rl04 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



In 1897 a pit was dug in this deposit to the depth of 13 feet 

 and a stake then forced down 12 feet farther, without any signs 

 of having reached the bottom. 



The peat is of the consistency of cheese and is plastic in the 

 hand. Standing in it, one will sink, sometimes nearly a foot, 

 the peat adhering like clay. When fresh its color is a light 

 brown, becoming dark brown in drying. Large limbs of trees 

 buried in it may be cut through as easily as the rest of the 

 deposit, but when dried usually shrink and crack, becoming 

 probably harder than when growing. Insects in the peat are 

 well preserved, in consequence of the antiseptic properties of 

 the peat water. The plants composing the peat are still recog- 

 nizable and show some changes in the forms which have con- 

 tributed to the deposit. The bog is now covered with black and 

 yellow birches. The filling of the depression has at present 

 reached such a level that oxidation and accumulation are just 

 balanced. 



Ellwanger & Barry use this material in their nursery in mak- 

 ing a compost. Mr Barton sells that from his part of the bed 

 for use in the public parks. Last year he sold 117 yards at 85 

 cents a yard. It is used in forming a compost for rhododen- 

 drons and plants of the heath family. 



A large bog in the town of Ogden, 1 mile south of Spencer- 

 port on a farm belonging to Dr P. G. Udell (2) , was worked in 

 1864 by John R. Garretsee, and the material shipped away on 

 the Erie canal. Another bog located 1 mile east of Adams 

 Basin (3) , on the farm of Freeman Webster, was worked on a 

 small scale for experimental and domestic purposes. Another 

 in the same town is situated 1 mile east of Spencerport on the 

 farm of George W. Hiscoek< 4 >. 



A bog (5) in the southeast corner of Gates, between the Buffalo, 

 Rochester & Pittsburg Railroad and the branch of the Western 

 New York and Pennsylvania Railroad, was worked for two or 

 three years, beginning about 1870, under the business name of 

 " Babcock Peat Works." A press was erected and the peat 

 made into cylindric cakes. 



There are two deposits in the southern part of Parma, a little 

 northeast from Hinkleyville, one on the farm of Milton and 



