318 DR. ANGUS SMITH ON FEAT. 



turf has been cut nearly to the bottom ; and Mr. Greene 

 expects that the bog will grow again, and afford fuel to a 

 future generation. The drains have now been stopped 

 four years. I saw the bog last summer, and I found that 

 in many places the whole of the drains, and many of the 

 old turf-holes, were filled nearly to the top by a pulpy 

 mass, which upon examination I found to be composed of 

 matted grass and the bog-moss [Sphagnum palustre) — 

 which when soaked in water has a gelatinous appearance, 

 but when taken out and dried diminishes to less than a 

 twentieth part of its apparent bulk in the water, and 

 becomes hard and tough. Probably in eight or ten years 

 the grass and moss will have grown so thick and firm as 

 to bear a man to walk on its surface ; and I doubt not 

 that in less than forty years turf may be again cut from 

 the old turbary." 



P. 182. "It may be observed that the depths of moun- 

 tain and lowland bogs are very different : the former 

 rarely exceeds six feet ; whilst the latter amounts to 

 twenty on the average, and is sometimes more than 

 forty feet. This may at first sight appear extraordinary ; 

 for if my argument be correct, it is certain that the 

 shallow bog must have commenced its growth immediately 

 subsequent to the formation of the mountains, and that 

 the growth of the deep or lowland bogs was commenced at 

 a much later period. But it should be recollected that 

 moss will grow in some situations much more quickly 

 than in others; and there have been instances (one of 

 which I have mentioned in my Report on the district of 

 the river Suck) of the growth of moss in a lowland bog 

 amounting to two inches in a year for 20 years : this rapid 

 growth of moss may perhaps be attributed to the great 

 abundance of stagnant water which is always present in 

 the lowland bogs, excepting in the hottest of the summer 

 months, 



