1903] VEGETATION OF THE BAY OF FUNDY MARSHES 447 
possession, all the others except the couch disappearing. This, 
however, is the summit of the series; nowhere, excepting on 
the ridges along the ditches and in a few exhausted spots, 
where a low shrub vegetation appears, is anything higher 
developed. The timothy stands out as the best adapted plant 
in all this country to the conditions prevailing on the reclaimed 
marsh. In this process of reclamation, there is a grand oppor- 
tunity to study the nature of competition, the problems of 
which, however, cannot be settled by observation alone, but 
must be attacked by experiment. 
The above appears to be the normal succession upon places 
where high marsh is built; in the low places the succession is 
somewhat different, leading through watergrass ultimately to 
broadleaf, which by improvement in drainage may lead to 
couch and timothy. It is said by the farmers that the succes- 
sion of plants depends much upon the way the drainage is 
managed. 
There is another place in which the succession may be 
followed, namely in the lakes in process of reclamation, and I 
have seen it particularly well illustrated in Germantown Lake in 
Albert county, to which the tide is admitted by a canal. The 
tide has built into the lake long low points of marsh mud, 
which are at once taken possession of by a rank growth of 
Spartina stricta (sedge) immediately above which, on the higher 
parts, comes a dense growth of broadleaf. Right after the 
latter come scattered tufts of dense browntop, which is fairly 
abundant, and after this comes the couch. Here too is afforded 
a very favorable opportunity to study competition, which, how- 
ever, I had not the time or means to utilize. 
Conclusion. 
The observant reader will not need to be told that the present 
Study is highly defective and inconclusive, to a degree which 
No one can realize more than does its author. Yet this very 
defectiveness emphasizes an important lesson, for, while it is in 
part the fault of the author, it is not wholly so, but is in a large 
measure made necessary by the present imperfect state of our 
