Development of the Vegetation of New York State 119 
(a) On the level plain of the Ontario Basin in Niagara 
and Orleans counties, American elm and basswood are more 
prominent in swamp or at least in near-swamp forest than is 
red maple. White pine and hemlock are lacking or rarely 
seen. No white cedar, tamarack or balsam were noted. 
(b) In the lower Hudson region elm, ash and red maple 
appear to be still dominant but conifers are replaced by 
swamp oak (Quercus palustris) and Q. pogodaefolra (EIl.) 
Ashe (Q. digitata Sudworth), and no doubt by other species 
which become common in swamps southward. The oecur- 
rence of southern white cedar “ swamps” in New Jersey, 
Virginia, ete., is cited in connection with bog forest under 
the caption, The Bog Sequence of Vegetation, page 129. 
The Bog Sequence of Vegetation. 
In attempting to present a fairly clear statement as to 
the course of vegetation leading to swamp forest on built-up 
organic soils, certain facts have been omitted which throw 
light on the subject of bog formation. For example, in 
referring to Cicero swamp (page 113) while mention was 
made of Sphagnum, of certain shrubs (high-bush blueberry, 
red choke berry, mountain holly) and black spruce, no con- 
clusion was drawn from this combination of species nor was 
it emphasized that the built-up soil (whose depth has been 
found in some spots to reach thirty feet) was brown, fibrous 
peat." It could have been added that tree trunks have been 
found in this swamp, buried in the peat and in fairly well- 
preserved condition. This, of course, shows that the accum- 
ulation of fallen vegetation is less completely decomposed 
than the black, fine-grained muck of the marsh and swamp. 
It is in a more or less disintegrated condition but. still 
evidently plant remains, the larger, firmer pieces — tree 
trunks — being preserved in natural dimensions. Such cases 
1 The terms muck and peat are used here as generally understood and 
as distinguished for example in soil circular 65, of the U. 8S. Dept. Agr. 
Bureau of Soils. No suggestion is offered for making this distinction 
on technical grounds. 
