Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Table of contents 1 Muck disambiguation 2 Muck (Agriculture, as in muck land, or muck farming) 3 Other meanings 4 External links Muck disambiguation Muck is the name of one of the Small Isles, part of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Muck (Agriculture, as in muck land, or muck farming) A soil made up primarily of humus from drained swampland, used for growing specialty crops such as onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes. Muck farming on drained bogs is an important part of agriculture in New York, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Florida, where mostly vegetables are grown. American "muckers" often have roots from the Netherlands or Eastern Europe, where their ancestors practiced a similar type of farming. The soils are deep, dark colored, and friable, often underlain by marl or marly clay. Muck farming is controversial, because the drainage of wetlands destroys wildlife habitat and produces other environmental problems. It is unlikely that any more will be created in the US, because of environmental regulations. It also was often hyped as miracle soil, capable of vast yields, which does not hold up in reality. It is prone to problems; muck is very light and usually windbreaks must be provided to keep it from blowing away when dry. It also can catch fire and burn underground for months. Oxidation also removes a portion of the soil each year, so they become progressively shallower. Some muck land has been reclaimed for wildlife preserves. Other meanings Bottom sediments, as in a muckworm, a bottom dweller, also derisively used for a miser. Animal manure. As a verb, used as to muck out a stable pen. Something scandalous. A journalist who publishes scandalous things is called a muckraker. A state of confusion, such as someone running amuck or one who mucks up the system Salacious or sexual - a mucky film. External links The Horicon National Wildlife Refuge was established on muck land returned as much as possible to the original state. http://midwest.fws.gov/horicon/Hisettlepg3.html An example of a typical muck farming operation: http://www.vegetablegrowersnews.com/pages/issue_03_08/03_08_zellers_soil.html See also: MUD (MUCK is a related acronym) This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.