Mosses and Lichens 



similar character; its bottom is soft mud made of decayed vege- 

 table matter. There is no visible inlet that could bring in sedi- 

 ment; it is fed only by the slight drainage of rain and melting ice 

 under the rocks on the adjacent mountain sides, and yet it is 

 never dry. 



There are many places all through the Adirondacks which 

 illustrate the same thing in different stages of completion 

 Connery Pond, Mud Pond, Calamity Pond, Hidden Swamp and 

 Averyville Swamp are examples, all within walking distance of 

 Lake Placid, New York. 



Mr. Charles H. Peck tells of an example within fifteen miles 

 of Albany. He says: 



"A marsh covered with Sphagnum, in my boyhood days, 

 was so soft and yielding that it seemed dangerous to go over 

 some places. It was then productive of cranberries in nearly 

 all parts. Now it is firm in nearly all parts. The cranberry 

 vines have almost disappeared and shrubs and young trees 

 have come up. It is greatly changed. The same sluggish stream 

 flows through the centre; nothing has been done to ward draining 

 it, but the mosses, growing at their summits and decaying at 

 their base, have gradually made more dense the soft ooze beneath, 

 till now there is sufficient soil to support sedges, marsh-shrubs 

 and even young trees of tamarack, balsam, and spruce." 



The climbing bogs may be found on the east shores of Maine, 

 near the Bay of Fundy, in New Hampshire, Michigan, and Min- 

 nesota. They are rare in the United States on account of the 

 short hot summers, and for the same reason, when they do occur, 

 they do not climb declivities of more than 2. In northern 

 Europe, on the other hand, they climb declivities of 5 and a bog 

 often rises a score of feet above the water in which it stands. 



Peat bogs represent the accumulated remains of thousands of 

 generations of plants, among which were the Sphagnum mosses. 

 There is conclusive evidence that the Sphagnum mosses are an 

 important constituent of peat-bogs now forming; and there is 

 every reason to believe that in ages gone by they served as soil- 

 makers for more complex peat-producing plants. Extensive 

 peat-bogs occur in the northern parts of the world, New England, 

 Ireland, India, and northern Europe, where the peat is used as 

 fuel to a limited extent. 



Owing to a peculiar odour given off from burning peat, as 

 well as to other contingencies, it is not popular as a fuel. Its 

 great value lies in the fact that, when bogs are properly drained, 



I 12 



