Peat soils

1151. Peat soil. When successive generations of vegetables have grown and been suffered to decay on the same soil, the vegetable matter increases so rapidly as to prevent any mineral substance from becoming mixed with it. If this mass of vegetable matter accumulates in a situation where the water with which it is saturated cannot escape, the tannin contained in the mosses included in the mass of vegetation imparts its antiseptic properties to the water and prevents the further decay of the vegetables, and the mass becomes what is called a peat bog.