REPORT ON FORESTS. 249 



are intersected by many bays, salt ponds, thoroughfares and 

 winding creeks. They yield thousands of tons of salt hay 

 (Spartina juncii\ and black grass {Juncus gerardi), which are 

 extensively nsed for fodder and packing. It is transported on 

 flat-boats or scows up the many rivers to the interior, and is also 

 baled and shipped to the neighboring sea-shore resorts and cities. 

 Owing to the fact that these marshes already yield a good 

 income, that is, a fair rate of interest on the amount invested, 

 and probably more than cultivated fields would pay, by producing 

 year after year a good grade of hay without any labor except 

 the reaping, and a little ditching now and then, it would be a 

 precarious investment to bank and drain them as has been done 

 with similar land in Holland, except in the northeastern part 

 of the state, where proximity to cities makes land more val- 

 uable than in the southern part. These banked lands, although 

 fertile, are unsatisfactory to till ; the dykes are* a constant care 

 and anxiety, and storms and high tides, besides other serious 

 dangers, often cause irreparable damages. 



The reasons for mentioning these marshes in this connection 

 are, firstly, they yield an abundance of fodder and litter, and 

 secondly, the mud is an extremely rich fertilizer, consisting 

 mainly of humus, but containing also lime, and the decomposed 

 bodies of both macroscopic and microscopic organisms. It is an 

 inexhaustible store of fertility. In it are the materials which 

 the sandy soil of the interior needs most. By applying this mud 

 in the fall, so that the frost will pulverize and mellow it, and, 

 the following summer, sowing a leguminous crop for green 

 manure, the sandiest field is rendered so fertile that with 

 intensive culture, including a regular supply of water and intel- 

 ligent labor, it will produce fruits and vegetables of the finest 



*The banks are often seriously damaged by the musk-rat (Fiber zibethicus), an aquatic rat-like 

 rodent. It yields a salable fur and is extensively trapped. They dig through a bank in all directions, 

 causing it to leak and weakening it throughout in a way which is difficult to repair. They are prolific 

 and must be combatted in various ways. Many encourage the presence of black snakes (Bascanion 

 constrictor), which feed upon its young. A tight hemlock board or slab-fence is often constructed 

 against the face of the bank, or small pilings are driven close together along its outer edge. Ditches 

 should never be dug on both sides of a dyke, if so, the rats are very fond of channeling from ditch to 

 ditch. If sand is used in the construction of the outer part of a bank, rats are less apt to disturb it, 

 because it caves easily and thus interferes with their digging. Willows should be planted on these banks 

 and fascine and wattlework constructed on their faces. The great use of fascine and wattlework is not 

 fully appreciated in America. The banks which worry the Jersey farmer would be little more than play 

 to the enterprising Dutchman who, with patient toil, farms into the very jaws of the sea. He would even 

 look with envious eyes on our shallow inland bays and would soon convert them into many acres of rich 

 polder- land. 



