 
induced to purchase. 
^rbonrultnral 
PIN US MAS30NIANA VARIEGATA 
A MAONIfICENT KOVELTH. 
Wf, take much pleasure iu presenting to our 
readers an engraving from life of this recently 
introduced Pine, which to our way of thinking, 
is among tho most beautiful of the entire 
coniferous family and which, as far as can now 
be judged, bids fair to become one of tho most 
desirable. As in the case of Solftdopitys verticil- 
lata, wo have not b»d the plant, long enough to 
judge respecting its hardiness or adaptation to 
this climate, and there are few who can give 
this information. Among this number Mr. 
Tjiumpy of Flushing, of whose experience and 
practical knowledge, we often 
have occasion to avail ourselves, 
says: 
‘ ‘ It has proved perfectly hardy 
hero (Flushing, L. I.) for two 
winters and is, I think, one of the 
finest variegated evergreen trees 
known. It is propagated by 
grafts ou seedlings of the species 
or upon the Hootch or any other 
two-leaved Fine. It never burns 
tinder summer suns, as nearly 
all other variegated-leaved Pines 
do. Our plants were obtained 
from Mr. Thomas I loan who has 
had a plant growing well in his 
garden for many years.” 
As a pine tree, the species, 
Massoniana, does not sufficiently 
differ from the Scotch or Austrian 
Pine to render it of any especial 
value except, it may be, as one 
of extensive collections—but its _ 
variegation is that which gives it 
the one charm that wins all who 
see it. — 
When the bndB first break in . 
tho spring, tho leaves are all 
groon with tho exception of a 
more line or dot of variegation. 
But it would seem that the 
leaves lengthen in this very part, 
so that when fully grown, nearly 
the entire “needle” is a golden 
yellow, tipped, only at the end, 
with green, presenting in thick 
clusters a really briilian t, bewitch- ""^=5. 
ing appearance. Tho leaves are 
occasionally striped alternately -— _ 
yellow and green, like the new , 
Zebra Eulalia, but most of them "=*=» 
are as first described. If the 
theory that variegation is a di«- 
ease needed any invalidation, we ^ 
think that this Pine as well as — _ 3 
tho Eulalia grass would furnish 
it. Both are vigorous plauts and ^ 
tho green portions of the foliage 
are none the less vigorous for / 
lying between or upon the varie- A 
gated portions. 
We have many times alluded A 
to the beauty of the Golden 
Retinosporaa at all seasons, but ' 
especially at this season—aud it 4 
has seemed unaccountable to us r 
that notwithstanding their low 
price, their extreme hardiness 2 
and unsqueauiish wants, they 
should yet creep, like snails, into 
general use for which no doubt 
th6y arc ultimately destined. 
But we think our 8un-ray Pine— 
as we should like to call it—will 
take a quicker and stronger hold 
upon the affections and that a 
MUCK AND ITS TREATMENT 
A swamp or pond of muck or peat is the se¬ 
pulcher of a great quantity of decaying vegeta¬ 
ble matter, and is therefore rich in the natural 
