MAESH AND SWAMP. 11 



have been completed, to permit the annual rainfall thoroughly to 

 wash the excessive salts from the soil. 



It is apparent from this discussion of Marsh, Tidal marsh, and 

 Swamp that millions of acres of extremely valuable and fertile soil 

 are in such a condition of excessive moisture that they are at the 

 present time of little or of no use for agriculture. It is also appar- 

 ent from the reclamation work which has already been undertaken 

 with these different classes of wet land, that a considerable profit is 

 derived from every well-ordered attempt at drainage and reclama- 

 tion. It is a matter of considerable importance not only to the in- 

 dividual but to the community within which these different swampy 

 soils occur that careful consideration be given to their drainage. 

 In the first place, it is desirable to add a large acreage of extremely 

 fertile soil to the land area of the United States. In the second 

 place, it is usually very desirable that the wet areas should be drained 

 for sanitary reasons. 



It is probable that until cheaper and more easily drained upland 

 soils are much more thoroughly occupied than they have yet been in 

 many parts of the United States, many areas of Marsh and Swamp 

 will remain undrained and unutilized. This arises from the fact 

 that the most easily subdued soil will first be utilized. It is well to 

 call attention, however, to the fact that these more difficultly man- 

 aged soils are frequently of higher acreage value when reclaimed 

 than the more easily subdued upland soils, and that their cultivation 

 under intensive methods of agriculture produces greater profits per 

 acre. 



One of the chief reasons why swamp-land areas have not been 

 more generally drained arises from the fact of the high acreage cost 

 of their embankment and drainage. This frequently places the 

 reclamation of such land out of the power of the individual owner 

 who is possessed of but small capital. In consequence, it has fre- 

 quently been found necessary in those States which have adopted a 

 policy leading to ihe reclamation of swamp land, to draw special 

 laws enabling the citizens of the State to form drainage districts 

 or companies, which may act in a cooperative way to secure the 

 drainage and reclamation of the land. In this way a high initial 

 expense is distributed over a large number of acres of land, and the 

 capital required is raised through subscription or the assessment of 

 the individual owners in proportion to the amount of land bene- 

 fited by the drainage reclamation. 



SUMMARY. 



It is probable that there exists within the eastern United States 

 more than 60 million acres of the different classes of undrained land 

 which are permanently wet. 



