NEW 
TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND MIND.” 
SERIES. 
Vol. V. ALBANY, JUNE, 1848. No. 6. 
TSSS3 FAKltt OF CMER HSCF, 
' Messrs. Editors —I was .much gratified, in a re¬ 
cent visit to the farm of Clark Rice, Esq., in Dum- 
merston, Vt., to find so triumphant an illustration of 
the profitable results of enterprise;and good judgment, 
in seizing hold of the natural advantages of the farm, 
and appropriating them to use. These advantages 
consist in an abundant supply; of swamp muck of fine 
quality, and the power to obtain and hold a large quan¬ 
tity of surface water for the purpose of irrigation. 
Mr. Rice’s farm is mainly a grass farm, hay being the 
most profitable crop for his location and soilj and his 
operations are therefore conducted with a view to the 
raising of a large burden of grass, of good quality. 
He has recently erected new barns which are re¬ 
markably convenient and well arranged; the main barn 
is 160 feet in length, east and west,by 30 feet in width, 
with ample shed lofts, and a horse barn and carriage 
house annexed. The ground upon which the barn is 
built is descending to the east, and under a portion of it is 
spacious barn cellar for the manufacture of compost, 
100 feet long by 30 wide, open 24 feet on the southeast 
end; the lower side, or east end of the barn-yard, be 
ing on a level with the cellar bottom, affords a conve¬ 
nient passage into and out of it from the yard. 
The liberal use of muck enables Mr. Rice to sell off 
large quantities of hay without detriment to the farm. 
He usually winters from 30 to 40 head of cattle, how¬ 
ever, about half of which are stall fed, and the manure 
from these, composted with muck, together with other 
means of making compost hereafter described, affords 
him all the manure necessary for the improvement of 
his land, making and applying about 500 loads annu¬ 
ally. 
Management of Muck. 
His bed of muck covers a number of acres from 6 
to 8 feet in depth, and is a vegetable deposit of the 
finest quality. The original growth of timber on the 
adjoining land, was hard wood mainly, and whatever 
wash there may ever have been of an extensive area of 
higher land around the swamp, would naturally flow 
into it. Excellent arrangements have been made for 
the thorough drainage of the swamp, which will be 
more particularly described in speaking of his system 
of irrigation. The main body of the muck, except from 
March to the middle of June, w 7 hen the gates are shut and 
the swamp filled with water for irrigation, lies high and 
dry from moisture to the depth of 5 or 6 feet, and can 
be got out at any time of the year, when most convenient 
to do the work. Two or three times in the course of 
of the winter, a quantity sufficient for a layer of a loot in 
depth over the whole cellar, is taken directly from the 
swamp on sleds, and thrown in, it being but a short dis¬ 
tance from the barn, and the ground a little descending. 
In the fall, a coat of muck a foot in depth, is depo¬ 
sited over the cellar bottom, and when a sufficient 
quantity of manure has accumulated under the scuttles 
in the stable floors to cover the muck 8 or 10 inches 
thick, the same is spread, and another coat of muck 
put over the manure; repeating these operations from 
time to time, through the winter and spring, until the 
cattle are turned to grass. An immense quantity of 
compost is thus formed, and, judging from the smell 
and appearance, of the finest qualify. A part of the 
muck is dumped through a scuttle in the barn floor in¬ 
to the cellar, and a part is thrown in'through windows 
in the underpinning, and what cannot be conveniently 
spread from these heaps w'ith the shovel, is taken up 
on wheel barrows, running on a plank, and distributed 
in due proportion; the design being to incorporate two 
parts of muck to one of manure. A larger proportion 
of muck is kept under the stable floors, where the 
urine flows, than elsewhere, and this saturated muck is 
spread into the middle of the cellar from time to time, 
in order to equalize the whole mass. 
The compost lays in this state until after the spring 
work is done, when at odd jobs, such as rainy days and 
other days of leisure, it is forked over from end to end. 
After haying, it is carted out on to the land where 
wanted for the next spring’s use. None of it is applied 
to the soil until a year old—Mr. Rice being of opin¬ 
ion that composts, where large proportions of muck 
are used, require to be fully ripened by age and fer¬ 
mentation, in order to derive the greatest benefit from 
their application to the soil. 
Mr. Rice has been in the habit of applying 50 loads 
to the acre; 25 loads spread on the turf and plowed in, 
and 25 loads spread on the furrows and harrowed in. 
He has come to the conclusion, however, from recent 
trials with a view to ascertain the proper depth to bury 
compost, that he shall in future introduce the plow two 
or three inches deeper in breaking up his sward land, 
which his present facilities for makirng compost will 
warrant, and spread the whole dressing on top of 
the furrow, incorporating it thoroughly with the soil 
above the sod. 
The building appropriated to the horse barn and car¬ 
riage house has a cellar under the whole of it, and the 
manure of two or three horses goes into the part under 
the stables, into which muck is also thrown, from time 
to time, and 6 or 8 working hogs are faithful to their 
business of mingling and pulverizing the materials with 
which they are supplied. Bedding is freely used un¬ 
der the horses to augment the mass. Under the car¬ 
riage house is the feeding apartment, also a kettle and 
arch for cooking their feed, and storage for the mate¬ 
rials. 
