4 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



from the fact that there may be every degree of gradation between 

 true Muck and true Peat within the limits of the same deposit. This 

 gradation arises from the character of the processes by which the two 

 classes of material are formed and preserved. 



In general Peat consists of brown or black fibrous or cellular remains 

 of organic matter formed chiefly in bogs or ponds. Peat is most 

 frequently formed from accumulations of sphagnum moss, which has 

 grown in such situations. While the moss may constitute the 

 greater portion of any peat deposit, there are also included the remains 

 of other water-loving plants and trees and sometimes the trunks, 

 branches, and foliage of tamarack, white cedar, and birch. A peaty 

 soil consists of material of this character more or less mingled with 

 mineral matter. 



Muck may be distinguished from peat by the fact that the organic 

 remains within the deposit have reached a more advanced state of 

 disintegration, and frequently the accessory mineral matter is more 

 apparent. The process of disintegration has usually reduced the 

 organic matter to a soft pulpy mass of vegetable material which has 

 lost all resemblance to the fibrous and cellular structure of the original 

 plant tissues. Muck is also likely to contain a larger proportion of 

 mineral material. It is a mass of partly preserved vegetable matter 

 which has passed to a more advanced stage of disintegration than 

 peat and into which a considerable quantity of mineral matter has 

 been washed or blown during the process of its formation. Muck is 

 ordinarily black or dark brown, like peat. 



In many areas there naturally occurs a, zone of transition from 

 true Peat to typical Muck, and it is a matter of careful discrimination 

 to separate the two classes of material and to establish boundaries 

 between them. 



While the close resemblances betw_een these two classes of material 

 and their intimate association may in some cases render separation 

 difficult, there is usually little difficulty encountered in distinguishing 

 either from other classes of soils. In all cases Peat and Muck are 

 very dark colored and contain a noticeably higher percentage of 

 organic matter than the normal upland soil. They are almost univer- 

 sally saturated with water in their natural condition. It is only 

 when a deposit of one or the other of these materials becomes thinned 

 out in contact with areas of upland soil that any difficulty should be 

 experienced in recognizing either as a distinct class of soil. Few 

 upland soils contain more than 15 per cent of organic matter, and the 

 presence of as much as 25 per cent should serve to distinguish the 

 soil mass as a mucky or peaty soil. For convenience in classification 

 the average depth of 8 inches has been assumed as a minimum which 

 would warrant the separation of distinct areas of Muck or Peat from 

 upland soils highly charged with organic matter. 



