ORGANIC MATTER IN SALT-MARSHES. 225 



but bring about a more reliable condition for future cultiva- 

 tion, by converting the differently composed surface-layers of 

 the marshes into a more homogeneous agricultural soil ; a 

 judicious management will find in the material obtained, in 

 consequence of the construction of drain-ditches, a valuable 

 resource for the improvement of that portion of land which 

 is still overcharged with partly decomposed, coarse vegetable 

 matter. In addition to rye and oats as first crops, it might 

 be well to try barley. and buckwheat instead of wheat, for a 

 raw and still saline soil is more congenial to the former than 

 to the latter. As soon as the soil is more capable of a 

 thorough pulverization, a mixture of valuable grasses ought 

 to be thoroughly tried.* They would produce a more compact 

 and vigorous sod, if selected with reference to their peculiar 

 growth and a uniform period of maturing. It will also be 

 advisable, for a few years to come, to select the crops with a 

 view to improving the mechanical condition of the soil ; beets 

 and potatoes are known to yield well in soils like that in 

 drained marshes. As the accumulated organic matter, in its 

 various stages of disintegration, must necessarily continue 

 to alter the chemical and physical condition and thus the 

 general character of the soil for some years, it needs scarcely 

 to be mentioned, that in each case the exact condition 

 of its soil ought to be carefully consulted in the selec- 

 tion of crops. A due appreciation of these circumstances 

 renders it inadvisable to advocate, in the present stage of the 

 enterprise, a more definite system of cultivation, — beyond the 

 general remark, that the selection of the rotation of crops 

 ought to be made, not only with a view to economize the 

 latent plant-food, but to aim also at the preservation of a 

 liberal amount of organic matter in the soil, which will secure 

 to it good retentive qualities. 



Ch. A. GOESSMANN. 



S. B. Phinnev. 

 Geo. M. Baker. 



* The following mixture of grass-seeds is highly recommended for conditions of 

 soil like the one here under discussion : Per acre, a mixture of nine pounds of 

 meadow fescue and six pounds of June or Kentucky blue-grass; six pounds 

 of orchard-grass; six pounds of tall oat-grass; six pounds of meadow soft-grass; 

 three pounds of tall fescue ; three pounds of crested dog's-tuil-grass ; one and a half 

 pounds of timothy or herdsgrass ; one and a half pounds of yellow oat-grass. 

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