March 12, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



233 



to the state of the most fertile fields of that 

 country. 



Our American inundated lands are divisible 

 into several classes, determined by the condition 

 of their origin. Of these, the most important are 

 the tide-water marshes, the lacustrine swamps of 

 the glaciated district, the delta swamps of the 

 Mississippi, and the class of wet lands or upland 

 swamps where the marshy condition is due to the 

 action of plants in retaining water under the 

 surfaces of considerable districts. The formation 

 of the sponge-like sphagnum-peat has been well 

 described ; but it is evident that a very large part 

 of the southern swamps of the United States are 

 essentially climbing bogs, though the retention 

 of the moisture is due, not, as in the north, to 

 the mosses, but to the close-growing, flowering- 

 plants, principally to the common cane. 



Preliminary studies of the great area of fresh- 

 water marshes, extending from the mouth of the 

 James River to the south of Albemarle Sound, 

 show, that, in that district, this class of marshes 

 covers an area of about four thousand square 

 miles. Throughout this district the peaty deposit 

 is generally thin, not usually exceeding four feet 

 in thickness, thus permitting the roots of the trees 

 to force their way to the subsoil below the decay- 

 ing vegetable matter. 



The surface of the swamp, as well as the sub- 

 stratum on which it rests, is generally inclined 

 towards the natural drainage of the country to 

 the amount of two feet to the mile. The water is 

 retained by the dense mat of stems, roots, and 

 decaying fragments of plants, which are so closely 

 interlaced that the friction in the interstices pre- 

 vents the speedy outflow of the rainfall. 



This class of marshes can be easily and cheaply 

 drained, and, when so improved, they afford 

 exceedingly rich soils. Along the outer margins 

 of these vast morasses, some hundred thousand 

 acres have been won to culture. These lands are 

 remarkably fertile; and I am told that they often 

 yield fifty bushels of shelled maize to the acre, 

 and that they endure tillage for a period of many 

 year's without fertilizing. 



It seems likely that of these easily reclaimed 

 upland morasses, resembling the Dismal Swamp, 

 there is a total area, in the southern states, of not 

 less than twenty-five thousand square miles. To 

 these might be added the lands which are subject 

 to serious inundations from rivers, which prob- 

 ably amount to something like eight thousand 

 square miles. 



In the northern states the area of improvable 

 swamp-land is less extensive, but there is not 

 a state in which they do not constitute an impor- 

 tant part of the land-reserve which the coming- 



generation will be glad to use. It is easy to see, 

 that, in these inundated lands of the United 

 States, we may find fields which will give a larger- 

 return to the husbandman than those now tilled 

 in any state of the union ; and, furthermore, 

 that, with the rapid increase in our population, 

 it is none too soon for us to be considering the 

 aspects of this portion of our domain. It is clear 

 that the national survey can, by a proper study of 

 these swamp-districts of the country, so deter- 

 mine their condition as to prepare the way for the 

 engineer. The aim will be to ascertain their 

 extent, the conditions determining their value for 

 tillage, and the best method of approaching the 

 economic questions which they present. Even 

 where these swamps may be unprofitable for 

 agricultural use, it may often be found that they 

 are admirably adapted for timber-culture. The 

 juniper fCupressus thyoides) and the bald cypress 

 (Taxodium disticum) are particularly suited to this 

 form of forest-culture. 



The scientific aspects of the American swamps, 

 their relation to the changes of level of the con- 

 tinent, the ways in which their deposits were 

 accumulated, cannot be considered in this place. 

 My aim at present is to call attention to the great 

 economic importance of this field of inquiry. 



N. S. Shaler. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



Russian Lapland. — Charles Rabot, during the 

 past summer, obtained interesting details on the 

 Kola peninsula, which lies westward from the 

 White Sea and between it and the Arctic Ocean, in 

 Russian Lapland. This region is very little known, 

 and large blanks occur in the best charts. The 

 country is rather monotonous, covered with forests, 

 and dotted with lakes, some of which attain a 

 large size. Imandra is a hundred and forty kilo- 

 metres broad, surrounded by grand scenery, and 

 hemmed in by two mountain-chains, which reach 

 about three thousand feet in height, Umbdek, on 

 the east, being a little the higher. There are no 

 glaciers, but permanent snow exists on the peaks. 

 After the Caucasus, this region contains the 

 highest elevations of European Russia, and presents 

 a desolate, barren, and impressive aspect. The 

 lakes are very shallow : the greatest depth of 

 Imandra does not exceed fifteen or eighteen feet, 

 from which it shoals to a few inches. It contains 

 many wooded islets. From this lake the explorer 

 went to the Arctic shores, and crossed the unex- 

 plored region which extends westward from the 

 lake. Here, where the maps indicate a flat coun- 

 try, he found a rugged region, bristling with 

 mountains exceeding three thousand feet in height. 



