282 On Salt Marsh, 



ficient to keep the fire from burning the sod below the 

 surface : if the sod be burnt, the fire frequently pene- 

 trates as low as a foot, destroying the vegetative faculty of 

 the soil. The light ashes imparts no vigour, nor is it capa- 

 ble of producing a single plant of itself. Burning injures 

 the marsh, inasmuch as its height is thereby destroyed ; 

 for the winds sport with such ashes even more than 

 with snow. I have seen a Maurice river man sowing 

 broad cast in a fresh breeze, when the sky appeared 

 almost as black as night, with ashes ; and he, in the 

 local fashion, with his shirt-tail outside of his trow- 

 sers, resembled the picture of Darwin's Demon, — 

 " wrapt in clouds, in tempest tost." If care be not had 

 therefore, to the time of burning the weeds, it were bet- 

 ter to mow them. This preparation over, oats in the 

 spring, or wheat and rye in the fall, may be sown, se- 

 lecting the solid ground only for wheat. The harrow 

 should be passed often. The plough should not be used 

 for several years, as before recommended. The same 

 process may be followed (except the burning of stubble, 

 which is not now necessary) every year, till the ground 

 is fit for ploughing ; when it may be farmed in the usual 

 way, or put down in grass. Early sowing, before it be- 

 comes very husky, is best for spring crops — late sowing, 

 after grasshoppers have gone, is best for fall crops, in salt 

 meadow. Indian corn well planted, (not too deep nor 

 too shallow) succeeds ; flax grows high ; mustard seed 

 flourishes ; and, as the soil becomes more mellow, pota- 

 toes thrive, and turnips, broad cast, do very well. The 

 ground, in fact, is fit for any thing, and may receive the 

 ordinary treatment ; and it is so strong, as not to require 

 manure for many years after one ploughing. 



