EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA. II 
these widely extended solitudes, supplies one of the first require- 
ments of those who occupy them, and everywhere is peat annually 
cut, dried, and stored. 
With regard to the function of these plants in the formation 
of peat, I cannot do better than quote Professor Schimper’s 
words. He says :—‘ Unless there were peat-mosses, many a bare 
mountain ridge, many a high valley of the temperate zone, and 
large tracts of the northern plains, would present an uniform 
watery flat, instead of a covering of flowering plants or shady 
woods. For just as the Spagna suck up the atmospheric mois- 
ture and convey it to the earth, do they also contribute to it by 
pumping up to the surface of the tufts formed by them, the 
standing water which was their cradle, diminish it by promoting 
evaporation, and finally also by their own detritus, and by that 
of the numerous other bog-plants to which they serve as a support, 
remove it entirely, and thus bring about their own destruction. 
Then, as soon as the plant-detritus formed in this manner has 
elevated itself above the surface water, it is familiar to us by the 
name of peat, becomes material for fuel, and all Sphagnum vegeta- 
tion ceases.” 
Their power of retaining moisture renders them useful to the 
gardener in the cultivation of orchids, ferns, and other delicate 
plants, and for their package and transport in a fresh state. 
But to the inquiring mind the study of the structure of these 
plants must prove an unfailing source of instruction, for in no 
members of the vegetable kingdom do we find means so well 
adapted to the ends they serve, as in the beautiful and varied 
tissues which build up a single stem of Sphagnum. 
