56 RURAL MICHIGAN 



farm enthusiasts urge that these lands are avail- 

 able for general farming without discrimination ; 

 but experience seems to have demonstrated that 

 sugar-beets, especially as regards sugar-content, are 

 not adapted to such soils. 



The farmers on muck-lands are well organized 

 with a view to the' improvement of methods through 

 their collective experience. Eventually these muck- 

 lands, once regarded as a liability, may become an 

 economic asset of great value, because of the fuel, 

 the fertilizer and the crops which they produce, 

 when the depletion of the resources of the land at 

 present suffering exploitation, brings the bogs, 

 swamps and marshes within the margin of eco- 

 nomical production. 



UNDERGROUND WATER 



Unlike some districts of the United States and 

 Canada, there are no important, if any, portions 

 of the State that are not supplied with underground 

 water, usually of a chemical composition and iem- 

 perature rendering it at once serviceable to man 

 and beast. There are, indeed, few counties from 

 Keweenaw in the extreme north, to Monroe and 

 •Berrien at the extreme southeast and southwest cor- 

 ners of the Lower Peninsula, in which artesian wells 

 and springs do not occur, and at some points in 

 great abundance. Artesian wells are usually se- 

 cured at depths of less than one hundred feet, fre- 

 quently much less than this. The Marshall sand- 



