THE WOODS IN AUTUMN 247 



sands of years these have covered the extensive peat swamps 

 in our Northern States and in Europe, this year's plants 

 growing on the dead generation of last year. Together 

 with the partially decayed remains of grasses and other 

 swamp plants, they have formed layers of peat from a few 

 feet to forty feet thick. 



In Europe this peat is cut or baked into bricks, and much 

 used for fuel ; and the time is not far distant when this 

 treasure of nature will be more extensively used in our 

 country. 



Mosses, as we have seen, are good absorbents of moisture. 

 They prevent the too rapid drainage and drying of the soil, 

 and thus exert a great influence upon the water supply of 

 streams and upon the life of higher plants. Seeds of wild 

 flowers, shrubs, and trees are frequently embedded in moss, 

 which retains the moisture long enough to cause the seeds 

 to germinate, while on bare soil the delicate leaflets and 

 rootlets would, in most cases, dry up and die. 



Mosses and lichens are also important for animal life. In 

 the woods you will find worms, insects, and insect larvae 

 under the moist green turf ; but in Labrador and in the far 

 north of British America, where trees and grasses do not 

 grow, mosses and lichens cover the ground as far as the eye 

 can reach. 



As the great grass plains formerly were the pasture of 

 vast herds of buffaloes, and now feed millions of sheep and 

 cattle, thus the great moss and lichen plains support vast 

 herds of caribou and musk oxen. In the high north of 

 Europe the Lapps herd their reindeer on the large moss and 

 lichen meadows. The teacher might tell the pupils about 

 the life of the Lapps, and about the habits of the American 

 reindeer, or caribou. 



