PRELIMINARY REPORT ON PEAT. 
207 
Mr. J. S. Kirk, of the Tavares & Gulf R. R.; Mr. W. J. Krome, 
constructing engineer of the Florida East Coast Ry.: and Mr. H. 
P. Savage, who was in charge of the Everglades drainage operations 
west of Fort Lauderdale at the time of my visit in April, 1909. 
Most of these gentlemen, it happens, are of that numerous class who 
have come from other states to Florida, and attracted by its many 
natural advantages have become permanent residents. 
Outside of Florida I have received most valuable advice from 
Dr. Chas. A. Davis of the U. S. Geological Survey (lately transfer¬ 
red to the newly created Bureau of Mines), who is perhaps the fore¬ 
most authority on peat in America at the present time. He has 
helped me most generously in personal consultation in New York 
and Washington, and by a somewhat voluminous correspondence; 
and I have drawn freely for ideas upon his published reports on the 
peat of Michigan, Maine, and North Carolina, particularly the 
first named. 
Prof. C. S. Sargent, director of the Arnold Arboretum, bv 
sending me to remote corners of Florida in search of rare trees, 
during three weeks in the spring of 1909 and two months in the 
spring of 1910, has given me opportunity to see some interesting 
peat deposits which I might have missed otherwise, particularly at 
the south end of the Everglades and the mouth of the Suwannee 
River. 
Mr. Bryant Walker, of Detroit, Mich., a recognized authority on 
fresh-water shells, has furnished a list of shells found in peat near 
Lake Panasoffkee. 
Prof. M. L. Fernald, of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard Univer¬ 
sity, has identified a few of the peat-forming plants by comparison 
with the large collections at that institution, much better than I 
could by the descriptions to which I had access in Tallahassee. 
Dr. J. H. Barnhart, librarian of the New York Botanical Gar¬ 
den, has kindly looked up for me a number of references which 
could not be supplied by the library of the Survey. 
