1897-8. Transactions. 81 



dried crumbles easily to dust. It is in these marshes in Canada 

 that the farmer finds his black muck, which is unconsolidated 

 organic matter derived from vegetation of a varied character. 

 On the other hand the heath moss, or high moors show 

 a different character. They are covered by heath plants and 

 instead of a varied vegetation the swamp mosses or sphagnum 

 occur in huge quantity. Dwarf firs show themselves, but 

 sphagnum varieties constitute the main vegetation. Indeed 

 Professor Macoun thinks that the name of peat bog is exactly 

 equivalent to sphagnum bog, and that the "muskegs" of the 

 Northwest have the same mode of origin as the German Hoch- 

 nioore. Of course there are intermediate formations betwixt the 

 "marsh" and the "muskeg" to particularise which would 

 require too much time. Some of these might be characteris- 

 ed as " swamp " and, in these the bushes predominate over the 

 mosses. 



Every bog has its origin in a pond, and when the moss 

 vegetation, living and dead, has filled up these and cannot 

 spread beyond the edges it begins to increase and rise in the 

 middle. The German name of "high moor" seems to come 

 from this higher position, which is above the summer water 

 level of the surrounding country. These high moors shew a 

 characterestic arching ; being higher in the middle than at 

 the edges, and instances of such moors are known which in 

 the centre are from 15 to 25 feet higher than the level of the 

 water in the basin in which the original deposit began. The 

 vegetable matter which lies beneath the surface ranges in 

 colours from yellow on the top to deep black in depth. These 

 moors yield frequently two different products, moss litter and 

 peat, the former after drying being brown, soft and spongy. 

 The peat on the other hand is when dried, black, hard and 

 unyielding. 



Both of these products are found in the Asten Moor, the 

 moss litter lying above the peat, each having a thickness of 

 about four feet, Before the upper layer came to be utilised, and 

 when working a peat bog in the old days, this higher part had to 

 be removed at much expense in order to get at the denser and 

 darker peat which was much more valuable as fuel. Now 

 the upper part brings in more money than the lower, and the 

 manner of working a peat deposit has been revolutionised. 

 The total depth of the Asten Moor down to the soil under- 

 neath is about eight feet. This is the thickness after consoli- 

 dation which is a very different thing from the depth of the 

 bog in its natural state. The shrinkage which it under-goes 



