REPORT OP THE DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1903 73 



The general level of the growing vegetation is only slightly 

 above the level of the water, though near the shore it is rising 

 somewhat above it. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that 

 the deposit has become a compact mass near the shore, but 

 farther out the water beneath the vegetation permits the 

 gradual subsidence of the mass as the new growth increases the 

 thickness of the deposit. Though the weight of a man will be 

 sustained, the moss sinks about a foot when any one walks on 

 it, which may be taken as a proof that this mass is floating. 



Borings aibout 100 yards from shore showed the growing 

 vegetation and that which was not badly decomposed to be 

 about a foot in depth. Some decomposed vegetation seemed to 

 be clinging to the bottom of the mass, which is apparently 

 floating, as the auger met no resistance for a space of a foot or 

 two and then entered a slimy peat which extended to a depth 

 of about 10 feet. The peat is somewhat gray from an admixture 

 of marl, and at a dejitli of 10 feet a gray marl is encountered, 

 the bottom of which was not reached. 



Below Stissing and Thompson's ponds is an extensive flat 

 which is probably the 500 acre plot referred to by Dr Mather. 

 This extends to Attlebury and is underlain at points by peat. 

 No great deposits were found (1902), though one small bog cover- 

 ing about an acre showed peat to the depth of 11 feet, with an 

 underlying bed of dark blue clay. 



The greater part of this flat is covered with a black soil, 

 from 6 inches to a foot in depth, which is underlain by sand or 

 clay. 



Halcyon pond, formerly known as Buttermilk pond, has 

 several marshy tracts along its shores, and a white streak of 

 marl can be seen near the center of the pond. 



Deuel swamp. About 3 miles west of Amenia, Dutchess co., on 

 the farm of A. W. Smith, is the Deuel swamp, which is the one 

 mentioned by Professor Cassell as belonging to Lawrence A. 

 Smith. About a foot and a half or two feet of black soil 



