92 ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY. 



oats, or broom corn. In Salem County, great value is 

 attached to such meadows, on account of their heavy 

 crops of hay and grass seed; in the latter article of 

 which, the Census Report of 1850, under the head of 

 Clover and oilier grass seeds, sets down to this county 

 53,875 bushels — a quantity greater than any of the other 

 States produced, except New York and Pennsylvania. 

 In Cumberland County, enormous crops have been raised 

 on some of the banked meadows of Maurice River : — 100 

 bushels of oats, 90 of corn, 45 of wheat, and three or four 

 tons of hay to the acre are reported. As meadows, these 

 reclaimed marshes are unequalled. 



2. The marshes, which have been mostly raised by the 

 growth of grass roots and turf, when the water is drained 

 off from them, settle considerably ; and if they are kept 

 in bank for a few years, will be found to have their sur- 

 face three or four feet below high-water mark. Fresh 

 grasses grow in them ; but from the deficiency of mineral 

 matter in the soil, or some other cause, the grass is wiry 

 and of little value. These marshes are usually away 

 from the creeks and other water-courses, and the tide 

 reaches them only after it has flowed over the mud-bot- 

 tomed marshes, where its current has been checked, and 

 its sediment deposited, so that it is comparatively clear. 

 These marshes are usually a few inches, or perhaps a foot 

 lower than the others; and could be much improved, before 

 banking, by cutting ditches, so that the muddy tide-water 

 might be carried directly to them before its current is 

 checked and the sediment precipitated. After they have 

 sunk down by banking and draining, they can be very 



