PEAT. 261 



few excavations have been made along the border zone that the conditions 

 of thinning are not known. The upper beds of peaty materials merge 

 gradually into the sands of the adjoining area, so that no boundary line can 

 be given." 



Eies" quotes the following proximate analysis of peat from the Dismal 

 Swamp in Virginia: 



Analysis of peat from the Dismal Swamp, Va. 



Per cent. 



Moisture 20.22 



Volatile matter 52.31 



Fixed carbon 24.52 



Fuel ratio 47 



Peat deposits of Pleistocene (Talbot) age are known at numerous points 

 along the Potomac, Eappahannock, and James rivers, in the Virginia 

 Coastal Plain. About 1 mile above Tappahannock, the Eappahannock 

 Eiver has cut into an old Talbot swamp deposit, exposing peat and many 

 upright cypress stumps in an excellent state of preservation. A section is 

 given of this deposit on page — , which shows compact brown to black peat 

 containing numerous cypress stumps and knees in place, etc., of from 1 to 

 41/2 feet in thickness. Buried swamp deposits of Pleistocene age are re- 

 ported exposed in places by the recent wave-cutting along the western shores 

 of Chesapeake Bay. 



Although peat of commercial value may not be found in many of the 

 swamps and bogs of the Coastal Plain, the winning of these lands to the 

 uses of agi-iculture by dewatering, will afford fertile and productive fields. 

 According to Professor Shaler, the quality of the soil is good and its en- 

 durance under cultivation is continuous. The vast acreage of swamp lands 

 in eastern Virginia which at present are practically valueless are so located 

 with reference to the sea that they may be effectively dewatered and won 

 to the uses of agriculture at very considerable profit, in the future. 



The proposed drainage of these lands in jSTorth Carolina has taken 

 definite shape, and the question is very properly being seriously considered 

 in Virginia, as is indicated by the passage of the Lesner bill by the last 

 General Assembly and by a drainage meeting held at the State Capitol in 

 Eichmond on December 15, 1910. 



oRies, H. Economic Geology. 1910, new and revised edition, p. 6. 



