PAPERS ON BIOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE 81 



ton grass and other bog plants. There are frequent open- 

 ings in the mat of from six inches to two feet in diameter 

 which contain floating mosses of spirogyra. 



At the west end of the bog near the Allandale farm is an 

 elongated cluster of young tamaracks containing about fifty 

 trees, none apparently more than fifteen years old. There 

 are also one or two isolated trees of about the same size near 

 the center of the bog. Fig. 1. 



The bog is of local importance economically because of its 

 annual crop of cranberries. These plants grow luxur- 

 iantly and produce many berries, but on account of the un- 

 stable chara*. ^r of the mat, many people are afraid of ven- 

 turing on it. Within the last five years at least one horse 

 and one cow have wandered out on the surface of the bog 

 and have gone down in a soft spot and been drowned. 



From the features described this is apparently a very 

 young or immature bog, and it would be interesting to know 

 whether or not it has increased in extent within the memory 

 of man. Local testimony as to its history is somewhat un- 

 certain but it seems probable that it has not increased much 

 in size in the last fifty years. It is agreed, however, that the 

 tamarack trees appeared rather suddenly about twelve to 

 fifteen years ago. 



2. The Allandale Bog. — About five hundred yards west 

 of Cedar Lake and northwest of the Allandale farm is a ket- 

 tle hole of low relief, the center of which contains the re- 

 mains of a small bog. This was artificially drained about 

 ten years ago, but was evidently very mature long before 

 the draining. The bog lies about fifteen feet below the sur- 

 rounding upland, is oval in shape and about two hundred 

 yards in its longest diameter. The substratum on the soil at 

 this depression is peaty but solid, though soft and water 

 soaked in a wet season. The slopes surrounding the depres- 

 sion were originally covered with oak hickory forests and 

 here also a few trees are left on the west side. The land 

 between this depression and Cedai* Lake was cleared a num- 

 ber of years ago. In the depression the vegetation is very 

 mixed. There are still standing the dead trunks of several 

 large tamarack trees eight to ten inches in diameter. Fig. 2. 



