178 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [SEPTEMBER 
The process of flooding a piece of land that has degenerated 
through cropping, or through bog growth as a consequence of 
neglect of drainage, is simple. The dikes are broken down at 
convenient places, and the tide is allowed to flow at will over 
the old marsh. Bog vegetation is killed immediately by the 
salt water, and it, as well as the entire marsh surface, is soon 
covered with several inches to a foot, or even more, of new mud. 
This requires from one to three years according to the situation 
of the marsh.’?. The dikes are then rebuilt, ditches are opened, 
the vegetation goes through its usual cycle, and in from two to 
four years it is again bearing rich English hay. This flooding, 
however, is by no means as extensively used as it should be, for 
many owners are unwilling, or cannot afford, to lose all return 
from their land for several years. Sometimes an attempt is 
made to flood and obtain crops simultaneously, by admitting 
only a little tide at a time, or by admitting it only in late autumn 
after the ground is frozen, when the. grasses are little injured 
by it. But such compromises are considered not to pay in 
the end. 
The struggle with the fresh water is incessant, and is the 
greatest care and expense of the marsh farmer. Poor drainage 
soon leads to the replacement of the valuable English hay by 
the Jess valuable sorts, which in turn yield to yet coarser kinds, 
the series ending in the appearance of useless sphagnum mosses 
and bog plants. Abundant and intelligent ditching is the only 
remedy. Farmers differ so much, however, in willingness or 
ability to face this problem, that areas alongside of one another 
under similar natural conditions with but a ditch between differ 
greatly, one bearing the richest English hay, and the other only 
the coarser kinds.*® 
It seems remarkable that no attempt has been made to hasten this process by 
utilization of the powerful currents of the rivers to turn wheels which could pump the 
water and mud upon the land. Such wheels are used in other countries for irrigation 
purposes. 
18 There is, however, another difficulty, much more serious, which gay sg ne 
both the struggle with the bog and the renovation of old and exhausted mars. 
dikes are built and maintained at the common expense of a large number of owners of 
marsh land, and enclose a bege st bade” of marsh. Owing to differences of location 
and of treatment, some p a body come to need tiding while others do not, and 
