SALT MAESHES 



yan is still common parlance in these old New 

 England regions. The tenderfoot may sud- 

 denly sink to his hips in a draining ditch, 

 overgrown at the surface, while the experi- 

 enced may walk about safely. 



The flora of this region is more varied, al- 

 though most of the ground is covered with 

 but three grasses:— a short slender relation of 

 the thatch, sometimes called fox grass, a sea- 

 spear grass and a spike grass. None of these 

 grows much beyond a foot in height. These 

 three are the chief components of the marsh 

 hay, which in this era of the gasoline engine 

 is not so assiduously and thoroughly har- 

 vested as in the days gone by. 



In cutting the grass, which is done in Au- 

 gust at periods of a low run of tides, mowing 

 machines are used, except in the lower, softer 

 places, where the scythes are swung. The 

 horses wear broad, wooden marsh shoes, and 

 a novice horse is practised in the security of 

 the barn-yard with the awkward, clanking 

 things before he is ventured on the unstable 

 marsh. It is no trifle for a pair of horses to 

 become mired in the salt marsh, and only 

 those men born and bred to the work can man- 

 age them in that treacherous region. The hay 



193 



