1873 •] Peat. 471 



employed therein. A little consideration will, however, 

 prove the contrary ; for it must be admitted that a correct 

 knowledge of the nature of the material to be operated 

 upon must necessarily precede any attempt to define the 

 method by which it may be most advantageously prepared 

 for its destined use. Its economical development also 

 necessitates the consideration of questions affecting the 

 working of peat bogs, as well as the possibility of their 

 cultivation and extension. 



Generally speaking, peat maybe divided into two classes: 

 that which contains nothing but terrestrial vegetable matter 

 is called "bog peat," whilst that in which is found marine 

 vegetable matter is known as "marine peat.'* Again, some 

 authors recognise three classes of peat, which they distin- 

 guish as follows: — 1. Bog peat; 2. Open country peat ; and 

 3. Mountain peat. Sometimes two of these will be found 

 in the same bog, merging, by insensible degrees, from the 

 one to the other. 



I. Bog peat is formed at the mouths of great rivers and 

 of streams, as well as on their banks, on lakes, on ponds, 

 and on the sea shore. The indispensable conditions for the 

 formation of this kind of peat are a bed of water, rather 

 shallow, and with only a moderate current, and the presence 

 of certain vegetable matters, of a perennial growth, which, 

 dying down each year, deposit at their roots the decaying 

 vegetable matter, which, by constant accumulation, produces 

 what is known as peat. 



II. Messrs. Rennie, Dr. Walker, and Ch. Patin, besides 

 others, consider that a great number of peat bogs owe their 

 origin to a sudden destruction of forests ; and this theory is 

 strengthened by the fact that in many open country peat 

 deposits there are found the trunks of trees embedded in 

 the moss. 



III. The mountain peat is formed chiefly by an innu- 

 merable quantity of mosses, of the genus Sphagnum, 

 These mosses hold water in their stems like a sponge. 

 They spread their roots and suckers over the moist debris of 

 wood or other similar matters, and matting themselves 

 together as they grow, form a species of felt, which, in 

 course of time, yields the matter known as peat. One 

 species of this plant, the Sphagnum cuspidatum, is so prolific 

 that a single pod is said to contain no less than 2,800,000 

 seeds. 



The cultivation and reproduction of peat is a subject 

 regarding which there is now no longer any doubt. Expe- 

 rience of living witnesses has proved that it takes from 



