156 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



day. These are the swamps that exist generally in an unimproved condition. 

 The aggregate amount of such swampy land existing to-day in this State is 

 not less than 500,000 acres, and probably it is equally abundant in neighbor- 

 ing States. Could that land, which is now worse than worthless, be improved 

 and brought to such a condition as to produce crops of valuable hay, the 

 aggregate value so added to the property of the State would not be less than 

 110,000,000. 



You see that the question of the improvement of these marshes is certainly 

 worth your consideration from a financial point of view. Tiiroughout the 

 whole State there are but few farms that have not more or less waste land 

 caused by marshes. 



These muck swamps, although alike in some particulars, still differ in 

 many others. We find them existing by themselves with or without an 

 outlet for surface waters; we find them along creeks or rivers, and bordering 

 on lakes. The muck of which they are composed varies not only in character, 

 but it exists in varying depths., from a few inches to one hundred feet or 

 more. 



FORMATIOX OF MUCK SWAMPS. 



The formation of these swamps is interesting in the extreme. The muck 

 forming the soil of these swamps is vegetable matter that has decayed more 

 or less perfectly, and generally this decay has taken place under water. This 

 class of swamps is not found in the tropical regions. The conditions neces- 

 sary to form a thick bed of muck are that vegetable growth shall take place 

 faster than it can decay, and such is not the case in the tropics. In the cooler 

 temperate regions, where there is much moisture, the conditions are favorable 

 for such swamps. Even in the Arctic regions such swamps occur. 



We will first consider the formation of that class of muck swamps which 

 exists independently of springs or lakes. Start with me in imagination 

 thousands of years ago ; the earth we find wooded, and the country some- 

 what rolling. We note a hollow, but for some cause the outlet is choked, 

 and the waters do not readily run off. A hundred years later — more water 

 in the hollow — many trees have fallen — a dense mass of trees have sprung 

 up, and the trees are being choked out of existence. Still another centuiy 

 and the grass has conquered the trees, successive crop has fallen over 

 successive crop, and the hollow has become a marsh. In subsequent years 

 excavation reveals huge trunks deep in the ground, and man wonders how 

 trees, now indigenous to hard land, or perhaps common to swamps, are 

 found so deeply imbedded in the muck. 



It is because the growth of successive years has gradually raised the surface 

 of the land, converting what was once hard laud and formerly a valley, into 

 first a swamp which did not afford proper nourishment for trees, and then 

 in time covering with successive vegetable growths any trees that may have 

 fallen over. 



The swamp surrounding lakes is formed by successive growths of vege- 

 tation which die down, and in their decay form soil for succeeding crops. 

 This growth proceeds from the shore toward the center of the lake, each year 

 adding a concentric ring to that of the year before. The decay under water 

 is necessarily slow, and we frequently find lakes surrounded, and even cov- 

 ered with a floating mass of vegetation — frequently so as not to bear even the 

 weight of a man. Decay and subsequent growth thickens this top, until 

 in time, the deposit may reach the bottom of the lake. That many of our 



