ioo MOUNTAIN AND MOORLAND 



The result all over the world has been the formation of 

 vegetable mould loose, richly aerated, and not sour. 



The reasons why peat is not really soil are that it 

 has not been sufficiently mixed up with mineral 

 materials, that its nitrogenous components are not in 

 an available form, and that the abundance of organic 

 salts (when there is little lime) acts as a plant poison. 

 It is a useful fuel, it has not become a soil; it has not 

 been sufficiently worked on by bacteria or by earth- 

 worms. Only in the transitional meadow moor, or 

 where the farmer has put brains into the using of it, 

 do we see peat entering again in the cycle of life by 

 becoming part of the soil. 



Perhaps we may be allowed to say that a little 

 reasonable care is needed in exploring peat bogs, for 

 there are treacherous surfaces which yield under the 

 feet and may involve the unwary in a dangerous quag- 

 mire. It is risky to begin jumping quickly from hum- 

 mock to hummock, for one comes a cropper before 

 long. As the Italian proverb has it, he who goes 

 slowly goes far. Of course for a bog excursion one 

 should put on old clothes and either very old or 

 thoroughly waterproof boots. 



Very conspicuous in moist places, sometimes on the 

 black sides of the bog ditches, are the squat, fleshy 

 leaves of the Butterwort, which suggest the arms of 

 a yellowish starfish. The technical name Pinguicula 

 means "Little Fat One," and the plump leaves cer- 

 tainly look as if the plant flourished well. Part of the 

 secret is disclosed when we look at the number of 

 small midges and other insects on the glistening 

 leaves, for the Butterwort is a carnivorous plant. It 

 is not difficult to cut off the skin of the leaf with a 



