THE INFLUENCE OF SOILS 53 



forage, wild and domesticated, produced on the vast 

 iintilled areas of the Peninsula^ there has been a 

 large increase in the acreage devoted to grazing. 

 Western sheep have been brought hither in consid- 

 erable numbers during seasons of drought on the 

 western ranges. It is presumed that these grazing 

 lands will eventually come under cultivation. 



MUCK-LANDS 



It has been estimated that formerly one-seventh 

 of the surface of Michigan was covered with swamps 

 and marshes comprising much soil that is described 

 as muck and peat.^ There was thus a certain meas- 

 ure of truth in the early unfavorable opinions re- 

 garding the unsuitability of large tracts for agri- 

 culture. These muck-lands were distributed quite 

 uniformly throughout the two peninsulas, more 

 commonly in inter-morainal depressions and along 

 the waterways, where natural drainage was insuffi- 

 cient.' The largest such area in the State is in 

 the northern peninsula, extending east and west 

 between Marquette and Sault Ste. Marie (though well 

 within these limits) and filling in much of the terri- 

 tory between Lake Superior on the north and Lakes 

 Huron and Michigan on the south. There are con- 

 siderable areas of excellent tillable lands in this por- 

 tion of the Peninsula, but there are larger areas 

 which must await drainage and careful husbandry 



'Davis: "Peat"; Mich. Geol. Survey, 1907, p. 289. 

 Ubid., Plates 16 and 17. 



