10 GENERAL HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 



"The oak and beech are the only trees, with the exception of the pine and 

 others of less value, that one can sow successfully in wild land." (245) 



Biherg, 1745.— Biberg (1749:6, 27) described in brief form the origin of a 

 meadow from a swamp, and indicated the general stages of succession. Sphag- 

 num spread over the swamp until it filled the latter with an extremely porous 

 stratum. Scirpus caespitosus then extended its roots into this, and together 

 with species of Eriophorum formed elevated peat areas. These furnished a 

 firmer foundation for other invading plants until the whole marsh was con- 

 verted into a meadow, especially if the water fashioned for itself a broader 

 outlet. He also considered crustose Uchens to be the first foundation of vege- 

 tation. When the land first emerged from the sea, minute crustose lichens 

 began to clothe the most arid rocks. At length they decayed and formed an 

 extremely thin layer of earth on which foliose lichens could live. These in 

 turn decayed and furnished humus for the growth of mosses, Hypnum, Bryum, 

 and Polytrichum, which finally produced a soil on which herbs and shrubs 

 could grow. 



Anderson, 1794- — ^Anderson's views upon the origin and nature of peat-bogs 

 may be gained from Rennie (1910:60, 83), who regarded many of them as 

 unconfirmed. He considered moss (moor) to be a plant sui generis, which 

 continued to increase to an immense magnitude and indefinite age, but that, 

 in its progress, it enveloped trees and every other matter that came in its way. 

 He reached the conclusion that "nothing can be so absurd, nothing so con- 

 tradictory to reason, and every known fact respecting the decomposition of 

 vegetables, than the whole of the doctrine that has been impHcitly adopted 

 respecting the formation of moss, by means of decaying sphagnum or any 

 other plant whatever." In support of this, he advanced the argmnents that: 

 " 1. All vegetable substances, when dead, decrease in bulk so much that 

 they occupy not above one hundredth part of the space 

 they did. 

 "2. Moss produces few vegetables; these tend to decay rapidly. 

 "3. The vegetable substance which forms moss must therefore have 



been one hundred times more bulky than the moss itself. 

 "4. Mosses are foimd 30, even 40 feet deep. 



"5. The most abundant crop on the most fertile soil wiU not cover 

 the earth, when fresh cut, half an inch deep; when rotten, 

 it only covers the earth one hundredth part of this. 

 "6. Therefore, it would require 9,600 years to form a moss 20 feet deep 



on the most fertile soil. 

 "7. Moss produces not one hundredth part of the crop of a fertile soil- 

 therefore, it would require upwards of 900,000 years to pro^ 

 duce 20 feet of moss earth on such a soil." 



De Luc, 1806.— From the various accounts of his investigations furnished 

 Rennie by letter, De Luc (Rennie, 1810 : 137, 128, 116, 30) may well be regarded 

 as the keenest and most indefatigable of early students of peat-bogs, prior 

 to Steenstrup at least. He was probably the first to make use of the' term 

 succession, and certainly the first to use it with full recognition of its develop- 

 mental significance. His description of the method by which "lakes and 

 pools are converted into meadows and mosses" is so complete and detailed 

 that frequent quotation can alone do justice to it: 



