9 



amount of soluble matter (2.16 per cent), which an analysis showed 

 to be almost entirely from sea water, would prevent useful plant growth 

 other than salt grasses. The drainage of this flat would permit the 

 washing out of this salt. 



Two marshes on Center Island which are being drained were examined. 

 These marshes an inner marsh and an outer marsh are separated by 

 a narrow neck. Across this neck a causeway had been built and sluice 

 gates placed in the culvert under the causeway. The gates were not 

 carefully watched and the tide water backed up on the inner marsh sev- 

 eral times. Notwithstanding this, the inner marsh was much fresher. 

 The outer marsh, however, was covered at high tide- twice a day and 

 contained a large amount of salt. Both of these marshes had a sod 

 about 1 foot thick and below this was decomposing sod to a depth of 

 3 feet and then came the eel-grass mud, very similar to that col- 

 lected in the west end of Lloyds Harbor. 



Samples No. 5374 and No. 5375 were taken from the outer marsh 

 and represent the sod and decomposing grass roots and the underlying 

 eel-grass clay, respectively. The plant food analysis of the clay shows 

 it to be similar to the mud from Lloyds Harbor. The amount of soluble 

 salt in both soil and subsoil is seen to be high for plants other than salt 

 grasses. The sod is so light and tough that to decompose it thoroughly 

 for a seed bed would require several years ; therefore, it is likely that 

 burning will be found the best method. It is interesting to note that 

 the burning of these salt marsh soils causes part of the soluble matter 

 to disappear, so that afterwards the amount of soluble matter is smaller 

 than before burning. 



Samples No. 5376, No. 5377, and 5378 were collected from the inner 

 marsh. The first two are the sod and decomposing sod, respectively, 

 and the last is the underlying eel-grass clay. The plant food analysis 

 shows this clay to be very similar to the Lloyds Harbor mud. The per- 

 centage of soluble salts in the surface foot of the inner marsh is lower 

 than that in any of the other samples. This shows that a start toward 

 sweetening has been made by the simple shutting out of the sea water. 

 The drainage of this inner marsh is in progress and three Samples of the 

 drainage water collected while the ditch was in process of construction 

 showed a salt content of 525, 860, and 860 parts salt per 100,000 parts 

 of water. If this drainage keeps up the marsh will in a short time be 

 much sweetened. The soil in this inner swamp is also very light and 

 should be burned if the intention is to cultivate it. 



SUMMARY. 



Salt marsh lands have long been considered the most fertile and val- 

 uable of lands. Practically no reclamation has been attempted in 

 America, and that which has been attempted has in many cases been 



