THt BMfiAL MEW-YORKEft. 
FES. « 
head and Fargo on the Red River, and Bis¬ 
marck on the Missouri, would not only run 
through a part of the farms under review, but 
would pass quite a number of farms contain¬ 
ing over2,500 acres, among them the “ Troy 
Farm ” of 9,000 acres; the “ Steele Farm” of 
7,084 acres; and the '‘dark Farm ” of 4,480 
acres, in the day’s ride, seeing over 1,000 teams 
sowing the seed for a golden harvest. 
| In number seven of this series we shall en¬ 
deavor to answer a question which has been 
submitted us, asking if there are not serious 
objections to “Bonanza” farming, its in¬ 
fluence upon the thrift and enduring prosperi¬ 
ty of the country where the farms are located. 
Our next will be upon the subject of har¬ 
rowing. 
THE TRUTH ABOUT IT. 
f The object of articles under this heading: is not so 
much to deal with “hiimbutrs” as with the manv un¬ 
conscious errors that creep Into the methods of daily 
country routine life.—E ds.] 
SPECIFIC GRAVITY AND MOISTURE 
OF SWAMP MUCK. 
HENRY STEWART. 
I have just made an experiment with some 
swamp muck to determine its specific gravity 
and the quantity of water contained in it. The 
bed is five feet dee;) where the sample wasdug 
and the sample was taken out of the center, 
an exact cubic foot being carefully measured 
aud removed in a mass. This muck bed is 
saturated with water, the bottom being 
quicksand full of spi ings, some of sufficient 
volume to fill an excavation 30 feet long 10 
feet wide and five feet deep, in an hour. The 
water rises to within six inches of the surface, 
but does not overflow, and only runs off when 
a ditch is opened to let it flow away. The 
muck is soft and can be cut with a knife as 
easily as butter can, and consists of a mass of 
fibrous matter intermingled with a dark 
brown, soft sulistance that soils the hands so 
that it can be washed off only with difficulty, 
and diffuses itself iu water as so much color¬ 
ing matter which settles to the bottom slowly 
as a fine, soft, unctious mud. The cubic foot 
weighed, on taking it from the bed, 07 pounds. 
It was cut into eight equal parts each a cube 
of six inches. These were weighed and set to 
dry over the register of a heating furnace 
which maintained a regular and very dry 
heat night am] day, for six days. The blocks 
were then very dry and on weighing gave the 
following results : 
Fresh Dry per cent per cent 
No. weight, weight. loss, of water, dry muck. 
1 
8tbs 
. 6oz. 
im. ?oz. 
6tba. 15oz. 
2 
8 
8 
1 
10 
6 
14 
8 
8 
8 
1 
inw 
6 
<U 
tc 
4* 
P 
4 
8 
6 
1 
6 
15>| 
z 
5 
6 
8 
8 
4 
4 
1 
1 
6 
5 
6 
6 
14 
15 
cZ 
h 
Q 
o 
u 
0) 
u- 
O 
> 
7 
8 
6 
1 
7 
6 
15 
> 
p4 
< 
8 
8 
6 
1 
7 
6 
15 
8 
Total 67 
11 
11 
55 
5 
No. 1, 2, 3, and 4 were marked by a well de¬ 
fined black streak running in a slightly slop¬ 
ing manner across them at the upper por¬ 
tion of the block. On examining this black 
streak it was found to consist of charred mat¬ 
ter mixed with a fine substance of a gray 
color. This was evidently the result of a 
fire which had burned over the swamp at some 
ancient period when that portion of the bed 
was at the surface, and since then more than 
two feet of muck had been formed above it. 
This explains the increased weight and es¬ 
pecially the larger dry weight of some of 
these pieces. On the line of division where 
Nos. 5 and 6 were separated, a frog was 
found imbedded closely surrounded by 
muck. It was alive although torpid. The 
creature had doubtless burrowed to that 
d:pth to procure comfortable winter-quarters. 
This explains the smaller weight of the s itvvo 
pieces perhaps. On the whole the appear¬ 
ance of the muck was homogeneous all through, 
with these exceptions, and was a fair sample 
of the whole bed which has been dug into for 
a length of 300 feet and over. 
In comparing this muck, or peat, as it 
would be called in European countries and 
probably should be called here, with ordinary 
stable manure the difference in the fresh 
weight, as might be expected, is very small, 
I made a box of exactly one cubic fool <n 
size without bottom or top, aud packed it w. n 
fresh horse manure free from litter, pressing it 
with a rammer until the moisture came 
freely on to the top. T) e cubic foot when 
taken from the mold weighed 04 pounds. A 
cubic foot of fresh cow manure free from 
litter, packed in the same manner, weighed 
66>£ pounds. A cubic foot of cow manure 
also without litter, taken from the bottom 
of a heap where it was saturated with urine 
and was partly rotted, weighed 70}* pounds. 
