154 FOREST PLANTIKG. 



resin, and this combined with the rotten roots and other 

 parts of the plants, bring into existence in the course of 

 time, so thick and impenetrable a surface soil that 

 neither rain nor any other moisture of the air or earth 

 can sink into the ground. Moreover, should any ele- 

 vation of the ground prevent the stagnant waters from 

 flowing off, swamps are formed which foster the growth 

 of aquatic plants (cotton-grasses, tuft-grasses, etc.), by 

 the decay and rotting of which the organic surface of 

 the soil is continually increased. This is the way in 

 which the so-called moorlands are built up. When the 

 accumulations of aquatic plants have reached a consider- 

 able height the power of vegetation passes away and 

 peat bogs of more or less consistency are formed accord- 

 ing to whether the water is drained off or retained in the 

 soil. In the lowlands of the heaths this soil is often 

 mixed with more or less muck.* Should it be possible 

 to apply drainage here, there would be an opportunity 

 for cultivating every kind of grain. But if moorlands 

 do not contain anything to counteract the noxious effect 

 of the too abundant carbonaceous humus and humic acid, 

 there is no other means of utilizing such lands except to 

 prepare them for raising forest-trees, and, for this pur- 

 pose, to mix with the moor soil the deeper lying mineralic 

 ingredients of the subsoil. This is done in the following 

 manner : After the moor has been drained as much as 

 practicable the tufts of the top soil are scattered all over, 

 and the surface is, as much as possible, made level. 

 Thereupon deep plowing is resorted to with the effect of 

 bringing up the sand from the subsoil for mixing it with 

 the moor dirt. Should the moor layer be so thick that 



*Wemean by " muck " the vegetable deposits of swamps and ponds, 

 consisting of decayed organic substances mixed with more or less earth 

 and containing much carbon. 



