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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



basins were, at a former period, either lakes which 

 have been gradually filled in, or wild morasses. 

 The sma\l quantity of wood found in them, and 

 that only near the edges, favours the hypothesis of 

 lakes, besides the kinds, that are generally birch 

 and willow, with a little alder, such as grow on 

 very wet places at the present time. The plants 

 which chiefly enter into the composition of red bog 

 may be conveniently divided into two sections, 

 namely, those which grow on the higher and drier 

 spots of the present surface, and those which 

 flourish in the marshy places, and in and near water- 

 holes. On the former of these, Narthecium ossi- 

 fragum, Eleocharis csespitosa, Carex stellulata, 

 Schoenus nigricans, Erica tetralix, and Myrica 

 gale, may be said to form the framework which 

 bears up the mass ; whilst Sphagnum cuspidatum, 

 S. acutifolium, S. cymbiforme, and S. squarrosum 

 are the bog mosses which fill up the interstices, 

 and ultimately become decomposed along with the 

 phanerogamic plants already enumerated. On the 

 marshy parts of the bog Menyanthes trifoliata, 

 Comarnm palustre, and Eriophorum angustifolium 

 mix their decumbent and running stems over the 

 surface of water, which soon become matted toge- 

 ther by the growth of their difl'erent roots, and 

 capable of bearing up Vaccinium oxycoccus, Nar- 

 thecium ossifragum, and Sphagnum acutifolium, 

 which latter is generally the species of bog moss 

 found on the wettest parts, and admirably adapted 

 for fining up water pools, in consequence of being 

 thickly set with pendulous branches, which secure 

 abundant supplies of moisture, as they take it up 

 by capillary attraction, besides their annual growths 

 as less destructible from moisture than those of the 

 other species. In this way bog is soon formed. 



A different set of plants contribute to fill up the 

 deep water holes and lakes. Nymphaea alba, 

 Nuphai' lutea, Potamogeton natans, P. rufescens 

 and lucens, Hippuris vulgaris, Myriophyllum 

 spicatum, and M. verticillatum are the species 

 which mostly float in these localities, and supply 

 vegetable matter by the decay of their stems and 

 leaves, on which the roots of the Nympha?as are 

 enabled to elevate themselves nearer to the surface, 

 and prepare for the growth of Menyanthes, Coma- 

 rum, &c. The accumulation goes on very quickly 

 in limestone districts, where the larger species of 

 Chara abound, which have their stems and branches 

 thickly incrusted with a deposit of calcareous mat- 

 ter. The debris resulting from the decay of Chara 

 hispida alone, where it grows freely, would soon fill 

 up a shallow pool, preparatory for the growth of 

 plants higher in the scale of vegetables. 



Along the margins grow species which fill in by 

 their creeping rhizomes and stems. Typha latifoha, 

 Sparganium raraosum, Carex ampullacea, and 



Helosciadium inundatum are the prevailing kinds 

 on deep bog; whilst Phragmites communis, Phala- 

 ris arundinacea, Scirpus lacustris, Eleocharis 

 palustris. Iris pseudocorus, and Carex stricta grow 

 more abundantly on the margins of lakes, and 

 wherever there is slow running water. By the 

 growth and decay of those plants in the localities 

 specified, along with a few others of less impor- 

 tance, the greater part of the red bog in Ireland is 

 now being formed, and so far as I have been able 

 to judge from turf cut at great depths, nearly the 

 same species appear to have formed it from the 

 bottom upwards, though, probably, at diflferent 

 ratios of growth from that they now do. Equise- 

 tum fluviatile, Potamogeton polygonifolius, P. ])lan- 

 tagineum, Carex teretiuscula, Cladium mariscus, 

 Alisma plantago, Calluna vulgaris, Rhynchospora 

 alba, Drosera rotundifolia, longifolia, and anglica 

 are the other plants which chiefly deserve notice for 

 the comparative proportions they enter into in the 

 formation of this variety of bog, which, according 

 to the report of the Commissioners appointed to 

 report on the nature and extent of the Irish bogs, 

 covers upwards of a million of English acres, more 

 than two-third parts of which is westward of the 

 river Shannon. 



Brown Bog. — The kind thus named appears to 

 be only a state of the red, diff'erently coloured by 

 mineral substances, or from the matter being in a 

 more decomposed and compressed state, owing to 

 its occurrence at greater depths. I shall therefore 

 not dwell more particularly on it, but proceed to 

 consider the kind called black bog, which next 

 deserves attention from its extent and usefulness. 



Black Bog occurs in isolated patches among the 

 red and more fibrous bogs, and appears, from the 

 solidity and darkness of colour of the matter of 

 which it is composed, to have been formed on sites 

 cf small lakes, which have been slowly and 

 gradually filled up by the decomposition of such 

 floating plants as are now forming matter to fill up 

 the water-holes on flow bogs, viz., Nymphaeas, 

 Potamogetons, Charas, &c. That found at great 

 depths resting on the bottom, and sometimes nearly 

 as solid as coal, results fiom age and compression, 

 and may have been formed by the same plants as 

 the red bog. By far the greater portion of black 

 or turbary bog seems to have accumulated on the 

 sites of ancient forests, which either covered over 

 large portions of the country, or skirted along the 

 margins of morasses, as is evident from the 

 number of roots and trunks of trees found it it. 



It is the most valuable for fuel, owing to the 

 large quantity of woody matter it contains, and 

 varies in depth from 3 to 20 feet or more. The 

 plants which are now growing on the surface, and 

 appear to have been th^se which formed the prin- 



