or covered over by grasses, ferns and aquatic plants growing in the water, by forest leaves carried thither by the wind, by the fine soil carried down from the higher lands by water, and by the elements of the soil dissolved by rain water and carbonic acid carried into the swamp and remaining when the water evaporated, or deposited by the escape of excess of the carbonic acid, by means of which they were held in solution in the water. Confirmation of this is found in some parts of the State where railroads have been built over swamps, where the crust of vegetable matter covering a hidden lake was not suf ficiently strong to support the railroad embankment; the crust has given way, precipitating the railroad track into a lake of surprising depth, abundantly stocked with eyeless fish. The same process is going on in all our small lakes, and in time they will all be blotted out in the same way. That muck should be abundant in our State is a georgraphical necessity; that it would be rich in many of the elements of vegetable growth is apparent from the manner of its formation. And yet farmers have used muck very sparingly, and many have thought the best thing they could do with it was to avail themselves of the first dry season to burn out all "the cat holes" on their farms. The old Scotch proverb says: "Muck is the mother of the meal chest." Farmers would do well not to decide too haslily against its value. In discussing this subject, I will consider- Second. Its chemical relations; Third. Methods of using it; Fourth. State the results of experiments. I.-PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF MUCK. I give the popular name Muck, to the fine dark brown mass of decaying vegetable matter, partly soluble, partly insoluble— partly acid, partly neutral-found in our swamps. It is formed by the decay of vegetable matter in the water or partially submerged, from the mosses and aquatic plants growing in stagnant waters, from the grasses and ferns, growing on the spongy soil furnished by their decay, from the leaves of trees, carried by the winds into the swamp, from the fine particles of soil and the salts washed into the swamp by waters flowing over the higher grounds, and from the remains of insects, worms, mollusks, fishes and reptiles, indigenous to such waters. The composition of Muck, and its value as a fertilizer, will vary somewhat with these varying conditions of its formation. I shall classify the varieties of Muck in a popular, rather than in a scientific method: 1st. Upon the surface of a swamp, especially if freely ex. posed to the action of frost and air, there is a soft powdery substance, of a dark brown color, not adhering strongly to the fingers whether wet or dry, and apparently identical with the vegetable mould of our gardens. This I shall call powdery muck. 2d. Below this there is a layer, of varying thickness, of a soft sticky mass when wet, adhering tenaciously to the fingers when wet, and forming a hard, crumbly mass when dry. When wet it has the consistence of old cheese. This I will call cheesy muck. 3d. Underlying this there is often found a mass of vegetable matter, preserving the forms of the grasses, mosses, ferns, &c., from which it was originally formed. When dry, it forms a light spongy mass, readily parting in horizontal layers, and burning with considerable readiness. It is generally formed in deeper water than muck is, the water preventing the access of air and heat, and thus preserving the vegetable matter from the amount of decay necessary to form muck. This I will call peat. This order is sometimes changed. When the first formations are deposited in deep water, the cheesy muck may be found mingled with shells, &c., at the bottom, and a peaty stratum overlaying this. Frequently a mixture of clay and carbonate of lime is found beneath all, forming marl. The only variety of muck suitable for immediate application to the soil, is the first or powdery muck. I shall not discuss further the physical properties of the other two varieties. The mode of converting them into this powdery variety will be given under the third general head "Methods of Using." I shall only discuss the physical properties of the first variety. The first property I notice is its mechanical action on clay soils, by reason of its light and porous nature, rendering the soil loose and open, permitting the access of air, and affording a ready passage for superabundant moisture. Farmers divide soils into heavy and light, the amount of power expended in plowing being taken as a measure of these qualities. A heavy soil is rendered so by two distinct properties, its tenacity and adhesiveness or stickiness. The tenacity is measured by the force required to break a piece of soil. It varies greatly in different soils, being nothing in pure dry sand, and greatest in pure dry clay. The tenacity of muck is one-twelfth of that of pure clay. The adhesiveness of a soil is the force with which it adheres to the plow, &c. It is greatest in pure clay, while muck has only one-third the adhesive power of clay. The heaviness of a soil being the joint product of its tenacity and adhesiveness, it becomes evident from the great disparity between clay and muck in both these qualities that the addition of muck will greatly ameliorate the stiffness or heaviness of clay soils. It also improves the condition of light shifting sands, giving greater firmness from its possessing a tenacity and adhesiveness superior to those of pure sand. This mechanical property of muck is, therefore, valuable in two very different classes of soils, in heavy clays and light sands. 