1906 . 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
727 
CELERY ON A SWAMP FARM.. 
Fertilizing with Soil Richer Than Manure. 
Part I. 
iwo years ago I told about the celery farm of A. R. 
Niles in lioga Co., Pa. Last Summer I visited the 
farm for the second time in order to see how the young 
celery is handled. We have been asked to tell the story 
again, and it seems a good time to do so after Mr. Gar- 
rahan has told how he brought up his run-down farm. 
This celery farm was anything but "run down.” Plant 
food from the bills had run down into it, until some 
parts of the soil are quite as rich as average manure. 
It must be understood that this farm is located in a 
swamp. It is a long narrow valley, with high hills 
rising around it upon all sides but one. In old times 
there was a lake or pond here—the rain which fell upon 
the hills draining down into the valley. We all know 
what happens in a stagnant pond. A dark-colored sedi¬ 
ment falls at the bottom; plants grow and decay, fish 
die—slowly a rich deposit forms. What there was of 
soluble plant food in the bills is washed down into the 
pond, and most of it is held there. We know of cases 
where small ponds have been drained, the bottom 
scraped off, and the refuse carried out to spread over 
the land. 1 his swamp in Pennsylvania followed the 
history of many a “pocket” of rich soil tucked among 
the hills. J lie pond grew until it overflowed at one 
end. The escaping water cut a deeper and deeper chan¬ 
nel until the entire pond was drained. The bottom of 
the pond remained—a black, sticky mass with a small 
stream running through it. As years went by coarse 
grass and plants grew, fell down and decayed, until the 
bottom of the old pond was changed into what we call 
muck—a rough swamp. 
'1 here are many of these swamps and old pond holes 
scattered over hilly sections of country. Like this one 
in Pennsylvania, they are nature’s banks in which the 
fertilizing wastes of years are held for coming genera¬ 
tions. Nature operates like some shrewd old fathers 
who realize that their children will not wisely handle 
the property they have toiled long to put together. So 
they entail it or tie it up securely in forms which can¬ 
not well be squandered. 'I he children live on the in¬ 
terest, but cannot touch the principal. That is about 
what happens in one of these swamps. Some of the 
soil will show by analysis that it contains as much nitro¬ 
gen as manure and yet nothing of value grows there. 
Put manure on the soil which rises above the swamp, 
and choice grasses will come in, while in the swamp 
itself only coarse rushes will grow. Nature has saved 
that plant food by turning it into sour insoluble com¬ 
pounds that will neither nourish crops nor dissolve 
away. This will explain why some farmers have been 
disappointed in the use of swamp muck. They have 
hauled it out and spread it raw, like manure, with poor 
rcsults, while crops planted in the undrained swamp 
failed. Yet, when they composted the muck with wood 
ashes or used ashes in the drained swamp they had fair 
returns. 
When Mr. Niles started 
at the upper end of this 
swamp the land was so 
rough and sour that some 
of it sold for less than $10 
per acre. It will seem like 
a fairy tale to many, but 
after fitting, clearing and 
fertilizing, some of this 
very land produced over 
$500 worth of celery per 
acre. One acre after two 
years gave $900 worth of 
lettuce. I would not give 
these figures if I did not 
feel sure they arc accurate. 
I shall try to tell how the 
land was handled, though 
1 know how hard it is to 
make such things clear on 
paper and not lead people 
astray. 
While the original cost 
of this swamp land was low, the cost of fitting it for 
a crop was from five to If) times as much. It must be 
cleaned and grubbed over, and ditched thoroughly. As 
it stands one great trouble with swamp land is that it 
holds too much water. Such land is usually nearly 
level, and big open ditches are needed to take off the 
water. In this Pennsylvania valley the ditches look 
almost like a network of small canals. Even at its best 
the soil in many parts of the valley is such that the 
horses must wear broad pieces of wood or steel on their 
feet to prevent their plunging in to their knees. This 
moisture, properly controlled, is ideal for celery or let¬ 
tuce, which are thirsty crops. 
When it came to fertilizing the celery crop Mr. Niles 
faced a hard problem. It was evident from results in 
other parts of the valley that the soil as it stood would 
not produce good celery. In some cases fair celery 
crops were being grown by the use of kainit or muriate 
of potash, while in others these potash salts with a low- 
grade phosphate were used. In the swampy districts 
near Kalamazoo, Mich., stable manure is largely used, 
but there being no available supply near at hand, and 
the great .cost of labor in handling it, put it out of the 
question. To provide the amount of manure used in 
Michigan would cost $45 per acre at the lowest calcu¬ 
lation, to say nothing of the cost of hauling and spread¬ 
ing it, which, in this soft soil, would cost nearly as 
much more. In considering this use of manure two 
things were most important—what did the manure add 
to the soil and what did the soil contain? Average 
analyses of several swamp soils in the West show the 
THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY. Fig. 309. 
following for the top soil. For comparison the analysis 
of average stable manure is added: 
rounds in one ton. 
Nitrogen. Plios. acid. Potash. 
Swamp muck. 64 9 2 
Stable manure. in 6 13 
Is there not some mistake about these figures? Can 
it be possible that a ton of swamp muck contains 64 
pounds of nitrogen? That is more than we buy in a 
three-per-cent fertilizer! The figures appear to be 
strictly true; they are taken from an Indiana bulletin. 
