CHAPTER XXVIII 

 MOSSES AND MOORS 



Peat-mosses and their birds— Moorlands— Cotton-grass— Scotch whisky 

 — Growth of peat-moss — A vegetable pump — Low-lying and moorland 

 mosses— Eruptions and floods of peat— Colonizing by heather and 

 Scotch fir — Peat-mosses as museums — Remains of children and 

 troopers — Irish elk — Story of the plants in Denmark — Rhododendrons 

 and peat — Uses of peat— Reclaiming the mosses near Glasgow. 



IN Great Britain in this present year one finds exceedingly 

 few places where the influence of man cannot be traced. 

 Over most of the country, indeed, it is impossible to 

 discover a single acre of land where Nature has been allowed 

 to go on working at her own sweet will without interference 

 or restraint. 



But near Stirling, between the Lake of Monteith and the 

 sea, there is a wide, desolate valley which is probably in 

 exactly the same condition as it was when the Roman 

 legions halted to reconnoitre before Agricola passed on- 

 wards to Perth and Aberdeen. 



Indeed, this great peat-moss has been probably in very 

 much the same condition for some 200,000 years, which is a 

 nice round number to represent the ages that have passed 

 since the Great Ice Age. 



Now, as then, it is inexpressibly dreary and desolate ; 

 everywhere saturated with water, and only to be traversed 

 in dry seasons and with much agility. Even with the 

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