MARSH

A flat surface, the soil of which is so far saturated with water throughout the year as to be unfit for culture by the spade or plough; but not so much as to prevent it from producing coarse gra es, and other kinds of herbage. Marshes are generally situated in bottoms, where they are kept moist by the water which descends from the surrounding lands; or along the banks 718 MARSUPIALS. \ of rivers or lakes, where their humidity arises from thelf j being nearly on the same level with the adjoining water. ' Where a marsh is situated so as to be occasionally overflowed by the sea, or by a river up which the tide flows, it is called a salt marsh; and the herbage produced bv such lands is found highly conducive to the hjalth o'f ' animals which pasture on them for a certain portion of i the year, from the alterative effect of its saline pro I perties. I [s. 731]