SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES AND THEIR USE XXXVIII. 



MUCK AND PEAT. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



Wherever an opportunity is offered for the accumulation of dead 

 and partly decayed organic matter, deposits of Muck and Peat may be 

 formed. The circumstances favoring such accumulation are usually 

 those of humid climate, abundant vegetation, and a swampy condi- 

 tion resulting in the partial preservation of the successive deposits 

 of vegetation. Peat and Muck are thus most commonly formed in 

 swampy, low-lying positions where rank growths of various forms 

 of vegetation have died and been preserved from complete dis- 

 organization. 



As a result of these necessary processes of formation, accumulations 

 of both Peat and Muck are far more frequent and more extensive in 

 northern and cooler regions than in warmer climates. There are some 

 exceptions to this general rule arising from the existence of excep- 

 tional conditions within semitropic regions. 



Few accumulations of Peat or Muck are encountered within semi- 

 arid regions, and such as have been formed are chiefly confinsd to 

 low-lying and poorly drained positions along the flood plains of the 

 larger rivers. 



Areas of distinctive Muck have been encountered in 44 different 

 localities during the progress of soil survey work. They occur in 18 

 different States and occupy a total extent of 718,029 acres. Peat 

 deposits have been mapped in 12 distinct localities, occurring in 8 

 different States, and covering 141,804 acres. 



Whils the greater number of these areas of Peat and Muck, and 

 usually the most extensive tracts, have been found in the cooler, 

 humid regions of the Northeastern and North Central States, yet 

 there are extensive deposits in the lower lying swampy sections of 

 the Coastal Plains region and even some large deposits within the 

 flood plains of some of the larger southern rivers. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF SOIL AND SUBSOIL. 



It is difficult to establish any rigid definition which shall always 

 discriminate between characteristic Peat and true Muck, even when 

 the definition is confined exclusively to agricultural uses. This arises 



38196" Cir. 6512 3 



