36 THE SPIRIT OF THE SOIL 



been trapped on the leaves of the growing plants. 

 Consider the differences in the animal organisms, 

 crustaceae, and so forth, that have lived and died 

 during the long periods of geological time, and there 

 will be little trouble in recognizing that in mineral 

 content one peat bog will differ widely from another. 



This variation in life is a factor that has constantly 

 to be borne in mind when dealing with peat, and the 

 plants of which it is composed. Pond, lake, bog, 

 forest, and swamp, have well-defined differences in 

 the vegetation that grows on them, and the plants 

 growing in each will vary with changing conditions 

 of soil, climate, and general environment. The juicy 

 character of water-plants is perpetuated in the peat 

 they form by a soft structureless material. When 

 sedges and grasses predominate, the peat, as one 

 would expect, tends to be fibrous and of the nature of 

 turf. From trees and shrubs is derived a woody 

 type of peat. 



To those not professionally concerned with the 

 problem it is often somewhat of a puzzle to say why 

 in certain cases coal is formed as the result of the 

 decay of vegetable matter, while in other cases peat 

 results. Peat must be regarded as the result of the 

 first of the great changes undergone by organic matter 

 on its way to become coal. What has occurred is 

 that plant debris has accumulated in a relatively 

 permanent body of water or in moist shallow places. 

 Weathering processes set in as soon as the tissues are 

 lifeless, promoted and aided throughout by the action 

 of fungi and bacteria. The products of decay accu- 

 mulate beneath the surface of the water, and in the 