Harris in his Talks trn Manures gives the 
following figures in regard to the water and 
dry substance of fresh horse and cow dung. 
Horse droppings, fresh 
Cow 
Sheep “ “ 
Swine “ 
Water. 
.75.7 pr. ct. 
88.8 “ 
.00 5 '* 
.02 « 
Dry mutter. 
24.0 pr. ct. 
10.2 
S4.5 “ 
18 M 
Cow manure fresh and free from litter 
Is thus seen to contain precisely the same 
proportion of water as an average sample 
of pure swamp muck that is free from sand or 
mineral matter. And. in fact, I can just now 
show a heap of fresh swamp muck that very 
few persons would doubt was partly rotted 
cow'manure, so closely does it resemble it in 
appearance. A neighboring farmer passing 
the field xvhere this muck was being haule^, 
supposed at first that the large heap was 
really cow manure and questioned my hired 
man as to where I got so much. 
Now under these circumstances it certainly 
seems to be unreasonable that so much 
should besaid and written about “the muck 
delusion” and that muck should be described 
as rubbish containing 70 per cent, of sand and 
having nine-tenths of its bulk water, which 
is on the face of it a somewhat questionable 
declaration. 
I wish a good many of your readers who 
are using muck—that is muck, and not pond 
scrapings or mud—would letus have their ex¬ 
perience in the matter. If real swamp muck- 
peat in fact and i ure vegetable matter, is of 
the value which I have good reason to believe 
it is, the truth of it ought to be known. But 
don’t let pond mud or stuff with 70 per cent 
of sand be tak< n for muck. Lastly, consid¬ 
ering the above figures, no farmer need hesi¬ 
tate to draw out muck from his swamps, even 
if it b“ freshly dug, for fear he may be hand¬ 
ling an intolerable and wasteful proportion of 
water. If he should, to be consistent he 
should refrain from drawing out the contents 
of his manure cellar, pig pens or yard. 
GARDENING AT NORFOLK, VA. 
The success of vegetable and small fruit 
growers at Norfolk, Va., has during several 
years past excited much interest among a 
largo number of people in the Northern 
States, especially those wishing to escape the 
rigors of our Northern Winters. Having 
read and heard much of the profits of garden¬ 
ing and the mild Winters, I resolved to go 
there and investigate for myself. I will pre¬ 
mise by stating that, 1 have been a small fruit 
and plant grower 21 vears in Southern Illinois 
and Central New York, and claim to know 
something of the requisites for success. I 
landed at Norfolk, December 1, 1881, and 
spent some six days in rambles among the 
gardeners. I had the impression before see¬ 
ing it that most of the land near Norfolk was 
a warm, quick, sandy loam, suited to the cul¬ 
ture of melons and the like. In this I was 
disappointed. The land is flat, or level, and a 
very few feet only above the high tide water 
level. The soil is rather heavy, with some 
sand intermixed, and the subsoil quite heavy 
and compact, so that the natural drainage is 
imperfect, water remaining on the surface too 
loug after rains. This is true of most of the 
land, not of all. This land with open ditches, 
and liberal manuring, seems to yield good 
crops of kale, spinach, cabbage, early peas, 
white potatoes, asparagus, radishes, potato 
onions, and strawberries, thougn some of the 
above were cut short last season by drought, 
the rainfall having been less than one inch in 
the month of May, or about one fourth of the 
average of previous years in the same month. 
Fields of one to ten acres of kale, spinach, 
and strawberries, could be seen on every 
hand. 
There is some risk of losing the early pea 
crop sown in December and January, and 
having to sow the second time. Most of the 
above-named have generally paid handsomely 
when shipped in good order, early in the sea¬ 
son. There are probably 150 strawberry 
fields of one to 20 acres, from one to 10 miles 
north and east from Norfolk; this together 
with the immense crop of early vegetables, or 
“truck” as they call it collectively, makes a 
great rush of business at the wharves in May 
and June—too much work and crowding in a 
given space and ti tie to be convenient or pleas¬ 
ant. The growers claim that 3,000,000 quarts of 
strawberries were shipped last season. The 
amount of “truck” shipped 1 could not learn. 
The gardeners claim that their market for 
early vegetables aud berries is “unlimited,” 
find to convince tbe listener they claim ready 
and cheap facilities of transportation daily 
by water to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, 
Baltimore, Washington and Richmond. The 
facilities for getting produce to market are 
certainly great, but there are several draw¬ 
backs to offset these advantages. 
As I was more interested in the growing 
of small fruits than vegetables, 1 interviewed 
a Fienchman (Mx\ Bonnet), owner aud culti¬ 
vator of a small nursery in Norfolk for 21 
years. Ho said to me: “Don’t plant grapes 
here—too uncertain; insect pests and Spring 
frosts.” He said, also: “Don’t plant peach 
trees largely—too uncertain: about om crop 
in three years; cause of failure, generally, 
Spring frost after trees bloom and set fruit.” 
