TS 
30 On the Prairies and Barrens of the West. 
Art. lil. On the Prawries and Barrens of the West ; by 
Mr. A. Bourne. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, S&C: 
Cuitiicotue, (Ohio,) July 30, 1819. 
Sir, 
Havin G seen in the second number of the American 
Journal of Science, an essay on the Prairies and Barrens of 
the West, by Caleb Atwater Esq. wherein he attempts to 
prove that the Prairies and Barrens were wholly formed by 
the agency of water; and in the fourth number of the same 
Journal some remarks on the origin of Prairies by Mr. R. 
A. Wells, by which he attempts to prove that the Prairies 
and Barrens were wholly formed by the agency of fire; I 
was induced with a view of conciliating these contrary opin- 
ions, to make a few observations on the situation, varieties, 
and the probable causes of the formation of natural mead- 
ows. 
1. The salt meadows or marshes, which skirt the tide- 
waters of the Atlantic Ocean, particularly in the eastern part 
of Massachusetts, have evidently been formed by the agency 
of water.—Because they are all nearly level, sloping a very 
little towards the water, from which their surfaces have but 
little elevation, wherever they are found. 
They are covered with a peculiar kind of grass, which is 
from six to twelve inches high, of a reddish colour and grows 
very thick; the roots of which, form a very compact turf 
or sward, and it requires a sharp instrument and considera- 
ble force to cut it. ‘They are covered by the salt water a 
few inches deep several times in a year by the spring tides, 
and this appears to be necessary to their existence, or pe- 
euliar character: for if the water is kept from them by 
dykes, the upland grasses take root, the turf moulders away, 
or loses its tenacity, and in a few years their appearance is 
completely changed. 
As the surface of these meadows lies a little above com- 
mon high-water mark, there is generally a slope of about 
six feet in two or three rods, to low-water mark; and this 
