64 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT. 



the peat itself. (AH the samples which show more than io% of water were 

 collected in April, May or June, and analyzed a month or two later, when 

 the air of the room in which the tests were made was presumably more 

 humid than in winter, on account of artificial heat not being used.) Never- 

 theless, it is probably safe to say that the Florida peat dries out as well as 

 that from any other part of the world, if not better. 



The purest peat is No. 29.11, which has only 1.5% of ash. Other samples 

 with less than 5% are Nos. 13.11, 15. n, 29.12, 37.11, 41. 11, 42.11, all of which 

 are from peat prairies or similar situations. (Locality No. 37 I have called 

 a tyty bay, but it is treeless in the middle, and, therefore, has the character 

 of a peat prairie.) 



The proportion of volatile matter to fixed carbon is nearly 3 to i in No. 

 19. IX, a coarse saw-grass peat. In nearly every case where it is over 2 to i 

 the peat is coarse and imperfectly decomposed. It runs below 1V2 to i both 

 in good black plastic peat and in some very impure samples, which might be 

 better designated as muck. 



The sulphur runs highest in estuarine peat, especially in that from 

 Julington Creek (No. 6.21 and miscellaneous Nos. 2-5), and is pretty high 

 in calcareous peat and that from Madison County. There is probably not 

 enough of it to be objectionable in any of our samples, however. It is lowest 

 in the samples from small filled lakes, bays. etc. No. 36.11 contains the 

 least sulphur in proportion to other volatile matter, and No. 39.11 is a close 

 second in that respect. (Both of these happen to be from tyty bays.) 



The nitrogen determinations unfortunately are too few to warrant much 

 generalization, but in other parts of the world the nitrogen content of peat 

 is rarely less than 1% or more than 3%, and the same seems to hold true 

 in Florida, as far as our information goes. 



In fuel value our peat compares very well with that in other parts of 

 the world. According to Davis, 5,760 B. T. U. per pound is a good average 

 for wood, 8,500 for pressed peat, and 14,000 for anthracite coal. The average 

 of the 53 determinations given in the above tables is 8,341 ; but if Mr. Ranson's 

 26 samples combined (miscellaneous No. 6) had been counted separately the 

 average would have been 8,833. Most of our samples (counting miscellaneous 

 No. 6 as only one again) exceed 9,050 B. T. U., two-thirds of them exceed 

 8,500 (Davis's average), and three-fourths of them exceed 8,341 (our average). 



The highest fuel value is as a rule in the purest peat. No. 29.11 (the 

 purest) is best in that respect, though No. 16.11. with 15.5% of ash, and 

 no plasticity (and therefore not adapted to be made into briquettes), standi 

 very high in the list. It should be borne in mind that the fuel value given 

 in these tables is on a water-free basis, which is never realized in practice, 

 for peat as used always contains some water, which reduces its fuel value. 

 But the analyses are usually expressed in this way to eliminate differences 

 due to variations in atmospheric humidity. 



