52 The Pi.ant World 



the study of peat bogs has had a sort of perennial interest up 

 to the present day, and from the papers of all grades of merit 

 that have appeared on this subject in the botanical journals no 

 little material of considerable value has accumulated, i. e. facts 

 of potential value in the hands of the seer whose coming in the 

 realm of ecological inquiry is to be most earnestly hoped for. 



Into the midst of this rather slow development of academic 



or purely scientific ideas the capitalist has finally projected him- 

 self, as in so many similar cases, and he is welcome! We already 

 know many times as much about the things in peat bogs that 

 are really worth investigating from a scientific standpoint, as 

 we should have known if it were a matter of no economic im- 

 portance. The explorations, excavations and analyses that have 

 been made within the last two or three years have been made 

 possible through the cooperation of people of means with men 

 of the necessary training. Each has been idnispensable to the 

 other, and results that are of much importance from the view- 

 point of each are beginning to be realised. It is hoped that some 

 of these may be given to readers of the Plant World in a later 

 issue. 



