82 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



of the top layer of iindecomposed Diaterial, very little difference 

 is to be noticed between this material and other well decom- 

 posed peat. 



At the foot of Cayuga lake, near the shores of the Seneca 

 river, the accumulation of vegetable matter is mixed with a 

 great amount of silt and is only about 18 inches thick. It is 

 underlain with a clear white sand somewhat intermixed with 

 plant stems. 



In view of the fact that at high water the entire marsh is 

 flooded, the small amount of sediment and the comparative 

 purity of the peat are a matter of surprise, but it must be re- 

 membered that Cayuga lake acts as a great settling basin, so 

 that little sediment reaches the swamp except from the Clyde 

 and Seneca rivers. 



The extent of the peat is unknown, but tests and borings for 

 the location of marl deposits indicate that it is to be found over 

 the greater portion of the marsh. 



In the midst of the swamp are several islands, composed prin- 

 cipally of glacial debris, which are covered for the most part 

 with a fine sand. The villages of Fox Ridge and Savannah are 

 located on two of these. 



In a shallow depression on the top of the high ridge of land 

 south of Savannah, is a small ^' cedar swamp " which contains 

 peat of apparently good quality. The bottom was not reached 

 on account of the lack of proper tools, so that the character of 

 the subsoil is not known, but the probability is that it is a fine 

 grained sand, possibly a molding sand. This .swamp is quite 

 firm and does not have, when one walks on it, the springy, 

 spongy feeling that is so marked in the Cicero swamp and many 

 of the other large swamps. Except for the presence of tama- 

 racks and other moisture-loving trees, there is nothing at this 

 point to indicate the presence of peat, and the presence of this 

 deposit seems to be almost inexplicable; for, even in the wet 

 season of the summer of 1902, the surface was apparently 

 dry, and water did not come into the test holes rapidly enough 



