70 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



traction in width divides it into two nearly equal parts, the northern 

 and southern. Chub river runs through its longest diameter from 

 south to north. At the contracted part and for a short distance 

 north of it the river runs close to the margin of the forest on the 

 eastern side, leaving most of the marsh here on the west side of 

 the river. In the rest of the marsh the river is more central. This 

 marsh is peculiar in having the two parts wholly unlike in character 

 and representative of two different kinds of marsh. The northern 

 part is a shrubby marsh. Low shrubs like Labrador tea, sheep 

 laurel, pale laurel, bog rosemary and leather leaf have taken almost 

 complete possession. The usual marsh herbs are nearly extermi- 

 nated except along the banks of the river and in a few low places. 

 The sphagnum has a dwarf, starved appearance and is evidently 

 struggling for existence. A few dwarf, unthrifty black spruce and 

 tamarack trees are scattered here and there over this part of the 

 marsh. The balsam fir is strangely absent from the open space, but 

 it occurs sparingly along the margin. It is apparently less fitted to 

 endure the unfavorable conditions of the marsh than either the 

 black spruce or the tamarack. 



The southern part is a grassy marsh. It is locally known as a 

 " beaver meadow." It is mostly occupied by grasses and sedges. 

 Blue joint grass, C a 1 a m a g r o s t i s canadensis (Mx.) Bv. 

 and slender sedge, C a r e x f i 1 i f o r m i s L. are the prevailing 

 species. They are so abundant that in past times it was customary 

 to mow this part of the marsh and stack the hay till winter when 

 it would be possible to draw it away and make use of it. The 

 scaffoldings of the stacks are still in place, but as this marsh hay 

 is of inferior quality it is not now gathered, other hay of better 

 quality being available. It is remarkable that not a single example 

 of the slender sedge gave any evidence of having borne fruit this 

 season. My visit was too late in the season to find fruit on the 

 plant, but a careful search for old fruit-bearing stems was vain. 

 Possibly the previous cuttings of the plants weakened their fruiting 

 capacity till now they depend entirely on offshoots or stolons for 

 propagation. On the contrary, the blue joint grass was fruiting 

 freely. 



The grassy marsh, like the open prairie, appears to be unfavor- 

 able to the production of trees. No spruce or tamarack trees were 

 seen in this part of the marsh. Even the shrubs that are so abund- 

 ant in the northern part are mostly wanting here. Those that do 

 appear are chiefly along or near the river. 



