Vegetation of Northern Cape Breton. 



365 



Illustrative examples. — The general situation in poorly drained 

 swamps is unusually well illustrated by a group of small swamps 

 on Broadcove Mountain, which were studied in some detail. 

 These swamps occupy a series of very shallow, trough-like depres- 

 sions, which cross approximately at right angles the road from 

 Ingonish to Neil's Harbor. Three of them, which may be 

 designated respectively as swamps A, B, and C, are roughly 

 represented in longitudinal section in Fig. 44. The surface 

 slope, depth of peat, etc., were determined by means of sounding- 

 rod and level. All three swamps have outlets at the lower end, 

 and swamp A has a small brooklet traversing perhaps half its 

 length. At the time they were studied (August, 1916), the out- 



FiGURE 44. — Diagrammatic longi-sections of poorly drained swamps on 

 Broadcove Mountain, north of Ingonish : see text. 



lets in swamps B and C were dry, but a small amount of water 

 was trickling out of A. 



Swamp A. — This swamp is the least boggy of the three. 

 Genetically it represents a condition which presumably obtained 

 at an earlier period in the development of swamp B. In area it 

 is about 300 feet long by 100 feet wide. In proceeding from its 

 upper to its lower end, the ground slopes gently, dropping at the 

 rate of about i : 50. Over almost the entire tract a layer of 

 peat from two to two and a half feet in thickness has been formed. 

 The aspect of the vegetation over much of the area is that of a 

 meadow : Scirpus hudsonianus and S. caespitosus with species of 

 Sphagnum form the bulk of the plant cover. Scattered over the 

 meadow are various herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees, 

 Osmunda regalis in particular of the herbs forming considerable 



