i So 



Peacock : The Fenland Soils. 



times thick and sometimes shallow according- to the irregularity 

 of the surface on which it was formed — a second bed of surface 

 peat was formed above the silt. Many beds of peat can be 

 found in one place or another — as many as seven at different 

 levels in a wide area with silt between them — showing - great 

 changes of circumstances, the salt water gaining - at one time 

 and the fresh holding possession at another. Speaking 

 generally, however, we may say there are but two beds of 

 peat — the one lying on the gravel or sand about the Boulder 

 Clay, and that which lies on the surface of the silt. Those beds 

 which are included within the silt are only limited in area, and 

 may be said to arise from local rather than general causes. The 

 two general beds may be called the old peat, and the modern or 

 surface peat. When the sea water breaks into a peat level, the 

 flora is killed at once and decay follows, unless it is stopped by 

 silt being deposited so as to exclude the air. 



How peat is most quickly formed can easily be explained, 

 and kindly note the dates of my illustration. In 1651 the Earl 

 of Cromarty went to a plain about half a mile round, in the parish 

 of Lochbroom, high above the sea level. Here he found a dead 

 wood of Fir trees, which had died of age. In 1666 he visited 

 the spot again, ' and he could not see so much as a tree, but in 

 the place thereof the whole bounds where the wood had stood 

 was covered with green Moss (Sphagnum). They said none 

 could pass over because the scurf of the bog would not support 

 them. I must needs try it, and fell in to the armpits, but was 

 immediately pulled out.' Before the year 1699 the whole forest 

 place was turned into a common moss, and the Earl saw the 

 country people digging turf and peat for firing. In less than 

 fifty years from a dead wood a usable turbary was formed. This 

 illustration explains at once the relation of trees to peat, which 

 many people find so difficult to understand, and why carr-wood 

 is so frequently found in them. Treeless peat is quite unknown 

 in Lincolnshire, I believe. A tree falls and stops the natural 

 escape of the drainage. The stagnant water kills the surround- 

 ing trees, a sou'-wester levels their trunks. These conditions 

 are just what the Bog Mosses require to flourish with luxuriance. 

 Sphagnum, the true Bog Moss of the north, is more or less rare 

 in the Lincolnshire peat. With us its place is taken by another 

 water Moss, Hypnum fluitans. It is an easy matter to show 

 the varying age of the peat from the engulfed trees. From the 

 two beds in Lincolnshire we can obtain the following species : — 

 Oak, Scotch Fir, Yew, Alder, Beech, Hazel, Goat Willow, Creeping 



Naturalist, 



