217 
But Maine is not the only part of the east where surgical 
phagnum occurs. It may grow in almost any bog. You can 
only tell by looking. As I stated earlier, American army sur- 
geons at the present time are not using sphagnum to anywhere 
near the extent that it is being used by surgeons in the other 
allied armies. But it is our business to be prepared; and to this 
end we want information regarding every locality which might 
possibly be utilized as a source of supply for surgical sphagnum. 
It may a that some of you know the whereabouts of a promising 
og. If you do, look it over; and if you find any quantity of 
what looks like good material, send us a sample of it.* 
In surveying any district for surgical sphagnum, there are a 
few practical points which it is well to bear in mind. A wooded 
be a large proportion of undesirable material. Commonly the 
at all for surgical purpos 
The best qualities of moss cs alrays grow in the wettest parts of a 
ere the cranberries grow scattered over a soft carpet of moss, 
intermixed with more or less ‘cranberry grass” (Carex filiformis 
h 
n 
look ioe . wettest places: the soft, quaky spots around tie edges 
* Specimens of material may be sent to the writer at Yale University, New 
Haven, Conn 
