328 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Prof. Goessmann submitted the following Essay 



ON THE" BEST MODE OF SUBDUING AND UTILIZING FOR 

 TILLAGE THE SALT MARSHES IN THIS STATE, AFTER 

 THEY ARE DRAINED. 



Recent careful investigations on the part of officers of the 

 United States Coast Survey,* regarding the origin and the 

 general characteristics of the salt marshes within this State, 

 tend to prove that the ocean has played a most prominent part 

 in their formation. Most of these marshes, like those of the 

 Netherlands and the west coast of Denmark, are found to lie 

 within the " littoral cordon,'''' or that portion of the sea-shore, 

 which has been formed during a comparatively recent geolog- 

 ical period, in consequence of an accumulation of material 

 carried on by the tidal waters of the ocean. They occur 

 within this State in isolated strips of more or less extent, and 

 are usually situated within the recesses of small bays or coves. 

 Their nearly horizontal surface has been noticed to conform 

 in many instances with the local plane of mean high water. 

 The main bulk of the upper portion of the mineral matter 

 within these marine inlets, consists largely, as a general 

 rule, of the debris of the various outcropping geological forma- 

 tions along the sea-coast. The peculiar physical properties of 

 the exposed rocks ; the periodically varying degree of the 

 crushing force of the waves ; and the duration of exposure to 

 the grinding action of the rolling tidal waters, — each in turn 

 has affected the final mechanical condition and subsequent 

 local distribution of the dislodged rock-mass. 



The original character of these tidal accumulations has 

 suffered quite frequently a considerable alteration in conse- 

 quence of a larger or smaller addition of fresh-water sed- 

 iments, coming from the interior country by means of creeks 

 and rivers terminating within the marshes ; or by a direct 

 access of the washings from the surrounding uplands. A 

 luxuriant vegetation, which usually soon springs up within a 

 quiet shallow marine basin, has aided no doubt in a later 

 stage of the formation of these new lands, by retaining the 

 lio-hter portion of the floating material of both fresh and salt 



* " On the Reclamation of Tide Lands and its Relation to Navigation." By Prof. 

 Henry Mitchell, of the United States Coast Survey, 1869. 



