12 SOILS OP THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



USES OF MEADOWLANDS. 



The Northeastern States. The meadowland soils of the Northeastern 

 States are little used at present except for pasturage, and considerable 

 areas are covered with timber. Some swamp hay is cut. Only in a few 

 instances have drainage operations been undertaken for the reclama- 

 tion of such areas. Some small tracts, occupied by mucky surface soils, 

 may be used to advantage for the production of celery, onions, cab- 

 bages, and lettuce. Where a tract of Meadow consists of 12 to 24 inches 

 of muck overlying the subsoil, and where the local demand or the 

 means of transportation to market is good any outlay for drainage 

 will be amply repaid in yields of such special crops as cabbages, 

 onions, and celery. In other instances the straightening of stream 

 courses and a little supplementary drainage would serve to utilize 

 the meadowlands for the growing of excellent crops of hay, par- 

 ticularly timothy and redtop. 



A special use is made of certain extremely swampy areas of Meadow 

 in central New York, where many tons of rushes are cut, dried, and 

 sold for use in the weaving of the bottoms and backs of chairs. 



The dried rushes sell for $20 to $25 a ton. All of the labor of cut- 

 ting, curing, and transporting the rushes must be done by hand, since 

 the -land is too soft and swampy to permit the use of horses. It is 

 probable that if the lands could be partially drained through the use 

 of open ditches, the level of the water could be so controlled as to be 

 sufficiently high to meet the requirements of rush growing during the 

 season and drained off just before the time of harvest, so that the 

 land would become stable enough to permit of the use of horsepower 

 machinery in the cutting and hauling of the rushes. At present 

 it takes one man a week to cut and market about 1 ton of rushes. 



The Middle Atlantic States. In New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and 

 Maryland a considerably greater use of the meadow areas is made. 

 Nearly 30,000 acres of seashore meadows have been diked, drained, 

 and reclaimed along the Delaware River in southwestern New Jersey. 

 These areas were originally salt meadows, above which the tide rose, 

 receding and rendering the growth of coarse grasses possible. These 

 salt meadows constituted one of the chief dependencies of the pioneer 

 settlers for both hay and pasturage. Many of them were familiar 

 with such uses of meadowlands in the European countries from 

 which they came and naturally valued the same kinds of grass lands 

 in their new homes. Over 15,000 acres of such meadowlands have 

 been diked and drained in Salem County, N. J., while other large 

 tracts have been utilized in Gloucester and other counties of the 

 southern portion of the State. Cooperative companies are organ- 

 ized for the construction of the dikes necessary to shut out the tide- 

 waters. Along exposed stretches these earth banks are protected 



