DR. ANGUS SMITH ON PEAT. 309 



a morgen (4. acre) of peat of 5 feet depth. He thinks that 

 one shilling for 1 000 pieces is as much as ought to be asked 

 for rent. 



A great deal of information is to be found in f Das ge- 

 sammte Torfwesen nach den neuesten Versuchen und Ver- 

 fahren, von Wilhelm Leo, Bergmeister und Mitglieder der 

 Sachs. Societat fur Mineralogie, &c/ I shall confine the 

 extracts to the growth of peat (see p. 40) : — 



" The waters under the peat are the real producers of 

 peat ; and the growth can easily be forwarded by putting 

 back the surface on the portion cut ; in it the plants grow 

 and the bitumen is preserved from the influence of the oxy- 

 gen of the air. In the large peat-bogs of Bavaria a growth 

 of 2-3 feet has been observed in 40 years, in Oldenburg 

 4 feet in 100 years, in Denmark only i\ feet. On the 

 other hand, in Switzerland old peat-holes could be cut again 

 after 30 years, having grown in that time 5 feet thickness of 

 peat. This growth may also be improved by strewing the 

 seed about. The water must move slowly over the surface, 

 and not shut out atmospheric oxygen ; if the latter occurs, 

 vegetation ceases and decomposition begins. If, however, 

 the surface is gradually raised out of the water and some- 

 times dried, the reed-grasses begin to be dried up, and other 

 plants take their places, such as bilberries, heather, St. 

 John's wort, mare's tail, and bog-moss, and at last it will 

 bear light woods, such as willow, alder, and birch. 



" Bogs grow on any place where there is standing water 

 not drying in summer : all peat-bogs have been smaller or 

 greater collections of water, some of them lakes." By 

 the advice and under the management of Forest-master 

 Luschka, a great peat-bed was opened at Gundholzen, on 

 the Lake of Constance, in 1804. In 1827 it was opened 

 again, when 2f- feet of peat had grown since 1805. A ten- 

 acre field was opened at Gayenheim, in the same district, 

 with a similar result. The new part is less solid and of 



