1897-8. TRANSACTIONS. 79 



Utiliscition of Moss Lands. 



By Thomas :\Iacfarlane, F.R.S.C. 



Extract. 



{Read March ^th^ i8g8. 



After a few introductory remarks the lecturer proceeded 

 as follows : — 



Utilisation of course includes cultivation, but I do not 

 intend to speak of cultivation only. I shall have something 

 to say about the more modern methods of cultivating moss- 

 lands later on, but the subject is not an inviting one. In these 

 days when almost ever}- one is prepared to tell you that ''farm- 

 ing does not pay '' he would be a courageous man who would 

 advise a settler to reclaim a swamp. 



There is a comparison attributed to Queen Elizabeth which 

 points out that life is like a bog ; if you stand still you begin 

 to sink and if you want to keep afloat you must keep moving. 

 I shall, therefore, ask you to leave the consideration of bogs 

 as they occur in nature, and the possibility of cultivating them, 

 and ask you to accompany me, in spirit at least, to see a more 

 pleasing landscape, a moor drained, consolidated and in pro- 

 cess of utilization, where art has come in to modify nature, 

 and, as it generally does, to improve it. In describing such 

 a moor I must avoid any minute reference to the plants by 

 whose instrumentalit}- it has been produced. I can only 

 deal with vegetation in a ver\- general way, and indulge the 

 hope that the botanical aspect of the subject may on a future 

 occasion be made the subject of a disquisition by my friend 

 Prof. ^lacoun, than whom there is no better authority. 



The imaginary trip on which I have invited you is to 

 Holland, or, more properly, the Netherlands. Holland is 



