io8 BEACH GRASS 



covered with thatch and marsh grass are slowest 

 in melting. The pale yellow marsh grass shields 

 the ice from the sun's rays, while the cakes that 

 have ploughed up mud on the surface, attract the 

 sun's rays and melt quickly. 



In the" severe winter of 1919-20 the salt 

 marshes were early covered thick with ice frozen 

 to the marsh, and the smaller creeks were all so 

 securely roofed that the ice there remained at 

 the level of the marsh even at low tide. A warm 

 week in March, followed by a southwest rain, 

 served to diminish this ice coating to a large ex- 

 tent, and the ice disappeared from the marsh 

 without the usual forcible disruption of storm 

 tides and broken ice cakes. On March 14 only 

 the larger creeks below Castle Island were open 

 and showed dark water, — the broad marsh and 

 the smaller creeks were still one universal white- 

 ness. It was a cold day with a bitter northwest 

 wind. All the surface water pools were smoothly 

 frozen and walking over the marsh was unim- 

 peded by ice cakes but had an element of danger. 

 The roofs of the smaller creeks were generally 

 intact, but had been so thinned by the sun and 



