bove described; and now it is covered with from six to nine inchesof peat-moss, surmounted with a growth of strong heath.
As soon as the parasitical plants have accumulated into a bodyof spongy matter, of such thickness, as to retain always abund-ance of stagnant water, other plants, to which it is now a conge-nial soil, take their station on it. The first of these are perhapsthe two Eriophora (cotton heads), which are always found in thesoftest wettestparts. The Scirpus ccespitosus (deer-hair), soon suc-ceeds, and communicates solidity to the spots which it occupies.The roots of this plant, penetrate deeper into the mossy sub-stance than any other. These, and more especially the roots ofthe former, compose the substance which the makers of peat fuelcall Ket, a substance of great durability. The anthericum os-sifragum (yellow-flowering asphodel), is very frequent in softwet moss ; but its spoils are not distinguishable in the substanceof peat-moss. These are the most constant and considerablecompanions of the parasitical plants, of which peat is formed.There are a number of others found on beds of peat, and nodoubt tending to its increase; some of them constant, but form-ing an inconsiderable part; others, not necessary concomitantsof the peat-forming vegetables, but sometimes contributing con-siderably to its increase. The chief of these last, is the juncussquarrosus (stool-bent), which, requiring a soil of a more solidconsistence than pure peat moss, is found only on mosses, to whichage, and a mixture of earth, conveyed by the agency of water,had given some degree of solidity; and, in such, it is sometimesa large ingredient.
Thus, the means by which Nature seems to communicate ve-getable matter to those parts of the surface where it is wanting,and to extend and preserve the fertility of a country, is, owingto the neglect of man, converted into a misfortune, by this tor-pid substance being allowed to accumulate, beyond due bounds,and to become still more torpid, by long steeping in cold, stag-nant water.
But though those parts of the surface, incapable of nourishingvegetables which feed by their roots, is the natural base of peatmoss, this substance is formed over all soils, however fertile,when the power of exerting that fertility is obstructed. This isoccasioned, either by fallen wood, or stagnant water, coveringthe surface ; and over these, in the hollows of the country, thelargest bodies of peat-moss are found. And this brings us to theconsideration of this substance in its advanced state.
In those flats and hollows, where water is not quickly drainedoff for want of declivity, the musci, and their companions abovementioned, rapidly increase in bulk, and, retaining much wa-ter among the fibres, the surface is often so soft, as not to sup-port the foot. By repeated heavy rains on this soft substance,the water flowing off, wears little channels, which gradually