56 
SOIL SURVEY OF JACKSON COUNTY 
E. 1 E. In most of these attempts work has been done on a 
rather large scale, tractors sometimes being used. In most cases 
it has been found that due to insufficient laterals or tile ditches 
the drainage is not adequate and crop failures have resulted 
because of an excess of moisture, and on land which during a 
series of dry seasons produced fair to good crops of timothy 
hay. Commercial fertilizers and lime although needed, are not 
used to any marked extent on the marshes now being cultivated. 
The crops most commonly grown here on the peat are buck¬ 
wheat, rye, timothy, potatoes, root crops with some cabbage 
and onions on a small scale. Some attempts are being made to 
grow corn but because of the danger of summer frosts this crop 
is very uncertain. These marshes can not be considered as 
being in the corn belt. 
Various sized tracts of the peat lands are being utilized to a 
limited extent for pasture and hay, although the wild marsh 
grasses have a low feeding value. These marshes are frequently 
burnt over to destroy the dead grass and trash upon the surface, 
and a fair stand of clean grass usually follows. While this is 
young and tender it makes fair pasture. If the marshes are 
burnt off during dry seasons there is danger of the peat itself 
being burnt. 
Without fertilization the yields of the crops mentioned when 
grown on raw brown, fibrous peat are usually low and unsatis¬ 
factory. Where the peat is well decayed and of a black color 
fair crops may be secured for a few years without fertilization, 
but the readily available mineral plant foods soon become ex¬ 
hausted, when fertilization becomes essential. Where the sur¬ 
face few inches of the peat have been burnt there is a concen¬ 
tration of the mineral elements sufficient in some cases to insure 
two or three fair crops but when this is used up fertilization 
is again necessary. The fire, if not controlled, however, may 
prove to be a damage rather than a benefit, for deep holes may 
be formed, and the surface of the ground lowered to such a .11 
extent that the land will no longer be sufficiently drained. 
In some places an industry of limited importance has devel¬ 
oped in the cutting of wire grass which is cured like hay, baled, 
and sold to the manufacturers of grass rugs. 
Frosts on marsh land .—It is well known that frosts fre¬ 
quently occur on marsh land where there is no frost on higher 
