1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



463 



queries antMit that substance, which appeared in 

 the XXXVIIIth niunber, ami which you iiail the 

 o-ooilnor=s to insert in the Xljlhi lunnber ol" your 

 Mairazine; ami the subject beini; more connected 

 vvilli natural hislory than agriculture, I shall not 

 at this time enlarge on it. Let it suliice to say, 

 lliat moss is neither an original earth, a subma- 

 rine production, a collection ol" anteililuvian her- 

 bage brought together by Noairs Hood, nor a 

 oTowiug plant sal generis; but that it is an im- 

 mense collection of vegetable matter, the remains 

 of many successive crops of tlie aquatic plants 

 which have grown on the surlace, year after year, 

 in places where too much moisture lor the growth 

 of more valuable herbage was dciaineii, and 

 where the temperature was low. Whereverland 

 in the frigid or temperate zones is laid under much 

 moisture, all the rich grasses disappear, and marsh 

 or aquatic plants lorm the chief or only herbage. 

 These do not, like the more valuable plants, yield 

 speedily to putrefaction; but, from the acids, tan- 

 nin, extract, or other antiseptic qualities which 

 they possess, hold out against all the powers of 

 this destroyer of plants, and preserve, for many 

 centuries, something of their organic texture; or, if 

 that be destroyed, at least some part of their 

 substance remains in a mucous state, and adds, 

 one crop after anolher, to the depth of the raoss- 

 earth. 



The depth of the moss stratum will be always 

 found to be in proportion to the extent of the stag- 

 nation of moisture over the surlace. Where the 

 ground has considerable declivity, or the subsoil 

 is open and permeable, the plants that form moss- 

 earth, are but partiallj'' introduced. Along with 

 the heather (^erlca vulgaris et Utralix), the yel- 

 low fogs (Jiypnum squarrosum, filicimim et ruta- 

 bidarn), goldilock {polijtridion commune), stool- 

 bent (j uncus Sfjuarros us), whitebent(;iartZ«s stric- 

 ta), tormentilla, &c. which contribute to the for- 

 mation of moss-earth, several of the sedge grass- 

 es, (car(ces), and even some of the richer grass- 

 es, as bents (^agrostes), fescue {fesiuca). hose 

 grass (Jitdcus lanatus), &c. grow in a dwarfish 

 state; and the accumulation of moss-earlh is so 

 slow, that, even in places neglected as to culture 

 since the commencement of vegetation, moss- 

 earth has only attained to a few inches in thick- 

 ness, and is not fit for fuel, but is merely a black, 

 friable mould, formed over the original soil. This 

 species of moss-earth I shall have occasion to no- 

 tice, in course, under the denomination of moor- 

 ground, or hill moss. 



Where the surface has less declivity, and the 

 subsoil of a clayey nature, through which the 

 moisture does not so readily percolate, tlie stool- 

 bent (^juncas squarrosus), turfy club-rush {scir- 

 pus ccBspitosus), goldilock (polytrichon commune), 

 sedge grasses (carices), blue mountain or blow- 

 ing grass {inelica ccerulea), lormentilla, yellow logs 

 (hypna), &c. are the most prevalent plants; and 

 there, moss earth will be found to have accu- 

 mulated li'oiTi one to three feet in thickness; to 

 be more firm and solid than any other species of 

 moss; and to make the best fuel. This, in the 

 western parts of Scotland, is usually denominated 

 bent-moss; and I shall give it no other name. 



But where, from the surface being still more level, 

 and the subsoil close and impenerable to water, 

 and where, by the rising of springs, overthrow of 

 trees, or other obstructions, a still larger quantity 



(ioldilock. 

 Drab-colored fog, 



Cotton heads, 



Turfy club-rush, 

 Yellow logs, 

 Heather, 



of moisture has been long detained, and continues 

 to be constanlly ke|)t on the surliice, every thing 

 in the shape of grass or green herbage is ban- 

 ished; and the ibllovving plants grow up, viz: 



Marsh fog, Sfihagnum |)a!ustre, 



Polylrichon commune, 

 Bryuin hyjinoides, 

 Eriopliorum polystachion, 

 ' vaginaluin et anguslilb- 



lium, 

 Scripus cff-spitosus, 

 Hypnum rutabuluin el fili- 



cinum, 

 Erica vulgaris et tetralix, 

 and some smaller plants. 



In such situations, moss-earth will be found 

 from two or three to fifty feet in thickness, and 

 where the supply of moisture on the surface is 

 siill more abundant, the depth of the stratum is 

 fast increasing. 



JVloss of this description is always loose, open,, 

 light, and of a drab color, the vegetable fibre be- 

 ing still perceptible; and, though it readily burns, 

 makes but a weak fire. This, in all parts of 

 Scotland, is denominated ^oto-7/ioss. 



These three descriptions seem to comprehend all 

 the arrangement, or classifications of moss-earth 

 that are necessary, or can be of the least utility ta 

 the cultivator. All of them are abundantly percep-^ 

 tible; and, indeed there is no other description of" 

 moss-earth that is not included in one or other 

 of them. Hill-moss is dry and firm, with a stra- 

 tum of black earth of only a lew inches deep; and, 

 except the heaths, the plants it produces are stunt- 

 ed and dwarfish. Bent-moss is distinguished 

 fi'om all others by its solidity and firmness, and the 

 rough green herbage, resembling coarse grasses, 

 with which it is uniformly covered. Flow-moss 

 is in every respect different from either. It is 

 nearly void of any thing resembling grass or 

 green herbage : heather and fogs are the chief 

 plants. It is always wet, soft, frequently uneven 

 on the surface and sometimes abounds with hags, 

 or natural gullies, of considerable depth. 



None of these in the least resemble each other; 

 nothing that I know is to be found in nature, 

 which the simplest rustic could mistake for any 

 one of them; each requiring a different mode of 

 treatment, when improved tor pasture or cropping. 

 By some learned doctors, who have written on 

 this subject, moss-earth has been divided and 

 subdivided into many different species; distinguish- 

 ed from each other by their color, density, inflam- 

 mability, acidity, admixtures, supposed chemical 

 I qualities, &,c. &c. To these they invent a nom- 

 enclature, extremely perplexing, in which no two 

 of them agree; and they tell us, ''that it is clear to 

 a demonstration, that these different genera must 

 require different treatment, either as a soil or ma- 

 nure;" that "it were equally absurd to cultivate all 

 these difl'erent kinds of moss in the same way, as 

 to apply one -plaster to all sores." In fact, it would 

 seem, they think nobody can cultivate moss with 

 success, or with certainty, until they have ascer- 

 tained not only the plants on its surfi^ce; the de- 

 gree of its solidity; its color; ho\v fiir the organic 

 texture of the plants have been reduced; how 

 many admixtures may have got into it; whether 

 it has been transported by water, or by what 

 other means it may have been deposited: and un- 



