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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the result of a long, slow process by which shallow lakes are trans- 

 formed into plant-producing areas, or, in other words, in which 

 water surface is changed to land surface. In this process plants 

 play an important and very large part. In the beginning, aquatic 

 plants and aquatic and sphagnous mosses occupy the more shallow 

 parts of the lake. By the annual growth and decay of these a mass 

 of sedimentary material, which is largely vegetable in its com- 

 position, accumulates. This gradually spreads till in many cases it 

 occupies nearly or quite all of the lake surface. In due time it 

 becomes sufficiently dense and firm to sustain amphibious and 

 marsh-loving plants. These gradually take possession and carry 

 on the work till the consistency of the surface is sufficient to give 

 support to marsh grasses and sedges, which give us what is locally 

 known as " beaver meadows." 



In some cases, instead of a grassy marsh there is formed a 

 shrubby marsh in which small shrubs have taken possession instead 

 of or in connection with the grasses and sedges. By their inter- 

 mingling roots and the annual falling of leaves the surface becomes 

 denser. The next stage is ushered in when swamp-loving trees can 

 maintain an existence. These gradually become numerous enough 

 to overpower and suppress much of the herbaceous vegetation and 

 many of the smaller shrubs, and the wooded swamp results. The 

 borders of a marsh may be and often are simply a wooded swamp 

 which itself is only an older part of the marsh. The grassy marsh 

 appears to be less inviting to the advent of trees than the sphagnous 

 and bushy marshes and, prairielike, it often remains open an 

 indefinite time. Cleared swamps and open grassy marshes may. by 

 proper drainage and treatment, be turned into productive land. The 

 products of the marshes are sometimes utilized. The fruit of the 

 various species of Vaccinium is gathered for food. The grasses 

 and sedges of the " beaver meadows " are sometimes cut for hay, 

 but this is rarely done except in cases of scarcity or very high 

 prices of hay of better quality. The partly decayed remains of the 

 vegetation of the marshes constitute peat. The less fibrous peat is 

 Used for heating purposes, fertilizers, and as an absorbent or 

 bedding material in stables. The more fibrous kinds which come 

 especially from shrubby or grassy marshes are used for purposes 

 demanding a more fibrous material. That we might have a more 

 definite knowledge of the species of plants most active in the 

 transformation of our marshes into a more useful condition, a list 

 of the plants at present found growing in Cranberry marsh. Sand 



