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A few words in passing regarding the nature and origin of these 

 bogs. Bogs are perhap& most widely known on account of the 

 deposits of peat by which they are commonly underlain. Peat is 

 partly decayed vegetable matter, usually deposited under water. 

 It represents an intermediate condition bet%veen dead plants 

 and coal. Coal is essentially petrified peat. In parts of northern 

 Europe peat is one of the chief sources of fuel, and our own peat 

 deposits have been under investigation by the government for a 

 number of years. 



In our region the areas which today are occupied by bogs, 

 almost without exception, were formerly occupied by lakes or 

 ponds. A pond may become filled in and converted into a bog 

 wholly through plant activity. You can find every stage be- 

 tween ponds in which scarcely any filling has taken place and 

 ponds which have given way completely to bogs. Very com- 

 monly the filling in is brought about through the agency of what 

 is known as a floating mat. The vegetation along the edge of 

 the pond grows so vigorously that it spreads away from the 

 shore, out over the open water. In this way there is developed 

 what is commonly referred to as a quaking bog. This raft of 

 vegetation, floating on the surface, rising and falling with fluc- 

 tuations in the water level, may be underlain by clear water 

 or by soft, bottomless ooze. So firm, however, may the mat 

 become that while he surface trembles and quakes when you 

 walk over it, nevertheless it is quite capable of supporting the 

 weight of a man. A quaking bog is an ideal place to look for 

 surgical sphagnum. 



In most sections of the United States, bogs are rather rare in 

 their occurrence and they are rather small in size. In cool humid 

 regions, such as Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and eastern New 

 Brunswick, they are much commoner and frequently cover 

 extensive tracts of country. In these northern regions, in addi- 

 tion to the ordinary type of bog, there is found a remarkable type 

 known as a raised bog. Unlike our ordinary bogs, the surface of a 

 raised bogis domed up, jus, like an inverted saucer. It maybe 

 fifteen or twenty feet higher toward the center than it is around 

 the edges. Bogs of this sort are found only in regions where the 



