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The result of this change is a decreasing area for water plants, but an 

 increasing area for swamp plants, which area is again converted into cultivated 

 dry land. While this is a slow process, and has not materially decreased the size 

 of the lakes very lately, yet a great deal of swamp land which formerly was over- 

 flowed at periods of high water has been, within the past twenty years, so success- 

 fully drained as to make dry, tillable land. The amount of swamp land in 

 Kosciusko County at present is not one-half what it was twenty years ago; but 

 there was so much land of this character then, that the remainder, with the lakes 

 added, is sufficient to designate this as a true lake region. 



The same changes have taken place to a greater or less extent in all the other 

 counties of the region. 



But few species have, in all probability, been yet lost to this flora by these 

 changes, but the abundance of many species must be greatly reduced. 



By means of this system of drainage the land passes from the wettest swamp 

 through all gradations to dry, solid land, and the plants growing on it change in 

 •a like manner. 



I have in mind a certain swamp, which was an outlot of the city of Warsaw, 

 Kosciusko County, in which grew, fifteen or sixteen years ago, great quantities of 

 Typha latifolia L., Sagittaria variabilis Englem., Ct/peous strigo.tus L., and such 

 plants as grow in the wettest swamps. Open ditches were put through and the 

 soil was gradually dried. These plants gradually disappeared, and such plants as 

 Lobelia si/philitica L. , Lobelia carchnalis L., Li/siiiiachia xtricta Ait., L'is versicolor L. , 

 and Pofentilla fruticosa L. , were noticed. As the ground further dried out, and 

 •these began to disappear, others were observed, such as Parnassia Carnliniana 

 Michx., Viola palmita L., var cucullata Gray, llola Canadensis L., and Gerardia 

 purpurea L. Even these finally disappeared, until one can now only occasionally 

 •find a plant of Viola palmafa L. , var cucullata Gray, and such weeds as grow in a 

 pasture lot— thistles, burdock, etc. 



This land has, under my observation, undergone these complete transforma- 

 tions as regards its soil and plant life, and is only an example of numerous similar 

 instances throughout the entire region. 



The rich black muck soil thus formed and mixed with some sand and lime 

 (which latter shows itself in places in marl deposits) produces plants of exceptional 

 size, shows many specimens of rapid growth and unusual development, and 

 affords much material for study along that line. 



This reclaimed soil has proven specially adapted to the growth of celery, and 

 Warsaw is becoming a large shipping point for celery of exceptionally fine 

 quality. 



