TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 

 34 



THE VEGETATION OF THE HACKENSACK MARSH: A TYPICAL AMERICAN FEN 



SCROPHULARIACEAE 



Limosella aquatica L. var. tenuifoUa (Wolf) Pers. 

 Hackensack River. Austin. 



Capripoliaceae 

 Viburnum nudum L. 



Hackensack marsh. Leggett. 



COMPOSITAE 



Liatris spicata (L.) Willd. 



Hackensack marsh. W. M. Wolfe. 

 Solidago Elliottii Torr. & Gray. 



Hackensack marsh. Carey. 



ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS (V. G. B. AND J. W. H.) 



Many experiments have been tried with Phragmites and other grasses 

 and sedges which grow on the marsh with a view to their utilization in the 

 making of cord and twine and in the making of paper pulp for the manu- 

 facturing of paper. Recently, however, a chemical process has been perfected 

 by which marsh grasses and sedges become available for this purpose. Thou- 

 sands of tons of marsh grasses and sedges are rotting each year on the Hack- 

 ensack meadow that might be used profitably in the manufacture of paper, 

 bagging, and roofing felts. Figure 14 illustrates the use of the marsh plants 

 for shelter construction. 



It is a well-known fact that reclaimed salt marsh makes good agricul- 

 tural land. The reclaimed salt marshes of Holland, Belgium, and Nova Scotia 

 are excellent examples of the value of such land. There the farmers have 

 built dikes around the marshes to keep out the sea, and at intervals of sev- 

 eral years the tide is allowed to flood limited portions of the polderland. This 

 flooding replenishes the stock of certain salts in the soil without actually caus- 

 ing a return to the earlier conditions, if the flooding is properly regulated. 

 According to W. F. Ganong, the same process has been used around the Bay 

 of Fundy, where some of the largest and finest hay crops in eastern Canada 

 have been produced. 



These successes elsewhere suggest that the soil of the Hackensack marsh, 

 if reclaimed, would become equally valuable. A system of dikes and sluice 

 gates, perhaps, would be the most effective way of bringing about the desired 



