BIG SPRING PRAIRIE. 39 
as shown in the illustration. This settling of drained 
marsh land is not peculiar to Big Spring Prairie, but 
was noticed by the tillers of the Scioto Marsh. This 
marsh was formerly wooded. After it was drained, the 
land was cleared and cultivated. After tento fifteen 
years of cultivation, the stumps seemed to be growing 
in height, and logs imbedded under the surface were 
exposed. The amount of settling varied from one to 
two feet. The farmers of that section ascribed the ap- 
parent elevation of the stumps to the settling of soil 
consequent upon cultivation. 
The first and second causes above enumerated are 
sufficient to account for the amount of settling of the 
soil. Mr. W. C. Johnson, former proprietor of the Wild 
Rose Celery Farm, stated that the Creston, O., marsh 
had settled at least ten feet, and that Mr. John Brink- 
erhoff, the surveyor, who has frequently surveyed and 
leveled the marsh for securing data of water level for 
ditching, has observations to this effect on record. 
Formerly this marsh possessed a slow natural drainage, 
now a ditch about ten feet deep scarcely drains it. 
Under this subject, it may be of interest to give 
graphic representations of the advance or retrogression 
of plant societies under varying conditions. 
We shall employ Warming’s three classes of Xero- 
phytes, or drought-enduring plants; Hydrophytes, or 
water-loving plants; and Mesophytes, or plants thriving 
best in medium condition of moisture. The class Hal- 
ophytes may be ignored in this connection. 
The process of the filling up of a shallow lake mar- 
gin is quite rapid from the time the first bulrush makes 
its appearance above the water, until the area so cov- 
ered has been transformed into a marsh, which is cov- 
ered with water for only portions of the year. From 
that stage to the strictly mesophystic prairie the advance 
becomes gradually slower and slower, as portions of 
the vegetable remains by the alternate soaking and dry- 