He said, also: “Early apples, cherries and 
quinces will bear more or less nearly every 
year, but nearly all the pear trees are blight¬ 
ed," and he pointed to his own pear trees to 
show the truth of his assertion. He also 
offered to sell me his small nursery, but I 
declined to buy. The celebrated pear orchard 
of Col. Leighton, which bore a few fine 
crops, is now badly blighted, I was told. 
Only about one crop of peaches in three years 
in Northampton County could be relied up¬ 
on 1 was told by old residents there; and yet 
this county is only four to six miles wide, 
having salt-water protection on both sides— 
the ocean on the east and Chesapeake Bay on 
the west. This information surprised me at 
first, but not so much when they told me that 
warm, -unuy spells of Summer weather in 
February and March sometimes force the 
peach trees into bloom in those months, and 
then cold snaps aud frosts follow, destroying 
the young fruit. Frosts seem to be common 
in this region notwithstanding the proximity 
of salt water. A destructive worm spoils the 
sweet corn so much that it does not pay. A 
portion of the strawberry crop is sometimes 
left to waste in the field for want of a paying 
market near the close of the harvest, the 
cities being full of Maryland and Delaware 
berries. Some difficulty with some of the 
growers to get all the help for picking needed 
at reasonable prices, two to three cents per 
quart being paid. Too great a crowd, rush 
and hurry at tbe steamers for want of room 
while getting produce on board. 
The uuwillingaess of the old residents to 
divide their large farms into lots of smaller 
size to accommodate Northern settlers is notice¬ 
able. They seem, however, to be anxious to 
sell. There is a lack of schools and post 
offices, and also of canning factories to use up 
the balance of crops after prices get too low 
to ship North. Moreover, there is need of bar¬ 
rel, crate, and basket factories to supply the 
demand for shipping produce, while there is a 
greater liability to chills aud ague than iu 
most parts of the States North. 
Most of the native residents I think are dis¬ 
posed to be friendly and are glad to see the 
Yankees come, especially wIicd said Yankees 
have cash to buy their lands, but to the 
Northern settlers the society and general 
appearance of the people and country are so 
different from those at the North that a feel 
ing of homesickness for a time is quite com¬ 
mon. The society would be more agreeable 
if the new settlers were not scattered so 
widely apart. 
Among tbe advantages are, first of all, 
mild Winters, the weather while 1 was 
there being very pleasant, the sun shin¬ 
ing nearly every day, there being much 
more sunshine in Winter than with us in the 
North; this pleased me much. 1 saw a few 
roses still in bloom in the open yards. 
Throughout Norfolk County the absence of 
fences destroyed during the war and not re¬ 
placed, makes it necessary' for each land own¬ 
er to keep his stock on his own land. This is 
a decided advantage to all except a few shift¬ 
less blacks and whites who prefer to let their 
hogs forage at large on their neighbors’ crops. 
In Princess Anne and Northampton Counties 
people still adhere to the zig-zag rail fences 
and hogs and cattle that roam at large compel 
every land owner to fence out his neighbors’ 
animals, whether he will or not. Good shell 
turnpike roads lead out in several directions 
from Norfolk. These turnpikes are owned by 
stock companies and are well supplied with 
toll-gates. One of the finest roads I ever saw 
extends from Old Point Comfort Post Office 
(near Fortress Monroe) to Hampton, three 
* miles. This fine road, made with oyster shells, 
was constructed partly by individual sub¬ 
scription and partly by the U. S. Government 
and has no toll-gate. 
GENERAL REMARKS. 
Mosquitos are not bad on salt-water marshes. 
Fruit trees of all kinds are scarce in the 
vicinity of Norfolk, and the small number 
seen have a stunted, scrubby look with moss 
adhering to them and the nearer they are to 
salt water the worse they look. They gener¬ 
ally lean to the east, showing the effects of 
strong west winds. They seemed to be fruitful, 
being full ef fruit buds. 1 think that all 
kinds of fruit, trees should be cut back when 
young and made to branch out near the 
ground to withstand the winds. 
I did not see a ton of Timothy or clover 
hay iu Norfolk County. Corn blades, pea- 
vines and oat straw seemed to lie tbe sole re¬ 
liance for fodder. The time will probably 
come when their plows will run deeper and 
more and better kinds of forage crops will be 
grown. Green crops of clover, rye, peas, mil¬ 
let, etc., will be plowed under to enrich the 
soil much more than formerly. Those exten¬ 
sive pine forests in every direction look rather 
gloomy and somber, especially ou cloudy 
days, and I should like the Southern forests 
better if there was more hard-wood timber 
and less pine. The sweet potatoes, oysters 
and corn meal cakes tasted better than any 
we get North. Buckwheat flour, Winter ap¬ 
ples, butter and cheese are brought from the 
North and retail at high price s. It is a diffi¬ 
cult task to find a 10, 20, or 50-acre lot near 
Norfolk combining even one-half the conven¬ 
iences an intelligent Northern man wants to 
make life pleasant and desirable. 
