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Professor Hotson (/ c.) regards 5. imbricatum as the most desirable species for 

 surgical work, with 5. palustre second, and S. papillosum third. In the east 

 the order of excellence appears to be exactly reversed, S. papillosum being re- 

 garded as by far the best species (see Porter, / c). Further, the sphagnums 

 attain their optimum growth in bogs, and, when present, the best qualities of 

 surgical sphagnum almost invariably frequent the wettest parts of a bog. This 

 is true even in the humid northeast, but it is even more so in regions where cli- 

 matic conditions are less congenial. The same species (e. g. S. papillosum) 

 may grow throughout a bog, yet it may attain the requisite degree of luxuriance 

 only in the wettest, quakiest parts of the bog; elsewhere, not only will it be poor 

 in quality, but the chances are that it will be more or less intimately mixed with 

 undesirable species. In searching for surgical sphagnum, it is a good rule to avoid 

 wooded swamps, for while sphagnums usually are present in abundance in such 

 places, for various reasons the material generally is of too poor quality to be of 

 surgical value. Bogs which are densely popula ted by heaths or other bushy growth 

 likewise furnish unfavorable conditions, except locally, where there are wet, open 

 depressions. The same may be said of bogs that are densely overgrown with sedges 

 or grasses so much so as to give them the aspect of a meadow. 5. papillosum 

 in particular, requires plenty of sunlight as well as plenty of water. In bogs 

 which have been flooded, as frequently happens through the damming of a 

 lake, the better grades of sphagnum have usually been drowned out. 5. papil- 

 losum seems especially sensitive to any change of environment. Along the 

 coast in eastern Maine, the lumberman has thus been responsible for the exter- 

 mination of much of the surgical sphagnum which formerly occupied the "flow- 

 age" swamps bordering many of the lakes and streams. During a recent trip 

 of investigation in this region, the most ideal conditions for S. papillosum were 

 found to be in low, wet, quaky bogs along the borders of well-drained ponds or 

 small lakes, and in similar situations along slow streams. In favorable situations 

 of this sort, this moss may comprise the bulk of the vegetation, building up 

 broad cushions, often a foot high, and forming a more or less continuous ground 

 cover. From a distance the most conspicuous plants in such an area are the 

 "cranberry grasses" {Carex filiformis, C. oligosperma), which, on closer inspec- 

 tion, are usually found to form a rather scanty, open growth. Cranberries 

 (Vaccinium macrocarpon) are practically always present, together with a scatter- 

 ing of low shrubs, such as sweet gale {Myrica Gale) and various heaths. Con- 

 sidered from the standpoint of the ecologist, it can be said that not only are 

 bogs which have arisen through the intervention of a floating mat most favorable 

 to surgical sphagnum, but S. papillosum in particular is far more likely to flourish 

 in a bog where the mat-forming pioneers are sedges than in one where the pioneers 

 are shrubs. 



Taken as a group, the sphagnums are much more widely distributed in 

 cool, humid regions than in warm, relatively dry regions. From a climatic 

 point of view, the most favorable regions in the east are eastern Maine and the 

 country lying to the northeast, along the coast: the region in which raised bogs 

 are encountered. The best eastern material thus far collected in quantity came 



