mean by muck?

Of what does it consist?

How does it differ in quality?]

With these advantages before us, we must see the importance of an
understanding of the modes for obtaining charcoal. Many farmers are so
situated that they can obtain sufficient quantities of charcoal dust.
Others have not equal facilities. Nearly all, however, can obtain
_muck_, and to this we will now turn our attention.

MUCK, AND THE LIME AND SALT MIXTURE.

[What is the first step in preparing muck for decomposition?

With what proportion of the lime and salt mixture should it be
composted?

Why should this compost be made under cover?

What is this called after decomposition?

Why should we not use muck immediately after taking it from the swamp?]

By _muck_, we mean the vegetable deposits of swamps and rivers. It
consists of decayed organic substances, mixed with more or less earth.
Its principal constituent is _carbon_, in different degrees of
development, which has remained after the decomposition of vegetable
matter. Muck varies largely in its quality, according to the amount of
carbon which it contains, and the perfection of its decomposition. The
best muck is usually found in comparatively dry locations, where the
water which once caused the deposit has been removed. Muck which has
been long in this condition, is usually better decomposed than that
which is saturated with water. The muck from swamps, however, may soon
be brought to the best condition. It should be thrown out, if possible,
at least one year before it is required for use (a less time may
suffice, except in very cold climates) and left, in small heaps or
ridges, to the action of the weather, which will assist in pulverizing
it, while, from having its water removed, its decomposition goes on more
rapidly.

After the muck has remained in this condition a sufficient length of
time, it may be removed to the barn-yard and composted with the lime and
salt mixture (described on page 115) in the proportion of one cord of
muck to four bushels of the mixture. This compost ought to be made under
cover, lest the rain leach out the constituents of the mixture, and thus
occasion loss; at the end of a month or more, the muck in the compost
will have been reduced to a fine pulverulent mass, nearly equal to
charcoal dust for application to animal excrement. When in this
condition it is called _prepared_ muck, by which name it will be
designated in the following pages.

M