12 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



These lands are classed as Marsh, i. e., fresh water, treeless 

 swamps; Tidal marsh, or treeless swamp, inundated by brackish or 

 saline tidewater; and Swamp, the term used in the soil survey to 

 designate timbered, fresh-water swamps. 



The first necessity in the agricultural utilization of such areas 

 consists in the drainage of the land. In the case of the Marsh and 

 Swamp this is usually accomplished by the digging of main-line 

 ditches and laterals, supplemented by the tile underdrainage of the 

 intervening fields. In the case of Tidal marsh it is also necessary 

 to construct embankments against the encroachment of the tide and 

 to establish automatic gates that permit of the outflow of fresh 

 water and prevent the inflow of the rising tide water. 



The character of the surface soil and subsoil in the different classes 

 of these permanently wet lands and in the different areas of each 

 class varies considerably. In general, however, it is well charged 

 with organic matter and may be even mucky or peaty. The subsoil 

 may range from a coarse gray sand to a sandy loam, silt loam, or 

 silty clay. Usually subsoil colors are drab, gray, or blue through 

 lack of drainage, and the absence of aeration and oxidation of the 

 iron salts of the mineral portion of subsoil. 



In the reclamation of these soils it is necessary to consider, first, 

 their possible agricultural uses when reclaimed; second, the feasi- 

 bility of the drainage operations involved; third, the probable acre- 

 age value of the land when reclaimed. It is then necessary to con- 

 sider each particular drainage project as an engineering problem by 

 itself, since the different factors which control the cost of drainage 

 are those which will largely control the value of the land and the 

 profit to be derived from its reclamation. 



Only small areas of Marsh or Swamp have been reclaimed in the 

 majority of the Eastern States. It has been found, however, par- 

 ticularly in the Middle Atlantic States, that such reclaimed land 

 constitutes excellent soil for the production of corn, cotton, and hay, 

 while a few areas of Tidal marsh along the low^er portions of the 

 chief rivers emptying into the Atlantic Ocean are also embanked 

 and drained for the production of a high quality of rice. 



Extensive areas of Marsh and Swamp in the central prairie States 

 have long been drained and utilized for agriculture. They consti- 

 tute some of the most fertile and productive of the corn, oat, wheat, 

 and grass soils of that section. 



Approved. 



JAMES WILSON, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



WASHINGTON, D. C., May 25, 



