SOME OBSERVATIONS ON PLANTING NEW GROUND. 31 



matters little whether the peat be nine inches or nine feet deep. 

 It is altogether useless to treat such peats unless some grass is 

 found among the Scirpus, and even large areas with only a little 

 grass should be avoided or treated experimentally on a small scale, 

 as experience alone will prove their value. If draining increases 

 the proportion of grass in a marked degree, there is a possibility 

 that such places may be brought in to a condition fit to grow 

 spruce, but if drainage does not increase the proportion of grass, 

 then these places are in all probability hopeless, and it would 

 appear that the process of improvement is a very slow one. It 

 has also been noted that this quality of peat, when found on a 

 slope immediately above good soil, depreciates the value of the 

 latter very seriously by the downward flow of water charged with 

 injurious acids. Such slopes require draining, although they 

 may not appear to have much need of it unless by the unhealthy 

 appearance of the herbage. It is also very necessary to stop 

 the onflow by a good drain along the margin of the peat ; without 

 this the soil will prove inimicable to tree-growth. Cotton grasses 

 and sphagnum mosses in abundance are also forms of herbage 

 which indicate a quality of peat that should be avoided ; they are 

 usually met with on flat situations of a more or less swampy 

 nature, not infrequently the sites of former lochs, and around the 

 sides of shallow lochs undergoing the process of being filled up 

 by the growth of aquatic plants. All such ground is practically 

 valueless unless it has reached the stage capable of growing 

 rushes. 



Reverting to observations of a more general character, 

 instances may be found in several areas where spruce has 

 made a very poor appearance, with many failures, but with 

 patches here and there showing quite satisfactory results ; 

 and in every case where the growth has been satisfactory, the 

 nature of the herbage indicates a better quality of soil. This 

 may be observed at all altitudes up to about 900 feet, and near 

 that altitude several patches of silver fir have been successful 

 on spots where the herbage indicated a quality of soil that 

 would suit them. Therefore the inference is, as already stated, 

 that quality of soil is the most important feature to be considered, 

 and that the soil value is most easily arrived at by a careful 

 study of the herbage, which does not necessarily require a 

 particular knowledge of the names of plants, but rather a sense 

 of discrimination of which plants indicate soils suitable for 



