PLANTS OF THE MOORLAND 95 



tions, which show that Ants distribute the seeds of 

 these plants. They push them along the ground, 

 biting at the orange-coloured " oil-body " as they go. 

 As Ants often utilise human tracks as their roads, we 

 can understand why the Gorse and Broom should 

 often be found alongside paths on the heath. 



"High moor" is a technical term for peat-covered 

 stretches where there is very little lime. The water 

 contains organic acids (humic) dissolved out from the 

 peat, but it also contains abundant organic salts 

 (humates) of similar origin; and these humates make 

 life difficult for most plants. In the "low moor," 

 which is rich in lime, the humates unite with the lime 

 and cease to be soluble in the water. Thas the water 

 is freed from them and a much more varied vegeta- 

 tion is possible in the low moor, or meadow moor. 

 The first difficulty to be faced in the high moor is the 

 abundance of these organic salts in the coffee-brown 

 water. It is possible that the partner Fungi associated 

 with Heather and Crowberry make some utilisation 

 of the dissolved humus-substances possible. 



Leaving the question of the origin of peat aside for 

 the moment, we must notice what an extraordinarily 

 thick deposit it sometimes makes. We see this very 

 well where the peat-cutters have been at work. It is 

 often six feet deep; it may even attain, Professor 

 Schimper says, to a thickness of thirty feet. This 

 means that the mineral substratum is at a great dis- 

 tance from the surface. Thus the second difficulty in 

 the high moor is the scarcity of mineral salts which 

 plants need as part of their food. In the meadow 

 moor the layer of peat is comparatively thin and the 

 proportion of available mineral salts is much greater. 