There is plenty of room for industrious, en¬ 
ergetic young men willing to be pioneei’s. 
Muscle, brains, capital and skill are needed 
here to assure success as much ns anywhere in 
the West. 1 went out six miles north of 
Norfolk to look at some 25-acre lots, lining 
part of a 3,000-acre farm lately bought by 
Northern men and offered for sale in small 
parcels at $35 per acre—no buildings. 1 found 
the timber and fire-wood bad been mostly cut 
and taken off. but the stumps, sprouts aud 
bushes were still there and rather expensive 
to remove. If I bought one of those lots I 
could not tell who my neighbors would be 
or when or where the Post Office and school- 
house would be located, or whether my chil¬ 
dren would have suitable society of youug 
people. There were plenty of negro cabins 
in every direction and much hard work to do. 
As I am over 50 and not very muscular, I con¬ 
cluded in this case not to be a pioneer. 
I am aware that I have painted the profits 
and delights of “Gardening at Norfolk’ in 
rather dismal colors; but I wish to be just 
and fair to all, to the Northern settlers as well 
as to tbe land seller and real estate agent. I 
wished to give such information as cannot 
generally be obtained from t.he rose colored 
statements of those interested in the sale of 
land; to make known the dark side as w'ell 
as the bright , to save, in some cases perhaps, 
the expense of a personal visit to get the de¬ 
sired information. A. Babcock. 
HOW SHALL WE PREPARE THE AS¬ 
PARAGUS BED ? 
I do not wish to criticise Mr. Mend’s direc¬ 
tions in a late Rural for the preparation of 
the land for planting asparagus, for 1 am not 
prepared to prove, and therefore will not ven¬ 
ture to assert, that the mode of preparation 
indicated by him would not prove the most 
profitable in the end; but, knowing as I do, 
that one reason why this, one of the earliest 
of all our vegetables, is not more generally 
found in our farmers’ gardens is because of the 
labor attending its culture by the plan com¬ 
monly recommended for its growth by writers 
on the subject; and knowing also that it can 
be grown w ith much less labor than is gener¬ 
ally supposed, and grown, too, so as to be, 
though perhaps not quite so fine in quality as 
when more pains are taken in the preparation 
of the soil, yet quite good enough, so that 
when properly cooked and prepared no one of 
ordinary taste would refuse it, because it was 
not grown in the highest style of the gardener’s 
art, I will give some simple directions by which 
every owner of a garden may supply his 
table with a fair quality of asparagus in its 
season. 
Let the ground be enriched most thoroughly 
to a depth as great as the surface soil extends. 
One need have no fear of making it too rich 
if several inches of well-rotted manure are 
added to it and then thoroughly worked in, 
but it is not an actual necessity in order to 
grow good asparagus that the subsoil should 
be filled with manure or even that it should 
be disturbed by trenching or otherwise. 
After thoroughly preparing the soil, as 
above directed, procure plants one or tw'o 
vears old from the seed, and if to be planted 
in row's rather than in beds—and I usually 
prefer to plant all kiuds of garden vegetables 
or nearly all kiuds in rows—open a trench a 
litile below the surface and make a sort of 
mound on which to plant, placing the plants 
about one foot apart iu rows three feet apart, 
and spreading the roots out well, cover them 
to the depth of from four to six inches; then 
cultivate thoroughly, and each Fall give a 
heavy top-dressing of stable manure, raking 
off the coarser part in the Spring. Use salt 
quite freely on the beds, pouring over them 
any old beef or pork brine you wish to empty 
out, or any other refuse salt, and, my word 
for it, you will have a supply of asparagus 
that will equal in quality most of that found 
in our city or village markets. 
Croton, N. Y. Treble. 
[We are always obliged for notes of experi¬ 
ence from our readers. Our own practice is 
to set the roots two feet by four lent apart. 
The large amounts of manure used on aspara¬ 
gus plantations are in a measure thrown 
away.— Eds.] 
NOTES AND COMMENTS. 
I notice that Mr. Vick has a good word for 
Ammonium alatum grand!florum, “a very 
flue, large Ammobium, with flowers nearly 
tw'ice the size of the old variety and of a pure 
white color.” From what l have read con¬ 
cerning this novelty, T have no doubt that it 
will be found to be a most valuable addition 
to our list of everlasting flowers. As it is now 
advertised so cheap, we can all afford to 
give it a trial. I shall certainly do so, and 
report through the columns of the Rural,. 
I regret that I cannot give Mr. Allen any 