2d. Different soils have the property of absorbing moisture from the atmosphere in different degrees. Sir Humphrey Davy was disposed to regard this property of soils as a sure index of their good quality. The experiments of M. Schubler, as given by Boussingault, show that muck surpasses all other constituents of soil in this respect, possessing five times the absorptive power of common arable soil. In a climate so liable to severe and protracted drouth as ours, this property is very valuable. The experiments of M. Schubler also show that muck surpasses all soils in retaining mosture within its pores. In all the properties by which soils resist excessive dryness, muck stands at the head of the list, and garden earth, which contains a large amount of vegetable mold or muck, stands next. 3d. When soils are exposed to the direct rays of the sun, they become unequally heated, and this difference is quite remarkable. Some experiments at this College gave the following results: Muck, nearly dry, 112°; dry sand, 104°; damp muck, in corn-field, 107°; black mold, 104°; brown clay, 100°; gray clay, 99 The experiments of M. Schubler are more extended, and give similar results: Sand, 99°; yellow clay, 98°; garden soil, 99°; muck, 103°. These results we would anticipate from the power dark-colored substances are known to possess of absorbing a larger proportion of the sun's heat than light colored substances. This difference in favor of muck is equivalent to giving us a southern climate for our dark colored soils. Thus the difference in temperature of muck and clay when exposed to the solar rays is about 5°, which addition to our average temperature would give us the climate of central Ohio. 4th. Soils differ in the rapidity with which they give off their heat into space. Here, unfortunately, muck stands at the head of the list. Heretofore it has stood first in all good qualities, but here it stands preeminent in a bad cause. The facility with which muck gives off its heat is easily observed in cornfields where are patches largely made-up of muck, where the corn is very liable to be cut by frost. Such soils are popularly termed frosty. This is a serious objection to muck, and shows the impropriety of allowing it to exceed a certain per centage in the soil. 5th. Liebig has shown that liquid manures of a deep brown color and strong smell, filtered through arable soil, flow off col· orless and inodorous, not only losing their color and smell, but the ammonia, potash and phosphoric acid, held in solution, are completely withdrawn by the soil. There is no perceptible connection between the composition of the soil and this ab. sorptive power, except that the amount of muck or humus contained in a soil, determines to a great extent its power of absorption of these salts. Thus the muck in any soil, or its vegetable mould, is the chief agent by which the soil retains its fertilizing salts, and does not lose by constant leaching all its soluble elements of vegetable growth. II.-ITS CHEMICAL RELATIONS. Viewed in its chemical relations, we find muck is composed of several complex organic "acids and neutral substances, which with the uninterrupted presence of air, moisture and heat, may be still further decomposed, producing carbonic acid and water." These substances contain carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and some of them nitrogen, besides certain inorganic bases, as lime, oxide of iron, &c. All substances of a complex composition tend to decomposition, assuming a lower or less complex organization. When carbon, oxygen and hydrogen e. g. exist together in the same body, they are disposed so to alter their combinations as to form at last carbonic acid and water; where the oxygen and hydrogen are in equal proportions in the same body, this will be the final result. But if the body contains an excess of hydrogen, where it decays in the presence of air, the excess of hydrogen will seize upon the nitrogen of the air and form ammonia. The muck not only absorbs and retains the ammonia already existing in the atmosphere, or brought down by the rain, but becomes by its own decomposition a means of its formation. Thus a portion of that lazy, indifferent element, nitrogen, which envelops the whole earth, but seems unwilling to contribute anything to its support, is conscripted by the hydrogen, and compelled to serve in the ranks of vegetable life, and lest, like other conscripts, he should desert, hydrogen having once seized him does not release him till discharged at the end of an hon |