Yet as we have pointed out, if any farmer were to try 
to substitute swamp muck for the fertilizer he would 
make a bad failure, because the nitrogen in the muck 
is not ready for use. It will at once be asked why there 
is so little potash in this muck with so much nitrogen 
and a fair supply of phosphoric acid. The Illinois Ex¬ 
periment Station explains this by saying that the muck- 
or peat in the swamp is largely partly decayed sphagnum 
moss. When this moss decays the nitrogen in partic r 
ular and the phosphoric acid partly so are held in an 
insoluble form. On the other hand, the potash, when 
such decay occurs, becomes more soluble and is washed 
out. Thus we see that the soil itself is rich in nitro¬ 
gen, lacking in phosphoric acid, and very deficient in 
potash. h. w. c. 
TRUTH ABOUT GINSENG CULTURE. 
Scattered throughout southern central New York and 
northeastern Pennsylvania are a considerable number 
of ginseng plantations of greater or less size. I re¬ 
cently visited three of these, one of which represents an 
investment of several thousand dollars. These beds 
have now been planted four or five years, and the grow¬ 
ers are just beginning to get returns in the form of 
salable roots and seed, and are now able to tell some¬ 
thing definite of their prospects. Before telling of the 
present condition of these plantations, it may be well 
to give a short description of the way in which a gin¬ 
seng plantation is started. First, shade must be pro¬ 
vided. I his is usually obtained by placing laths approx¬ 
imately two inches wide one or one and one-half inch 
apart, supporting these on posts high enough so that one 
may walk under the covering. The roots are planted 
in beds four to six feet wide, of any convenient length, 
with paths about 18 inches wide between them. To 
make conditions as nearly natural as possible, from two 
to three inches of leaf mold from the forest is placed on 
the surface of the bed. The plants may be started either 
from seed or by transplanting young wild roots from the 
forest. In the smaller plantations the initial cost for 
the covering and beds may be but a small cash outlay, 
the main cost being the time required; the plants and 
seed may be found wild in the woods. In the larger 
establishments, however, there is a very heavy expense 
incurred for the covering, beds and plants. The first 
plantation which I visited was perhaps one-eighth of an 
acre in extent, only one-half of which was occupied by 
planted beds. When F was there, August 22, I found 
that all of the beds had been allowed to grow up with 
weeds. Late in June a disease had attacked the tops of 
the plants, and not a green ginseng leaf remained. The 
roots still seemed healthy, and as nearly all had formed 
buds for next year’s stalks, it is probable that growl h 
will be resumed again next Spring as usual. But as all 
of this year’s seed crop had been destroyed, as well as a 
large proportion of the root growth, the owners were 
entirely discouraged. They had made their first sale last 
year, having sold enough ginseng roots at $5 a pound 
to make a total of $57. I bis Fall they will dig and sell 
what roots remain, and will use the ginseng enclosure 
for a place to raise poultry. 
The third plantation which 1 visited is one of the 
largest in this part of the State. There are three en¬ 
closures, the largest of which occupies nearly one acre 
of ground, and represents an investment of. $5,000. The 
ginseng plants here had also been destroyed by “the 
blight” late in June. Although this caused a loss of all 
the seed crop and of a part of the season’s root growth, 
the owner now expects that a healthy growth will be 
renewed next Spring, and hopes that the disease will be 
less severe in its attack next year. Last Fall 100 pounds 
of dried roots were harvested from some of the older 
beds, which must have sold for at least $500. This Sum¬ 
mer six of the beds were dug up and a yield of 250 
pounds of green roots were obtained, which is equivalent 
to about 75 or 80 pounds of dried roots. As there are 
approximately 75 beds in this enclosure, an estimate may 
be made of the total number of pounds of dried ginseng 
roots which should be harvested when all of the plants 
have reached an age of five years. It may be stated here 
that the growth of ginseng under cultivation is much 
more rapid, and much larger roots are obtained than is 
usual under natural conditions. 
In regard to the future of the ginseng industry, there 
are several factors to be taken into consideration. Three 
or four years ago, when large plantings were being made, 
the greatest profit from a 
mature ginseng bed was 
derived from the sale of 
seed, which sold for one 
cent each, or about $80 per 
pound. In establishing the 
large plantation described 
the owner purchased at 
one time 20 pounds of seed 
at $80 per pound. At the 
present time, when many 
of the ginseng plantations 
established a few years ago 
are producing seed, and 
the demand for it has de¬ 
creased, the seed sells for 
a much less price than for¬ 
merly, and is evidently not 
now a large source of 
profit. As large quantities 
of the cultivated roots are 
now being sold in the mar¬ 
ket. dealers are discrim¬ 
inating against them in 
favor of the wild roots and it seems likely that the 
price, which is lower than two years ago, may decline 
still more. Ginseng is not used to any extent for medic¬ 
inal purposes in this country, nor is it likely to be; the 
only demand is from China. It seems certain that the 
time of very large profits from ginseng has passed. 
Where proper care has been given in planting, weeding, 
etc. as has been done at the large plantation described 
in this article, unless a very great decline in the price of 
roots occurs, or the plants are destroyed by disease, it is 
probable than the money invested may be in a few years 
recovered by the sale of roots. And as the beds may be 
immediately planted again, and the lath covering should 
last for a number of years, a fair income may be realized. 
But when considering the advisability of establishing a 
plantation, the uncertainty involved in regard to the de¬ 
mand for the root, the probable increase in supply, and 
the risks involved from disease and other causes makes 
such an undertaking rather hazardous, w. m. evans. 
Pennsylvania. 
HEADING OUTFIT IN A KANSAS WHEAT FIELD. Fig. 310. 
