MOSSES WITH A HAND-LENS I 



THE PEAT MOSSES 



THE Peat Mosses (Plate I.) are so different from the other 

 mosses that many authors favor putting them in a separate 

 class. Their protonema is much like the prothallium of 

 the ferns, and the stalk on which the capsule is borne is in no way 

 homologous with the seta of other mosses. The structure of the 

 leaves is also very different from that of the other mosses. 



Economically, the Peat Mosses are of more value than any 

 others. In many portions of Ireland and Scotland peat is almost 

 the only fuel supply of the peasantry. In the United States there 

 is an abundant supply of peat. Dana estimates that there are 

 15,000,000,000 cubic feet in Massachusetts alone. Cheaper and 

 more satisfactory fuels are so abundant that peat is little used in 

 this country. 



Peat Mosses grow in and near water in swamps. They keep 

 growing at the top and dying below. Sticks, leaves and other 

 vegetable matter is washed in among the decaying stems. The 

 whole mass, being saturated with water, decays slowly, leaving a 

 black substance whose combustibility depends upon the purity of 

 the carbon. The " muck" of the farmers is an incomplete or an 

 impure peat. 



Peat Mosses grow into small ponds from the margin and fre- 

 quently fill them entirely, forming quaking bogs. In other in- 

 stances there is a small black pool in the center of the bog, all that 

 remains of a much larger body of water that once occupied the 

 whole area now occupied by the bog. 



These bogs are very treacherous, and men and animals not 

 infrequently perish through being engulfed in the black slimy 

 mud. There is some antiseptic property in this mud which pre- 

 serves animal and vegetable tissue for a long time. Huge logs 

 are often dug out of these swamps in a condition fit for excellent 

 lumber. In Ireland the body of a woman dressed in haircloth was 

 unearthed from under eleven feet of peat, where it must have lain 

 for centuries. 



Peat Mosses absorb water very freely and serve to hold back 

 the water that falls during heavy storms, preventing floods, and 

 retaining the water until it is more needed. Because of this ab- 

 sorbent power these mosses are much used by tlorists for pack- 

 ing flowers. 



These mosses are easily recognized by their light gray-green 

 color (sometimes pink or red at the top) and their peculiar shape, 

 which is well illustrated in the figures. 



norm* library 



fl. C. State College 



