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But Maine is not the only part of the east where surgical 

 sphagnum occurs. It may grow in almost any bog. You can 

 only tell by looking. As I stated earlier, American army sur- 

 geons at the present time are not using sphagnum to anywhere 

 near the extent that it is being used by surgeons in the other 

 allied armies. But it is our business to be prepared; and to this 

 end we want information regarding every locality which might 

 possibly be utilized as a source of supply for surgical sphagnum. 

 It may be that some of you know the whereabouts of a promising 

 bog. If you do, look it over; and if you find any quantity of 

 what looks like good material, send us a sample of it.* 



In surveying any district for surgical sphagnum, there are a 

 few practical points which it is well to bear in mind. A wooded 

 bog may contain plenty of sphagnum, but for our purpose it is 

 rarely of any value. The good moss almost invariably grows in 

 open bogs. Again, an open bog all overgrown with bushes, 

 where the sphagnum forms great soft cushions a foot or so high, 

 is apt to afford pretty poor picking. There may be plenty of 

 moss, but most of it will prove to be of the wrong variety; or 

 if it is of the right variety it will be of poor quality. For that 

 matter, it should be said that in almost any bog there is sure to 

 be a large proportion of undesirable material. Commonly the 

 bulk of the sphagnum will consist of species that are of no use 

 at all for surgical purposes. 



The best qualities of moss always grow in the wettest parts of a 

 bog. A dry bog is apt to contain no material whatever of surgi- 

 cal value. A wet one may be full of it. The best kind of a 

 bog for surgical moss is a wet cranberry bog : not one of the arti- 

 ficial variety that is so common in southern New Jersey, but one 

 where the cranberries grow scattered over a soft carpet of moss, 

 intermixed with more or less "cranberry grass" (Carex fiUformis 

 and C. oligosperma) and perhaps a scanty growth of low bushes. 

 It is in bogs of this description that I have seen the best material 

 in Maine. In exploring any bog for surgical sphagnum, always 

 look for the wettest places : the soft, quaky spots around the edges 



* Specimens of material may be sent to the writer at Yale University. New 

 Haven, Conn. 



