1867-8. TRANSACTIONS. 8$ 



of his native province, and advocating their exploitation. 

 Let us hope that his mantle will fall on a worthy successor, 

 and that the working of these huge deposits of organic mat- 

 ter may at last be carried out successfully. 



In the Province of Quebec, although the production of 

 moss litter has not actually been accomplished there is abun- 

 dance of the raw material as our Chairman very well knows. 

 Anyone who has travelled through the province must have ob- 

 served their occurrence at Valley field, Berthier, Three Rivers, 

 Champlain, Levis, and at immerous points on the line of the 

 Intercolonial Railway, Between Cacouna and St. Arsene 

 there is an excellent example of a high moor, well situated 

 for exploitation. I am not aware as to whether any statistics 

 exist as regards the quautity of such land in Quebec, but the 

 figures are obtainable for Ontario. In the Report of the 

 Bureau for Industries for 1896 it is stated that there are in the 

 province : — 



Acres cleared 12,671,857 



Acres woodland 7,264,167 



Acres swamp or marsh 3)236,390 



Total occupied 23,172,408 



Thus of the rural area or total number of acres of assessed 

 land 25.5% or over one-fourth is bog or marsh, containing an 

 as yet unappreciated store of fertilizing material. It so hap- 

 pens that the first succesful attempt to utilize Moss Litter for 

 sanitary purposes in Canada was made in the Province of 

 Ontario. At Caledonia Springs the method of deodorising 

 human refuse by means of the moss from a bog in the neigh- 

 borhood has been carried on for several years with the most 

 satisfactory results to all concerned. The moss litter here re- 

 ferred to, is unusually rich in nitrogen, assaying nearly 3%, and 

 the compost resulting from its use is an excellent fertilizer. 



I have now told you something about the production of 

 Moss Litter, and must next anticipate the question — Well, 

 what is the good of it all ? What is done with the article and 

 of what advantage is it to the human race in general, and to 

 agriculture in particular? In answering such enquiries I 

 must leave peat and its applications out of consideration, not 

 because they are unworthy of attention, but because of the 

 want of time on the present occasion. Furthermore, Moss 

 Litter has about four times the value of peat, and the success- 

 ful working of the former, which as a rule lies above the peat, 



