MARSH-LANDERS. 



MARSH-MUD. 



exclude all the tide-water possible. The water- 

 courses and drains should intersect each other 

 at right angles, and no lot of marsh should 

 contain more than 10 acres. If any rain-water 

 should lay upon the middle of these lots, it will 

 bejiecessary to cut small drains, to let it pass 

 off freely; these might be covered where the 

 materials are at hand. The mud and earth 

 which come out of water-courses and ditches 

 should be removed into the lowest part of the 

 marsh; by a neglect of this, the rain-water will 

 be confined too long upon the surface, and the 

 most luxuriant growth of timothy or clover 

 may in a short time be converted into a nursery 

 of rushes. 



" The best time to sow down in grass, is 

 when the tide is first shut off, and when the 

 mud is soft; a growth of coarse grass will 

 spring up sufficient to protect the fine grass in 

 its tender state; this crop should be mown off, 

 and not suffered to lodge upon the marsh. 

 Timothy and herds-grass require about 1 bushel 

 to sow 4 acres. The former will flourish where 

 the water can be kept 2 or 3 feel from the 

 surface ; where it approaches nearer than this 

 in the ditches, the latter will succeed best: in 

 order to avoid having it sown in rows, it should 

 be sown a second time across the first sowing. 

 It is not advisable to mow longer than 3 years 

 in succession ; to mow and pasture alternately 

 is the better plan. If the high marsh becomes 

 bound and unproductive, ploughing will be 

 necessary ; and after raising 2 or 3 crops of 

 rye, Indian corn, or broom corn, without the 

 application of any manure, the soil will be 

 quite renovated, and when sown down in grass 

 will be much more productive. When the 

 earthy deposit is several feet in depth, it will 

 not soon become exhausted ; when it is not 

 desirable to plough, lime may be used with 

 success. Low marsh, or turf, or, as we term 

 it here, "horse-dung" mud, should not be plough- 

 ed; when it becomes unproductive, a covering 

 of clay or loam, to the depth of 2 or 3 inches, 

 will be found the cheapest application." See 

 BOG, WASTE LAXD, PEAT SOILS, GRASS LAKDS, 

 ImiifiATioN, and MEADOW. 



MARSH-LANDERS. A term provincially 

 applied in England to neat cattle of the short- 

 horned breed, or such as are bred on lands of 

 the marsh kind. 



MARSH-MALLOW (Althaea, derived from 

 altheo, to cure ; from the medicinal qualities of 

 some of the species). This is a genus of tall, 

 free-flowering plants : the biennial and annual 

 kinds should be sown in the open border in 

 spring, and transplanted when sufficiently 

 strong. The herbaceous kinds may be in- 

 creased by dividing the roots or by seeds. A. 

 rosea, the parent of the many beautiful varie- 

 ties of holly-hock, yields a blue colouring 

 matter equal to indigo. (Paxton's Tot. Die.) 



The common marsh-mallow (A. nfficinalis) is 

 in England an indigenous perennial, growing 

 abundantly in marshes, especially towards the 

 sea. The root is perennial, tap-shaped, rather 

 woody. The herbage of a hoary green, pecu- 

 liarly soft and downy, with a fine starry pubes- 

 cence. Stems several, about a yard high, 

 simple, round, leafy, tough, and pliant. Leaves 

 794 



I ovate or heart-shaped at the base, various in 

 ' breadth, soft and pliable, slightly five-Iobed. 

 Flowers (which blow from July to September) 

 in very short, dense, axillary panicles, rarely 

 solitary, of a delicate uniform blush-colonr, not 

 inelegant. Bees are very fond of its mellife- 

 rous flowers. The whole plant, especially the 

 root, yields in decoction a plentiful, tasteless, 

 colourless mucilage, besides a fatty oil, un- 

 crystallizable sugar, starch, and phosphate of 

 lime. It is emollient, and salutary in cases of 

 internal irritation. A syrup made with the 

 root, as well as the decoction, is an officinal 

 preparation of the Pharmacopoeias. It is used 

 in the coughs of children. See MALLOW. 



MARSH-MARIGOLD (Caltha, a synonyme 

 ofkalathos, a goblet ; in allusion to the likeness 

 of the form of the carolla to a golden cup). 

 The species of this genus are showy, and do 

 best in a moist situation, but will grow and 

 flower in a common border. They may be 

 increased by seeds or divisions. The British 

 indigenous species are two in number, viz.: 



1. The common marsh-marigold (C.palus- 

 tris), which grows in marshy meadows, and 

 about the margins of ponds, rivers, and brooks, 

 almost everywhere. It is perennial in habit, 

 blowing in March and April. The root is 

 thick and somewhat tuberous, with many sim- 

 ple fibres. Stem 12 or 18 inches high, round, 

 hollow, leafy, branched, furrowed. Leaves 

 variously heart-shaped, rounded. Flowers from 

 3 to 5, large, bright yellow, on alternate soli- 

 tary stalks. The flower-buds pickled serve 

 for capers, which they resemble, except in 

 having numerous germens. A double variety 

 is frequent in gardens. 



2. Creeping marsh-marigold (C. radicans"). 

 This species is found by the sides of lakes and 

 rivulets in Scotland, and is scarcely half the 

 size of the common C.palustris. A double va- 

 riety of this is cultivated near London. 



MARSH-MUD. This substance, which forms 

 such an excellent manure, is not so well appre- 

 ciated or so generally employed in the United 

 States as it deserves to be. An intelligent cor- 

 respondent of the Farmers' Register (for July, 

 1834) states, that he deems it more valuable 

 than barn-yard manure, and that it never failed 

 in any application he had made of it. He even 

 prefers it to marl, because its effects are more 

 quickly manifested, and, when readily accessi- 

 ble, much more improvement can be effected 

 for the same money than by applying marl. 

 He, however, confesses that the permanent ad- 

 vantages of marling are much greater, and 

 thinks that marl and marsh-mud will both be 

 improved by combination. This result may 

 certainly be expected in most cases, but must 

 depend much upon the prevailing constituents 

 of the mud. The alluvial deposits found in 

 marshes, must of course contain more or less 

 of the ingredients of the soils of the neighbour- 

 ing uplands. When these contain lime, mag- 

 nesia, silex, iron, &c., so will the marsh-mud. 

 This is clearly shown in the following tabular 

 statements, giving the results of Dr. Dana's 

 chemical examinations of a few specimens of 

 marsh-mud taken from the rocky coast of New 

 England. 



