170 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



soiuetiines of wlieat. Upon these lands the muck is not deep and is thoroughly 

 rotted and pulverized, as those kinds of timhcr will only grow wlierc their roots 

 can penetrate through the vegetable and into tlie mineral soil beneath, and 

 they are always so situated that when in a state of riature, they will be dry 

 during a considerable portion of the year. 



Another kind of swamp lands produce at once, when drained, excellent crops 

 of hay and some of the moisture-loving vegetables, such as roots, etc. Upon 

 these the muck is deeper than upon the last, is less thoroughly rotted and less 

 finely pulverized, and the natural growth upon them is generally willows, 

 alders, and sometimes small sickly tamarac, it being too far advanced in 

 becoming soil to be suitable to produce a healthy growth of the latter. It will 

 be so situated that the water remains longer upon it in the spring and fall — 

 that is the basin will be deeper in which it lies — than in the case of the 

 last kind. 



Another kind needs to lie some time after the water is drawn off, to rot and 

 pulverize and settle togetlier before producing good crops of even the most 

 water-loving grasses fit for hay — such as red-top, foul meadow, etc. The muck 

 upon these lands is much deeper, and is composed of vegetable substances not 

 thoroughly decayed, and in many cases maintaining their natural shape, so it 

 is not difliicult to recognize the species of vegetation producing them. They 

 are so situated that the water remains upon them a still greater portion of the 

 year; that is, the basin they lie in is still deeper than the last. The vegetation 

 is generally tamarac or spruce., which spread their roots widely over the surface 

 instead of sending them down deep into the muck, or they are open marshes. 

 This latter is much the largest class of any, probably comprising nearly one-half 

 of the whole swamp lands of the county. 



And still another kind needs to lie a very long time after the water is drawn 

 ofE before it is in a fit state to produce any valuable crop at all. Upon these 

 the muck is very deep, consisting principally of unrooted grass roots and other 

 vegetable substances nearly unchanged ; it is generally so situated as to be un- 

 der water nearly the whole season through. The vegetation consists mainly of 

 the various sedges or flat-leaved wire-grasses, rushes, etc. Such soils mu'st have 

 time to rot and settle down and become pulverized before producing valuable 

 croj)S. It is frequently benefited, and its fitness for cultivation greatly hast- 

 ened, by burning off a foot or two of the surface after draining off the water. 

 The basin containing them is generally very deep, and as they waste away 

 and settle down a great deal in becoming fit for cultivation, they require 

 very deep draining, and are generally the most difficult to drain deep 

 enough; for lying, as they do, in a deep basin, it generally requires a 

 very deep ditch a long distance through the hard land to get sufficient fall 

 to thoroughly drain them. Of course, I would not wish to be understood 

 as saying that all our swamp lands are of exactly one or tiie other of 

 the above types, but that those are the principal varieties most usually 

 foand. The difference in the condition of the muck upon them is, I believe, 

 caused in every case by the depth of the basin in which they lie — in the deeper 

 ones the muck accumulating to great depth, and being under the water nearly 

 all the time docs not decay or change, while in the shallower ones tlie water 

 entirely evaporates and the muck decays rapidly, being alternately v/et and 

 dry. and becomes the same deep, black, rich vegetable soil which covers the 

 prairies of Illinois and Indiana; and I believe it to be only a question of time 

 and drainage when all will be equally fertile and valuable. 



Nearly all these swamps were formed or caused by beaver?. The time was when 



