SALT MARSHES. £5 



ing upon such a course in a few years would run out. Our farms 

 must be stocked to the full extent they will carry, in order that 

 the manure heap may be increased. Clearing up these meadows 

 and bogs will give additional facilities for growing hay to keep 

 stock. These bogs, often unsightly and breeding disease through- 

 out the neighborhood — are in fact the best grass lands we have. 

 If cleared and drained they will not only produce grass but 

 vegetables and grains. 



In answer to a question Mr. Goodale remarked that while water 

 was absolutely essential to vegetation, any excess of it in the soil 

 was injurious, unless it could be kept in a state of activity. 



Salt marshes have been spoken of ; these naturally jDroduce a 

 growth of little value, but not for lack of the elements of fertility. 

 What we need to know is, not how to bestow upon them what our 

 hungry uplands need, but rather how to relieve them from the 

 disabilities under which they labor. The truth is that salt marshes 

 and many fresh meadows are scarcely poorer in point of natural 

 endowment than good upland prairies. Float the best piece of 

 prairie in all the West twice daily, the year round, in weak pickle, 

 and what crops would you expect to grow upon it ? Soak another 

 piece to saturation in stagnant fresh water and how much better 

 would that be than if it were in salt water ? 



One of the wonderful things about the effect of water upon 

 vegetation is, that there may be a large surplus with no injury but 

 gi'eat benefit, provided it could he constantly moving. Hence the 

 wonderful degree of fertility which was induced by irrigation ; 

 where the ground was not only saturated, but a sheet of water 

 was constantly moving over the surface. Water stagnant in a soil 

 was always injurious, whether in a bog or upon uplands. 



The bogs and meadows of the State may not only be reclaimed 

 into its most fertile and most profitable portions, but they may also 

 frequently be made to contribute materially towards fertilizing the 

 uplands ; — and this both directly, in furnishing materials for the 

 compost heap, and indirectly, by the manure yielded from the 

 consumption of their growth of grasses. 



In conclusion, Mr. Scamman, at the request of the Board, 

 assumed the continued investigation of the same topic during the 

 year to come. 



