MINERAL INDUSTRIES PEAT. 



63 



•MISCELLANEOUS ANALYSES. 



A few analyses of Florida peat have been obtained from other sources, 

 as follows : 



I. Small peat prairie about two miles northwest of Orlando, Orange 

 County. The peat here seems to be at least 15 feet deep, and a few years 

 ago a good deal of it was excavated to a depth of about 8 feet, put through 

 a briquetting machine on the spot, and when dry taken to town and used 

 for fuel in the light, water and ice plant. Analyses taken from U. S. Geol. 

 Surv. Mineral Resources for 1905, p. 1321, and Bulletin 290, p. ■]■]. In these 

 publicaJ:ions the tixed carbon and volatile matter were given only for air-dry 

 peat, but I have re-computed these two factors on a water-free basis, so 

 that they can be compared with the table above. 



2 to 5. Marsh at confluence of Davis and Julington Creeks, Duval 

 County, already described. Samples collected by Robert Ranson in May, 

 1908, from various depths (of which the records are n^t now available), 

 analyzed by the U. S. Geological Survey, and results communicated to the writer 

 by Dr. Chas. A. Davis. 



6. Average of 26 samples from various points in the vicinity of the 

 St. John's River, analyzed for Robert Ranson, and coramunicated by him. 

 His figures were for air-dry peat, but I have re-computed them on a water- 

 free basis, except the fuel value. 



7. Mangrove peat from along east side of Snake Creek, which is the 

 channel between Windly's Island and Plantation Key (or Long Island), 

 Monroe County, near 437 mile-post on Florida East Coast Ry. Taken from 

 about 3 feet below the surface, in mangrove swamp, whose vegetation is 

 mostly Rhizophora Mangle (red mangrove). Peat reddish brown, very coarse 

 and fibrous. Collected in September, 1910, under direction of W. J. Krome. 

 Constructing Engineer of the F. E. C. Ry. Extension, at our request. Analy- 

 sis by E. Peck Greene, assistant state chemist. 



NOTES ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SOME OF THE ANALYSES. 



It would seem from the figures given that most of our peat contains only 

 about half as much water when air-dry as does the better known material 

 from the glaciated region of Europe and the northern parts of this continent. 

 Too much stress should not be laid on this, however, for the water-content 

 shown probably depends nearly as much on the condition of the air at Pitts- 

 burgh at the time the analyses were being made as it does on the nature of 



