Swamp Reservations 409 



all the marshes were to be "improved." Some of them 

 are already serving their best use as refuges and breed- 

 ing grounds of wild water fowl. In all of them there is 

 a whole wonderful fauna and flora that we could ill 

 afford to lose. That these would be lost under an 



FIG. 243. Wall painting 

 from an ancient Egyptian 

 tomb showing the plan of a 

 house with a water-garden. 

 (After Brinton). 



intensive water culture is highly probable (see fig. 244), 

 for our own cultivated crops are in the main successful 

 about in proportion as we eliminate the wild to make 

 room for them. 



Since the wet land is almost the last of the unoccupied 

 land remaining near to the centers of human habitation, 

 and since it is the dwelling place of the largest remnant 

 of native wild life, we should not be taking measures for 



