590 STEVENSON— FORMATION OF COAL BEDS. [November 3, 



smaller because increasing accumulation of peat deprives them of 

 their nutriment. Even exceptionally high floods cannot bring dis- 

 solved nutriment to them and they are dependent on rain, dew and 

 dust. At length, the trees are displaced by Sphagnum, able to store 

 away dew and rain, to remain moist on even a dry bed, to keep the 

 area wet though it may be several meters above the water level. So 

 one, in going eastward, is still on wet land. This is the Hochmoor, 

 swelling as an hour glass — whence its name. But there is a still 

 higher stage. On the Hochmoor, one's foot sinks deeply into the 

 sphagnum-peat as he advances. At length a pond is reached; the 

 rain collects in pools or small lakes, whence it flows to moisten the 

 surrounding area. Plants thrive here because the changing water 

 gives them nutriment. Reeds and sedges are seen and even Pimis 

 syk'cstris is present, though much smaller than on the borders of the 

 Flachmoor. This great bog rests on a sandy deposit, with which are 

 mingled the vegetable muds of the kurischen Hafif. 



As the problem of formation of coal beds is world-wide in scope, 

 the essential features of those beds being practically the same in all 

 lands, the study of peat accumulations must be as broad as possible, 

 if the conclusions are to possess any worth for or against any theory. 

 In the pages to follow, the results of studies by observers in many 

 regions will be presented in detail. This may involve some repeti- 

 tion, but that will serve only to emphasize the importance of certain 

 conditions, which have been overlooked or ignored in .some contri- 

 butions to the discussion. 



Peat Deposits in the United States of America. — Alarine marshes 

 exist in extensive areas along the Atlantic coast from Maine to 

 Florida, a region believed by nearly all observers to be subsiding. 

 North from Florida, the tidal marshes are grass-meadows, ordinarily 

 treeless. They are covered with grasses, reeds or coarse sedges and 

 the upper surface is near the level of high water. Cook^"" has 

 described those of New Jersey, which are typical of the whole coast 

 from Georgia northward. Alongside of streams crossing the marshes 

 there is a narrow ridge of dry land, but within a few yards one 



""G. H. Cook, "Geology of New Jersey," 1868, pp. 24, 231, 233, 238, 300, 

 347-350, 361. 



188 



